PENNSYLVANIA PUBLIC UTILITY COMMISSION
P.O. BOX 3265, HARRISBURG, PA 17105-3265 / IN REPLY PLEASE REFER TO OUR FILE
October 2017, 2005 M-00051918
To: Columbia Gas of Pa., Inc.
The Peoples Natural Gas Company d/b/a Dominion Peoples
Equitable Gas Co.
National Fuel Gas Distribution Corp.
PECO Energy Company
Philadelphia Gas Works
T.W. Phillips Gas and Oil Co.
PPL Gas Utilities Corporation
PG Energy
UGI Utilities, Inc.
Department of Environmental Protection
Department of Public Welfare, Office of Income Maintenance
Office of Consumer Advocate
Office of Small Business Advocate
Energy Information Administration, Office of Oil and Gas
American Petroleum Institute
Duke Energy Gas Transmission
Energy Association of Pennsylvania
All licensed Natural Gas Suppliers
Re: Winter Reliability Assessment En Banc Hearing Docket No. M-00051918
[Listing of every major gas distribution utility by individual Company name]
TO ALL INTERESTED PARTIES:
Re: Winter Reliability Meeting
The Commission has rescheduled its Winter Reliability Assessment Meeting from October 27, 2005, to November 10, 2005, and refocused it as the Winter Reliability Assessment Een Banc Hearing. The revised agenda is attached to this letter. Please note that this year’s theme is “Preparing Now for Winter: Supply, Price and Service,”“Reliable Supply, Reliable Price and Reliable Service,” tthe Commission seeks to gather very specific information about these topics, as further described below.
The hearing is scheduled for Thursday, November 10, 2005 at 1:30 p.m. and will be held in Hearing Room 1, Keystone Building, 400 North Street, Harrisburg, PA 17120. The Commissioners will preside at the hearing en banc. Administrative Law Judge Susan D. Colwell will swear in witnesses and will manage the course of the hearing. The hearing will be transcribed by a court reporter.
For the Pennsylvania Perspective part of the agenda, each major jurisdictional Natural Gas Distribution Company (NGDC) shall present comments applicable specifically to its individual service territory. A list of issues to be addressednswered is attached to this letter. The time allotted for this part of the agenda is one and one-half hour[insert time]. Consequently, it is expected that the comments willanswers to the questions be submitted in written form at or before the meeting.
Each NGDC and any other party requesting to participate must submit the name of its presenterRequests to participate must be submitted to the Commission Secretary no later than November 1, 2005. As this hearing is not an adversarial proceeding, a company need not be represented by an attorney, but the NGDC must be represented by a partner, bona fide officer, or employee of the company. 52 Pa. Code §1.21(c).
A witness may submit written comments/exhibits/Power Point presentations for inclusion in the record and theseand must be filed electronically by November 4, 2005, to [insert receiving email address].. For each major NGDC, the submission of written comments/exhibits is mandatory. Twenty-five (25) paper copies and one (1) electronic copy of written comments/exhibits should be brought to the hearing for distribution to the Commission, Commission staff, the court reporter and the Secretary. Witnesses may also bring extra copies for public distribution. All written comments/exhibits will be posted on the Commission’s website. Except for questions from the Commissioners and Commission staff, no other cross-examination of a witness will be permitted.
For the purpose of streamlining the hearing, witnesses sharing substantially the samelike interests and positions may be grouped into panels to present testimony. On November 7, 2005, the Commission will issue an agenda that will identify witnesses selected to testify, establish a schedule for the hearing, and will designate panels of witnesses. Please note that the time for each panel will be listed on the agenda and that the time allotted to individual witnesses will be 15 minutes or less.
Subsequent to the hearing, written reply comments may be submitted by November 18, 2005. An original and ten copies of such reply comments must be filed with the Commission’s Secretary. A copy of the filed reply comments should also be sent to the e-mail address set forth abovein electronic format on a diskette must also be submitted. These, in turn,All comments will be posted on the Commission’s website.
Any questions regarding this letter or the Commission’s investigation should be directed to contact persons Frank Sparrow at (717-787-3512) or Raj Barua at (717-214-1956) (Need contacts here). For logistical or media related questions contact Tom Charles at (717-787-9504).
If you are a person with a disability, and you wish to attend the hearing, we will may be able to make arrangements for your special needs. Please call the Office of Administrative Law Judge’s Scheduling Office at (717) 787-1399 by November 4, 2005. The AT&T Relay Service number for persons who are deaf or hearing-impaired is 1-800-654-5988.
Very truly yours,
James J. McNulty
Secretary
cc: Karen Oill Moury, Director of Operations
Veronica A. Smith, Chief Administrative Law Judge
Susan D. Colwell, Administrative Law Judge
Robert A. Rosenthal, Director, Fixed Utility Services
Mitchell A. Miller, Director, Bureau of Consumer Services
Bohdan R. Pankiw, Chief Counsel
Robert F. Young, Deputy Chief Counsel
Wayne Williams, Director, Conservation, Economics and Energy Planning
June Perry, Director, Legislative Affairs
Tom Charles, Manager, Office of Communications
Michael Hoffman, Director, Transportation and ASafety
Paul Metro, Chief, Gas Safety Division
Issues, a Pennsylvania Perspective:[1]
o Beginning with the gas cost prices currently approved by the Commission, provide yourthe monthly projected prices through March 31, 2006.
o What is the sStatus of storage (percent of storage filled currently, and projected fill levels by the end of the injection season) and supply impact, if any, on contracts for firm supply this winter as a result of hurricanes KatrinaRita and RitaKatrina?, What isand the level of your dependence on non-firm supplies over the winter)? , Includewith specific information on the percent of winter supply covered by storage capacity this year.
o What is the eExpected demand of supplies under contract and how do yougas companies plan to meet their system needs? Provide a, with specific break down ofon storage supplies, hedged price supply, monthly index supplies, spot purchases and other (description). Provide information on the types of indices and price references used for index contracts and hedging.
o What are your cContingency plans if your gas supply is curtailedgas is short supplied?. Do the supply contracts include financial penalties for failure to perform or if force majuere is declared?
o What is the sStatus of curtailment your curtailment plansplans? Whatand plans and actions, if any, have you taken with regard to interruptible load for this winter?.
o What is your Interstate pipelines -- long-term outlook for transportationing and storage ofing natural gas on interstate facilities for delivery to your systemPA over the next five years?
o .
Plans for responding to the cold weather survey including:
- In the eventHow the utilities will work you have contact with aits customers how do you plan to help them manage higher prices? Whatspecifically company plans, if any, do you have to be less restrictive than Chapter 14 when negotiating terms for restoration?.
- What is the sStatus of current households without service -- how many households are off as of November 1, 2005?
- What are yourCompany plans for pursuing termination during the winter period (December 2005 through March 20065)?.
o What actions have you taken or plan to take to educate consumers about the escalating natural gas prices and ways to conserve energy?
o What mutual aid agreements do you have in place to address restoration of service after a major outage?
o What is your oOutlook and plan for addressing distribution system pipe freezes?.
[1] Where specific data is requested provide the date at which the data was/is current.