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Columbia Gas Updates POR Uncollectibles Rate, Includes BTU Adjustment in Rate Case
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January 18, 2011
Columbia Gas of Pennsylvania has filed to lower its uncollectible percentage, used
in both the Purchase of Receivables discount rate and the bypassable Price to Compare,
as part of its newly filed rate case (R-
Under the latest data, unbundled, commodity-
The 1.52% uncollectibles rate will also be used in the company's POR program, added to the fixed administrative component of 0.59% for a total discount rate of 2.11%.
Columbia has also incorporated as part of the rate case its request for a BTU content adjustment to the monthly determination of a customer's billing Mcfs.
As only noted in Matters (10/4), Columbia originally sought to impose a BTU adjustment on all deliveries, including choice deliveries, in a September tariff supplement. Several protestors have argued that addressing a BTU adjustment is only appropriate in the context of a rate case, and Columbia presented the BTU adjustment in its rate case only to the extent that the PUC rules that the issue cannot be adjudicated outside of a rate case.
The mechanics of the BTU adjustment proposed by Columbia in the rate case are identical to those proposed in September, and the BTU Adjustment Factor would treat all customers' usage as if their BTU value was 1.0535 Dth per Mcf.
Columbia would derive the BTU content of the natural gas from equipment at delivery
points located within each Pipeline Scheduling Point ('PSP') in the company's service
territory. Each month, Columbia would calculate the six-
Choice customers would receive the same adjustment as all other customers. Columbia would incorporate the 1.0535 BTU value into the Choice Daily Delivery Requirement provided to marketers. Since the choice marketers currently deliver supplies in accordance with the Choice Daily Delivery Requirement, this change would align the Choice Daily Delivery Requirement with the adjusted usage, Columbia said.
Columbia said that the BTU Adjustment Factor is needed due to diverging BTU values at different PSPs, which otherwise result in two customers located in different parts of the state who both use the same amount of energy (BTU) being billed for different volumes (Mcf).
Additionally, Columbia is seeking to eliminate Daily Balancing Service (Option 3) under Elective Balancing Service, stating that the no customer has taken the service since first offered in December 2001. Most customers elect Full Balancing Service (Option 1), and Columbia said that customers have indicated that they prefer the benefit of being able to retain a "bank" of gas from month to month.
Columbia is also seeking to eliminate sections of the tariff which provide natural gas suppliers with the ability to choose a delivery point in a Local Market Area other than where the customer is located. "This tariff language was appropriate when the tariff included the option for an NGS to supply firm capacity from another interstate pipeline rather than taking assignment of Columbia Transmission Company capacity. Therefore the possibility existed that the Point of Delivery for the alternative interstate pipeline was outside the Market Area where the customer was located. With the implementation of mandatory assignment, the option to request an alternate upstream pipeline is no longer applicable," Columbia explained.
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