Overview and Purpose

Rules 4601 through 4610 are used by utilities to revise gas rates on an expedited basis, to reduce the volatility of gas costs for customers, and to improve their management of gas costs. These rules provide instructions for the filing of: gas cost adjustment filings; annual gas purchase plan submittals; annual gas purchase and deferred balance reports; gas price risk mitigation plans; and gas performance incentive mechanisms. The purpose of the Gas Cost Adjustment is to enable utilities, on an expedited basis, to reflect in their rates for gas sales and gas transportation services, as applicable, the increases or decreases in gas costs, including (but not limited to) gas commodity costs and upstream services costs. The purpose of the Gas Purchase Plan is to describe the utility's plan for purchases of gas commodity and upstream services in order to meet the forecasted demand for sales gas service during each month of the gas purchase year. The purpose of the Gas Purchase and Deferred Balance Report is to present the utility's actual purchases of gas commodity and upstream services during each month of the gas purchase year. The combined purpose of the Gas Price Risk Management Plan and the Gas Performance Incentive Mechanism is to address the volatility of gas commodity costs recovered from the utility's customers and to align the utility's financial incentives with the financial interests of its customers regarding incurred gas commodity costs.#