Texas Administrative Code › Title 16 - ECONOMIC REGULATION › Part 1 - RAILROAD COMMISSION OF TEXAS › Chapter 8 - PIPELINE SAFETY REGULATIONS › Subchapter C - REQUIREMENTS FOR NATURAL GAS PIPELINES ONLY › Section 8.201 - Pipeline Safety and Regulatory Program Fees

Current through Reg. 49, No. 28; July 12, 2024
(a) Application of fees. Pursuant to Texas
				  Utilities Code, §
										RSA
				  121.211, the Commission establishes a
				  pipeline safety and regulatory program fee, to be assessed annually against
				  operators of natural gas distribution pipelines and pipeline facilities and
				  natural gas master metered pipelines and pipeline facilities subject to the
				  Commission's jurisdiction under Texas Utilities Code, Title 3. The total amount
				  of revenue estimated to be collected under this section does not exceed the
				  amount the Commission estimates to be necessary to recover the costs of
				  administering the pipeline safety and regulatory programs under Texas Utilities
				  Code, Title 3, excluding costs that are fully funded by federal sources for any
				  fiscal year.
(b) Natural gas
				  distribution systems. The Commission hereby assesses each operator of a natural
				  gas distribution system an annual pipeline safety and regulatory program fee of
				  $1.00 for each service (service line) in service at the end of each calendar
				  year as reported by each system operator on the U.S. Department of
				  Transportation (DOT) Gas Distribution Annual Report, Form PHMSA F7100.1-1 due
				  on March 15 of each year.
(1) Each operator
				  of a natural gas distribution system shall calculate the annual pipeline safety
				  and regulatory program total to be paid to the Commission by multiplying the
				  $1.00 fee by the number of services listed in Part B, Section 3, of Form PHMSA
				  F7100.1-1, due on March 15 of each year.
(2) Each operator of a natural gas
				  distribution system shall remit to the Commission on March 15 of each year the
				  amount calculated under paragraph (1) of this subsection.
(3) Each operator of a natural gas
				  distribution system shall recover, by a surcharge to its existing rates, the
				  amount the operator paid to the Commission under paragraph (1) of this
				  subsection. The surcharge:
(A) shall be a
				  flat rate, one-time surcharge;
(B)
				  shall not be billed before the operator remits the pipeline safety and
				  regulatory program fee to the Commission;
(C) shall be applied in the billing cycle or
				  cycles immediately following the date on which the operator paid the
				  Commission;
(D) shall not exceed
				  $1.00 per service or service line; and
(E) shall not be billed to a state agency, as
				  that term is defined in Texas Utilities Code, §
												RSA
				  101.003.
(4) No later than 90 days after the last
				  billing cycle in which the pipeline safety and regulatory program fee surcharge
				  is billed to customers, each operator of a natural gas distribution system
				  shall file with the Commission's Oversight and Safety Division a report
				  showing:
(A) the pipeline safety and
				  regulatory program fee amount paid to the Commission;
(B) the unit rate and total amount of the
				  surcharge billed to each customer;
(C) the date or dates on which the surcharge
				  was billed to customers; and
(D)
				  the total amount collected from customers from the surcharge.
(5) Each operator of a natural gas
				  distribution system that is a utility subject to the jurisdiction of the
				  Commission pursuant to Texas Utilities Code, Chapters 101 - 105, shall file a
				  generally applicable tariff for its surcharge in conformance with the
				  requirements of §
											RSA
				  7.315 of this title (relating to Filing of
				  Tariffs).
(6) Amounts recovered
				  from customers under this subsection by an investor-owned natural gas
				  distribution system or a cooperatively owned natural gas distribution system
				  shall not be included in the revenue or gross receipts of the system for the
				  purpose of calculating municipal franchise fees or any tax imposed under
				  Subchapter B, Chapter 182, Tax Code, or under Chapter 122, nor shall such
				  amounts be subject to a sales and use tax imposed by Chapter 151, Tax Code, or
				  Subtitle C, Title 3, Tax Code.