Municipals Group Requests Rehearing of FERC Decision to Allow Gulf South’s No-Notice Tariff Provisions

摘要

On Dec. 29 the United Municipal Distributors Group (UMDG) requested rehearing of FERC’s Nov. 26 decision to accepted but suspend proposed tariff revisions by Gulf South Pipeline Co., LP (RP15-65) that concern aspects of the pipeline’s no-notice service provisions (NNS and NNS-SCO). UMDG is claiming that FERC wrongly set a date for the provisions to take effect without first making a final determination that the changes are just and reasonable. The Commission is disregarding “the irreparable harm” that will result by allowing Gulf South to (1) shift the storage capacity underlying no-notice service for both NNS and NNS-SCO customers on the east side of Gulf South’s system from the Bistineau Storage Field in northern Louisiana to the Jackson Storage Field in central Mississippi; (2) limit the firm hourly flow rights for NNS and NNS-SCO services; (3) impose a new obligation on NNS and NNS- SCO customers to amend their contracts to designate point pairs among receipt and delivery points; (4) preclude no-notice customers from changing their seasonal daily contract demand or adding a point of delivery within their community; (5) establish a separate NNS-SCO Rate Schedule; (6) limit the amount of capacity that will be available to serve small NNS-SCO customers; and (7) automatically convert NNS-SCO customers to service under the NNS rate schedule under certain circumstances. The group also asserted that FERC’s ruling would not withstand judicial scrutiny.