Columbia Gulf Posed Some Changes to its Contested Incentive Fixed Fuel Mechanism, Heard from Some Reluctant Converts to the Experiment, but Failed to Persuade Many Parties That Benefits Will Be Fairly Distributed

摘要

Columbia Gulf Transmission Co. (RP10-134) on 2/11/10 filed its initial post-technical conference comments defending against numerous protests an experimental mechanism that it says is "innovative," and will address fuel costs on its system while helping to fund critical capital investments. The Incentive Fixed Fuel (IFF) mechanism is portrayed by the pipeline as an appropriate response to the Commission's invitation for creative incentive mechanisms to facilitate making the level of investment necessary to achieve significant reductions in company use gas (CUG) and lost and unaccounted-for gas (LAUF) (collectively, "fuel" or "retainage"). The IFF Mechanism would fix the fuel retention rate at 2.57% for seven years. A purported key objective is to provide the company with enough incentive to attract between $85 and $125 million in new investment on capital equipment upgrades to improve the efficient operation of the pipeline.