Opinion ID: 553831
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The Refund Time Period.

Text: 24 Having affirmed the Commission's actions in establishing a 4.8% fuel retention rate and in ordering Transco to refund to its customers the difference between the 4.8% rate and the 6.1% rate Transco actually charged its customers, we now examine the time frame for which these refunds were to be paid. The refund period begins on April 1, 1984, the date on which Transco's initial filing in this proceeding, RP83-137, became effective subject to refund, and ends on April 1, 1987, the date on which a second Transco filing, RP87-7, became effective. 25 Under Section 5 of the Natural Gas Act, the Commission cannot increase the rate a natural gas company charges its customers unless that company files a new schedule implementing that change. 15 U.S.C. Sec. 717d. Thus, the prevailing contractual rates remain in effect until changed through a rate change proposal. See Phillips Petroleum Co. v. FPC, 349 F.2d 535, 539 (10th Cir.1965) (The contract rates are binding on the parties contractually until changed under Sections 4 or 5 of the Natural Gas Act.) (citing Phillips Petroleum Co. v. FPC, 227 F.2d 470 (10th Cir.1955)). In this case, the LDCs claim that Transco's filing in RP87-7 did not constitute a filing for a rate change, but, rather, was Transco's attempt to continue the rates proposed in RP83-137. Since the Commission cannot increase a rate until the filing of a rate change proposal, the LDCs argue, the 4.8% fuel retention rate established in RP83-137, and the accompanying refund ordered by the Commission for rates charged to customers in excess of that amount, continued to remain in effect on and after April 1, 1987, and, indeed, until such time as Transco actually filed a rate change proposal in accordance with section 4 of the Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 717c. Thus, the LDCs contend that the refund period should extend beyond the April 1, 1987 limitation established by the Commission. 26 The LDCs' claim therefore rests on the determination of whether RP87-7 constitutes a rate change proposal. At the time that Transco submitted RP87-7, its earlier filing in RP83-137--proposing the 6.1% fuel retention rate that has been the focus of this proceeding--had not yet been subject to Commission determination. RP87-7 also included this 6.1% fuel retention rate. Since RP87-7 did not propose a fuel retention rate different from RP83-137, the LDCs argue that RP87-7 should not have initiated a new determination of the fuel retention rate, but should merely have served to continue the rate proposed in RP83-137. Accordingly, the LDCs believe that both the 4.8% fuel retention rate, and the accompanying refund to the LDCs, should extend beyond the April 1, 1987 deadline. 27 The Commission's opinions in this proceeding rejected this contention. The Commission found that, although it had not yet rejected RP83-137 at the time that Transco filed RP87-7, the fact remained, and was known to Transco, that the Commission could reject the proposal. Thus, by repeating the 6.1% fuel retention rate in RP87-7, Transco secured for itself the opportunity to readdress the fuel retention rate following the Commission's disposition of its proposal in RP83-137. See Rehearing Order, 47 F.E.R.C. at 61,946. In this way, RP87-7 functioned as a rate change proposal, rather than simply as a continuation of the filing in RP83-137. 28 Again, we are looking at Commission action deserving of a high degree of deference. The Natural Gas Act delegates to the Commission the responsibility for accepting and reviewing filings for rate changes, 15 U.S.C. Sec. 717c, a responsibility the Commission has pursued through its own regulations, 18 C.F.R. Sec. 35.13 (1990). The LDCs are thus essentially requesting this Court to overturn the Commission's implementation of its own filing requirements. In evaluating such a claim, this court is obliged to give considerable deference to the agency's interpretation of its own regulation, according it controlling weight unless it is plainly erroneous or inconsistent with the regulation. Transcanada Pipelines Ltd. v. FERC, 878 F.2d 401, 411 (D.C.Cir.1989) (citing Udall v. Tallman, 380 U.S. 1, 16-17, 85 S.Ct. 792, 801-802, 13 L.Ed.2d 616 (1965)); accord Western Union, 815 F.2d at 1503 (a reviewing court is required to defer ... to an agency's interpretation of its own rules); Aliceville Hydro Associates v. FERC, 800 F.2d 1147, 1150 (D.C.Cir.1986) (it is well settled that an agency's interpretation of its own regulations is entitled to special deference). Moreover, FERC is generally allowed to interpret filings according to their literal terms. Tennessee Gas Pipeline Co. v. FERC, 860 F.2d 446, 457 (D.C.Cir.1988). Here, Transco's RP87-7, on its face, proposed a fuel retention rate different from the one the Commission had implemented for the period immediately preceding the filing's date of effectiveness. While the LDCs argue that the 6.1% figure was not a rate change since it was identical to the figure in Transco's previous proposal in RP83-137, it is literally a rate change insofar as it differs from the rate actually implemented. 29 Finally, what the LDCs are really requesting of this Court is a decision preempting the Commission's action in RP87-7. The parties have already negotiated and reached a settlement in that filing that included a 6.1% fuel retention rate effective April 1, 1987. This settlement has been approved by an Administrative Law Judge, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., 49 F.E.R.C. p 63,022 (1989), and by the Commission, Transcontinental Gas Pipe Line Corp., 50 F.E.R.C. p 61,399, reh'g denied, 52 F.E.R.C. p 61,308 (1990). Yet the LDCs would have us extend the refund period for RP83-137, effectively intruding upon the Commission's action in RP87-7, a ratemaking proceeding that is not even before this Court. Such a result is directly at odds with the important judicial policy of avoiding interference with agency proceedings. Cf. Papago Tribal Utility Authority v. FERC, 628 F.2d 235, 240 (D.C.Cir.), cert. denied, 449 U.S. 1061, 101 S.Ct. 784, 66 L.Ed.2d 604 (1980) (judicial review of agency action is appropriate only upon conclusion of that action); Tenneco, Inc. v. FERC, 688 F.2d 1018, 1021 (5th Cir.1982) (This circuit will not review non-final orders of the Commission that are not definitive in their impact upon the rights of the parties and do not threaten the petitioner with irreparable harm.). 30 Thus, given our reluctance to interfere in an agency's proceeding, as well as the traditional deference we afford to the Commission's implementation of its own regulations, we must affirm the Commission's present choice to treat Transco's second filing in Docket No. RP87-7-000 as a rate change that effectively ended the refund period.