text
stringlengths
1
4.46k
employee_id
stringclasses
45 values
Parties represented at an informal meeting after the February 7, 2000 prehearing conference discussed circulating redlined versions of the CAC settlement proposal as a point of departure for further settlement conferences.
dev41
Transwestern Pipeline Company submits the following comments in lieu of a redlined document.
dev41
Transwestern fully supports the CAC's proposal of a path-defined receipt point structure that would define primary and secondary rights at receipt points on the SoCalGas system.
dev41
Not only does the proposal satisfy the Commission's requirement that Hector Road be established as a formal receipt point, it is also consistent with open and non-discriminatory access and use of the SoCalGas system, and will help provide a reasonable degree of certainty so that all market participants can more effectively plan gas transportation.
dev41
CAC's proposed receipt point principles ensure that no upstream transportation provider will unduly be denied access to SoCal's system.
dev41
Transwestern believes that the parties may still need to address certain details regarding implementation of the receipt point proposal that have not been fully described in the CAC document.
dev41
To this end, Transwestern proposes that implementation of the receipt point proposal be included on the agenda for the upcoming all-party settlement discussions.
dev41
Transwestern looks forward to a constructive discussion of the proposal and is confident that the parties will be able to agree on a plan for implementation.
dev41
Susan Scott Senior Counsel Transwestern Pipeline Company
dev41
Jeff, this morning I spoke with Reliant's regulatory counsel, who called me after talking with Lee Hart, and who seemed eager to look into drafting a filing.
dev41
I would be happy to talk with Leonard Foster or June Suwara at Sempra about doing the same, but somehow think Sempra might be a tougher customer (don't know why I would think that...).
dev41
My suggestion is that we work through Ms. Katz initially.
dev41
Anticipating that we might encounter some inertia at Sempra's regulatory dept.
dev41
-- and to give you an outline to work from when talking to Stefanie -- I put together the attached rough draft of a motion to intervene and motion to expedite to be filed by Sempra.
dev41
Feel free to send the attached to Stefanie.
dev41
However, please do so with the caveat that you are sending it for discussion purposes only, not as legal advice to Sempra from ET&S's legal department, and the content of this pleading should ultimately be up to Sempra's legal/regulatory staff.
dev41
Reliant's counsel said he'd be sending me a draft of his pleading...if I don't hear from him within a reasonable time I'll call to follow up.
dev41
Can we keep the upside -- I believe the answer is clearly "no" unless/until we get a favorable ruling on our share-the-upside filing.
dev41
Til then we're bound by the billing provisions on Sheet 95H.
dev41
Sometimes the answers clarify themselves after you leave the question sitting out there a while...
dev41
As for the contract rights of replacement shippers, I would say the tariff language gives us some leeway on whether to automatically give replacement shipper the releasing shipper's discount at alt.
dev41
points.
dev41
If we don't, and the replacement shipper uses an alt.
dev41
point and has to pay max rate, releasing shipper gets a refund under our billing provision.
dev41
I know Lindy has some clear ideas on what we want here...
dev41
we can discuss more if you like.
dev41
I've reviewed Order 637 on voluntary auctions and agree with you, Mary Kay, that the TW IOS procedure is consistent with the Commission's checklist.
dev41
However, I do have a couple of questions/concerns.
dev41
First, does "voluntary" mean filing a proposal with FERC is also voluntary?
dev41
Or is the Commission here requiring that pipelines make filings before they can proceed with auctions?
dev41
Also, I'm not sure we comply with the Commission's policy on establishment of a reserve price, since it's difficult to tell what that is from the order.
dev41
A couple of times TW has stated a minimum bid in its IOS.
dev41
Comments?
dev41
I've gotten a bit more educated about IT revenue crediting since you asked your question yesterday.
dev41
"IT revenue crediting" is an industry term used to describe a requirement (brought about either by a FERC order or a rate case settlement) that IT revenues in excess of a certain dollar amount will be credited back to all firm shippers in the next rate proceeding or thru some refund mechanism.
dev41
Transwestern is currently not under any IT revenue crediting obligation, and I would be very hesitant to negotiate any such obligation with any individual shipper because then we would have to do the same for all firm shippers on a nondiscriminatory basis.
dev41
If you need more info, let's talk.
dev41
In my never-ending quest to expand myself both culturally and socially I am proposing a fun-filled Friday night to those of you who I feel would appreciate it most, or at least have any interest what-so-ever.
dev41
This Friday at 6:30 p.m.
dev41
Pavel Kogan will be performing with the Houston Symphony at Jones Hall.
dev41
All of the tickets for this show are being sold at a set price, which means that we can obtain center orchestra seats for only $25.00 a piece.
dev41
My idea for the night is as follows, attend what I'm sure will be an outstanding performance, grab a late bite to eat at one of several excellent restaurants downtown (Mia Bella and Osteria D'Aldo come to mind) and polish off the evening by gracing one of the many hot-spots found downtown (Jones Bar, Swank Lounge, Deans, Mercury Room, etc.) with our presence.
dev41
Bear in mind that my plan is completely open to suggestions from each and every one of you.
dev41
While I realize such an early show may interfere with some people's plans (workout routines, etc.) I am sure things could be rearranged for one evening.
dev41
Please email back and let me know if there is any interest in such an outing.
dev41
"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
dev41
- - Abraham Lincoln
dev41
Our contract with IGS provides that for any agreement identified by IGS and executed, TW will pay a one-time incentive fee of 3% of the first $15 million of net present value, 2% of the next $10 million of net present value, etc. The Southern contract associated with the Gallup Expansion is at a rate of $0.205 for 25,000 Dth/d for 5 years.
dev41
Using a discount factor of 15%, the net present value of the contract is $6,270,625, so IGS's commission would be $188,118.75.
dev41
Since the contract does not specify how NPV will be calculated (I believe we purposely omitted this for whatever reason), we will need to agree on a rate that is fair given the nature of and risk associated with the project.
dev41
We should probably use whatever is standard in the industry for this type of project, if that's possible to determine.
dev41
I have a call in to James Centilli for his recommendation in this regard, and will let you know what he says.
dev41
(I'll review this after my 9:00 meeting -- thought you might want a copy also.)
dev41
Lorraine, I've been studying the El Paso/Dynegy reservation reduction mechanism (RRM).
dev41
Basically the deal was that Dynegy's minimum-pay obligation would be reduced by the amount of the fixed cost component of IT revenues generated by El Paso's transportation of IT volumes above a historical threshold.
dev41
(The parties based the threshold on El Paso's monthly IT volumes for the 12 months ended 9/30/97.) The volumes in excess of the threshold were calculated and a ratio of the volumes in excess of the threshold to the total volumes was determined; the ratio would then be applied to the fixed cost component of all IT revenues and the resulting dollar value applied to Dynegy's monthly reservation charge, to the extent Dynegy had not met its minimum pay obligation for a particular month.
dev41
This provision of course met with heavy opposition; however, FERC allowed it.
dev41
FERC stated that while the RRM had anticompetitive effects because it created a disincentive for El Paso to discount IT, it was not unduly discriminatory.
dev41
The "unduly discriminatory" conclusion was based on an analysis on the potential effect on the Cal.
dev41
gas transportation market -- the Commission found that due to relatively weak market demand, neither Dynegy nor El Paso appeared to have been able to influence prices because so much firm capacity was available.
dev41
I assume Russ may be after something similar to the RRM.
dev41
We would have to file it as a negotiated rate but I feel fairly confident that we could get FERC to accept it.
dev41
That's my 2 cents worth on this particular issue...I'll come down around 3:30 to chat with you more about the Duke (I have a conference call with MKM from 1:30 to 3:30, which is why I'm camped out on 47).
dev41
After reading that did you all of the sudden feel as though your body no longer contained any organs and instead there was just a giant pit where they all used to be?
dev41
I never in my life imagined the intense impact an email could have.
dev41
They appear so harmless at first glance with no character or personality to the font or page, but upon closer inspection they have the ability to send you soaring or plummet you to the darkest depths.
dev41
I really don't know what to say about the email.
dev41
If I didn't know what happened afterward I would have said it was very promising, but knowing what I know I must resort to my new tag line that guys in general are just confused.
dev41
I must say though that his quote was outstanding and if Ben and I had any semblance of normal communication between the two of us I would send it to him in a heartbeat.
dev41
But we don't so I'll just have to enjoy it solo.
dev41
I fear today will be a very boring day so feel free to keep up an email dialogue throughout the day.
dev41
Recently we approved a "based on utilization" rate in another contract -- the rationale was that our minimum reservation charge is zero -- so on those days they don't use the point, the amount allocated to reservation component (using our discretion to allocate between reservation and commodity) is $0 and it's still within our minimum so it is not a negotiated rate.
dev41
Does that make sense to you?
dev41
I'm a little uncomfortable with saying "TW defers to the consensus position of the non-SoCal settlement parties" so often.
dev41
Could we just not say anything on those items?
dev41
Or say TW has no comment at this time.
dev41
Would the other parties be put off if we were silent on these issues?
dev41
Pursuant to your request, attached is a very plain-vanilla motion to intervene out of time and motion to expedite that you can provide to your non-Gallup customers if you like.
dev41
If you do so, please inform them that we are not providing this as legal advice but merely as an example, and whether they choose to file in this proceeding and the content of what they file is up to their own respective legal and regulatory departments.
dev41
As you know, current firm contracts on Transwestern provide for delivery of 250 MMcf/d of gas to Topock.
dev41
In the context of the Gallup Expansion, Transwestern has entered into firm contracts for an additional 40 MMcf/d to Topock.
dev41
Once the Gallup expansion is built, Transwestern will have a total of 290 MMcf/d of firm capacity under contract to the Topock delivery point: 40 MMcf/d more than PG&E has agreed to accept while PCBs continue to be present.
dev41
Bill Cordes has asked what Transwestern's potential liability to shippers would be if PG&E's refusal to accept deliveries due to the continued presence of contaminants causes Transwestern to have to curtail firm service at PG&E/Topock.
dev41
The legal answer is that Transwestern's tariff provides for a reservation charge refund but does not limit the damages that could be sought by a shipper.
dev41
More specifically, Rate Schedule FTS-1 specifically provides for a reservation charge refund if Transwestern fails to deliver gas for a firm shipper.
dev41
In December, January, February, July and August, the shipper is entitled to a reservation charge refund for all nominated and confirmed quantities not delivered.
dev41
In all other months, the shipper is entitled to a refund only if deliveries fall below 75% of nominated/confirmed quantities for a period of 75 consecutive days.
dev41
The tariff does not preclude a shipper from seeking other damages resulting from Transwestern's failure to provide service under an FTS-1 contract.
dev41
A shipper whose firm service is curtailed would likely incur damages in addition to the reservation charge, including, for example, the cost of buying spot gas or damages resulting from the shipper's inability to fulfill contractual obligations.
dev41
Such damages could be recovered in a breach of contract action.
dev41
Not all shippers would incur such damages because some might be willing to take delivery of gas at alternate points if capacity is available at such points.
dev41
Bill has asked Steve to work with me in quantifying our potential exposure.
dev41
I could really use your help in putting a dollar amount on potential damages.
dev41
Can we meet briefly to discuss this?
dev41
I'm available after the Gallup meeting tomorrow a.m., or after lunch on Friday...or we can discuss a meeting time for next week.
dev41
Thank you.
dev41
Christine -- Here's a brief answer to your questions.
dev41
With regard to segmentation, Order 637 is completely silent with regard to rates to be charged for segmented capacity, so we would have considerable leeway here.
dev41
The order is also silent with respect to the effective restriction of segmented capacity by making discounts inapplicable to certain alternate (or primary) points.
dev41
Hopefully TW will be able to avoid the segmentation issue altogether by invoking the Global Settlement, as we plan to do in our rehearing request and compliance filing.
dev41