Oklahoma Administrative Code › Title 165 - Corporation Commission › Chapter 45 - Gas Service Utilities › Subchapter 19 - Downstream Services › Section 165:45-19-3 - Downstream service unbundling plan

Current through Vol. 41, No. 20, July 1, 2024
(a) No later than September 1, 1998, each
				Class A utility with 25,000 or more customers shall commence a collaborative
				process wherein a downstream unbundling plan shall be developed. Interested
				parties, including, but not limited to, downstream service providers
				(marketers), the Attorney General, and the Commission's PUD, may participate in
				the collaborative process. The downstream unbundling plan should include but
				not be limited to the following requirements:
(1) The unbundling of all downstream natural
				gas services for all classes of customers.
(2) The establishment of an appropriate cost
				allocation and rate design for the downstream unbundled services.
(3) Standards of conduct for transactions
				between the utility and its affiliate.
(4) Tariffs reflecting all of the natural gas
				services that will provide open access to the utility's system by entities
				desiring to provide downstream services, establish interconnection requirements
				and that will allow end-users a choice to obtain natural gas services from
				entities other than the utility. Each tariff shall identify the terms and
				conditions under which such service will be made available to any end-user and
				the maximum rate which the utility may charge for such service.
(5) That transportation shall be provided on
				a firm and interruptible basis to all end-users on a non-discriminatory basis.
				Therefore, unless otherwise ordered by the Commission, the transportation
				proposal should:
(A) Eliminate volume
				restrictions.
(B) Remove alternate
				fuel requirements.
(C) Permit
				aggregation, where operationally and administratively feasible, for the purpose
				of making small consumer transportation viable; including nomination and
				imbalance provisions suitable for economically serving such customers.
(D) Specify under what conditions
				"returning" customers will be accepted and how they will be charged.
(6) Storage and balancing shall be
				provided as a separately priced service for customers interested in using
				storage and/or balancing services. This may include options keyed to varying
				conditions and/or time periods, wherein, each will be separately priced.
(7) Standby shall be provided as a
				separately priced service for transportation customers who have had their
				capacity or commodity curtailed.
(8) The utilities should clearly define if,
				when and how additional metering is required to provide additional services.
				The utility should be ready to demonstrate that the proposed metering
				requirements are not discriminatory and are truly necessary for operational
				reasons.
(9) The utility should
				propose a mechanism for notifying in-state customers of available interstate
				capacity. The proposal should include creditworthiness standards, bidding
				criteria and recall rights for such capacity. The aim of the capacity release
				program should be to provide the greatest contribution to the system's fixed
				capacity costs, while maintaining reliability for the firm sales customers.
(10) Curtailment plans should be
				updated in light of Order No. 636. Transportation customers should not be
				arbitrarily interrupted. The utilities should consider an operational condition
				that requires an interruption of load and also consider ways of interrupting
				only customers in those constrained areas. A pro-rata cutback arrangement may
				be put in place to relieve capacity constraints. If the utility finds that it
				is economical, it should arrange for the emergency/peak period use of customer
				owned gas under prearranged conditions and for a prescribed rate of
				compensation.
(11) Rate schedules
				should reflect the appropriate costs to provide each of the above services.
				Rate structure should be supported by work papers and a description of the
				methodology employed.
(12)
				Standards to allow customers to aggregate.