FERC Clarifies Scope of Article 11.2 Limitations of 1996 El Paso Settlement, Denies All Petitions for Rehearing of Long-Simmering Contract and Rate Issues

摘要

El Paso Natural Gas Co. (RP08-426) requested rehearing of FERC's suspension order on August 5, issued subject to refund and conditions, and establishing a hearing and technical conference to consider El Paso's new 6/30/08 rate increase filing. El Paso had tendered two sets of tariff sheets reflecting alternative methods for dealing with the issues addressed in its last rate case in March 2006 (RP05-422) that arose from Article 11.2 of the settlement approved in 1996 - El Paso (RP95-363). On 3/20/06, the Commission held that, despite the changes to the 1996 settlement mandated earlier, the "rate caps" and other limitations established in Article 11.2 continued to apply to El Paso's rates. The Commission also had resolved various other contested issues (see below).