Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 2 - INFORMAL COMPLAINT PROCEDURE › Section 2.1 - Informal Complaint Procedure

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Scope and
				jurisdiction. This section applies to complaints within the Commission's
				jurisdiction about natural gas purchasing, selling, shipping, transportation,
				and gathering practices. This section does not apply to matters arising under
				Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 103, entitled "Jurisdiction and Powers of
				Municipality," or initiated under Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 104, Subchapter
				C, entitled "Rate Changes Proposed by Utility," or Subchapter G, entitled
				"Interim Cost Recovery and Rate Adjustment."
(b) Definitions. The following words and
				terms, when used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the
				context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1)
				Common purchaser--Has the same meaning as is given that term in Texas Natural
				Resources Code, §
										RSA
				111.081.
(2) Complainant--A person who submits a
				complaint to the Commission pursuant to this section.
(3) Director--The director of the Gas
				Services Division of the Railroad Commission of Texas or the director's
				delegate.
(4) Gatherer--A person
				providing gathering service for a fee for a third party.
(5) Gathering service--Use of a pipeline to
				collect gas and bring it to a common point.
(6) Informal complaint proceeding--The
				process set out in this section for addressing complaints against entities
				within the Commission's jurisdiction, including but not limited to natural gas
				purchasers, sellers, shippers, transporters, and gatherers.
(7) Mediator--The individual who conducts an
				informal complaint resolution mediation.
(8) Monitor--The Commission employee
				appointed by the director to manage an informal complaint proceeding and/or
				assist a mediator who is not a Commission employee in the management of an
				informal complaint proceeding. A monitor may also be a mediator.
(9) Natural gas purchaser--A person that
				purchases natural gas.
(10) Natural
				gas seller or seller--A person that sells natural gas, including but not
				limited to a producer.
(11) Natural
				gas utility--Has the same meaning as is given that term in Texas Utilities
				Code, §
										RSA
				101.003 and §
										RSA
				121.001.
(12) Participant--A complainant, respondent,
				monitor, or mediator in an informal complaint proceeding.
(13) Person--An individual, corporation,
				partnership, joint venture, or other legal entity of any kind.
(14) Respondent--A person who is the subject
				of a complaint submitted to the Commission pursuant to this section.
(15) Shipper--A person for which a
				transporter is currently providing, has provided, or has pending a written
				request to provide transportation services.
(16) Similarly-situated shipper--A shipper
				that seeks or receives transportation service under the same or substantially
				the same, physical, regulatory, and economic conditions of service as any other
				shipper of a transporter. In determining whether conditions of service are the
				same or substantially the same, the Commission shall evaluate the significance
				of relevant conditions, including, but not limited to, the following:
(A) service requirements;
(B) location of facilities;
(C) receipt and delivery points;
(D) length of haul;
(E) quality of service (firm, interruptible,
				etc.);
(F) quantity;
(G) swing requirements;
(H) credit worthiness;
(I) gas quality;
(J) pressure (including inlet or line
				pressure);
(K) duration of
				service;
(L) connect requirements;
				and
(M) conditions and
				circumstances existing at the time of agreement or negotiation.
(17) Transportation service--The
				receipt of a shipper's natural gas at a point or points on the facilities of a
				transporter, and re-delivery of a shipper's natural gas by the transporter at
				another point or points on the facilities of the transporter, or on another
				person's facilities, including exchange, backhaul, displacement, and other
				methods of transportation, provided, however, that the term "transportation
				service" shall not include processing services or the movement of gas to which
				the transporter has title.
(18)
				Transporter--Any common purchaser of gas, any gas utility, or any gas pipeline,
				that provides gas gathering and/or transmission transportation service for a
				fee.