[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 104 (Wednesday, May 29, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 26900-26901]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-13352]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. RM95-4-000]


Revisiosn to Uniform System of Accounts, Forms, Statements, and 
Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Companies; Notice of Revised 
Electronic Filing Specifications for Index of Customers and Discount 
Transportation Rate Report

May 22, 1996.

    On September 28, 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) issued Order No. 581, amending its Uniform System of 
Accounts, forms, and reports and statements for natural gas 
companies.\1\ The changes wrought by the rule include modifications to 
the Commission's electronic filing requirements.
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    \1\ Revisions to Uniform System of Accounts, Forms, Statements, 
and Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Companies, 60 FR 53019 
(October 11, 1995).
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    Although Order No. 581 imposed new and revised electronic filing 
requirements, it did not include the final electronic filing 
specifications. On February 29, 1996, the Commission issued ``Notice 
Adopting Electronic Filing Specifications for Index of Customers and 
Discount Transportation Rate Report'' (the Notice) in Docket No. RM95-
4-000.\2\ The Notice contained the instructions for filing the Index of 
Customers and discount rate reports electronically.\3\ The first Index 
of Customers filing was due April 1, 1996. The first discount rate 
report filed electronically was due with the filing of the March 
report.
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    \2\ 61 FR 8870, March 6, 1996.
    \3\ The requirement to file an Index of Customers is set forth 
in Secs. 284.106(c) and 284.223(b). The requirement to file the 
discount rate report is contained in Sec. 284.7(c)(6). The 
instructions for filing the Index of Customers electronically are 
entitled ``Instruction Manual for Electronic Filing of the Index of 
Customers.'' The instructions for filing the discount rate reports 
electronically are entitled ``Instruction Manual for Electronic 
Filing of the Discount Transportation Rate Report.''
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    On April 29, 1996, the Commission issued an Order on Clarification 
addressing requests for clarification of the instructions for filing 
the Index and discount rate reports electronically. The Commission 
agreed to make two modifications to its instructions. The Commission 
directed staff to include these changes, and other minor modifications 
staff has identified, in revised instruction manuals to be issued soon 
after issuance of the Notice.
    In compliance with the Notice, staff is revising the instruction 
manuals for the Index of Customers and discount rate reports appended 
as Attachments A and B, respectively.\4\
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    \4\ These Attachments are not being published in the Federal 
Register, but are available from the Commission's Public Reference 
Room.
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Changes Required by the Order on Clarification

    In accordance with the Order on Clarification, General Instruction 
1(B) of both sets of instructions is modified to eliminate the 
impression that the respondent has the election to comply with the 
Index of Customers and discount rate report requirements. The phrase 
``[i]f the respondent does not want to report a value for a specific 
data item on the record, then the data item can be omitted * * * is 
replaced by the phrase ``If a data item is not applicable,

[[Page 26901]]

the data item must be omitted, * * *.'' A similar modification is made 
at General Instruction 5(B).
    In the instruction manual for the Index of Customers, the last 
sentence of the Purpose section is revised to clarify that the 
electronic file must be downloadable from the pipeline's EBB.

Minor Changes Common to Both Sets of Instructions

    Staff desires to make several minor modifications to correct 
typographical errors and make other corrections. Due to experience 
gained from the filing of the Index of Customers and discount rate 
reports in April, several instructions are added or clarified to avoid 
confusion.
    The section, What to Submit, now instructs the pipeline on the 
proper contents of a revised filing. The instructions applicable to the 
Report Date are clarified. The Report Date is the date the pipeline 
expects to file the report with the Secretary of the Commission. In 
other words, the Report Date is the anticipated filing date.
    The instructions concerning the footnote record are revised. The 
data item, Footnote ID, is renamed Footnote Number to avoid confusion 
with a data item of the same name on the detail record. The format of 
this data item is changed to numeric. The instruction is rewritten to 
ensure that only the number of the footnote is reported on the footnote 
record. The proper format for the footnote record is displayed at page 
10 of the instructions.
    Recently issued pipeline ID codes are added to the pipeline ID code 
listing. Erroneous pipeline ID codes are corrected. Several pipeline 
names are also corrected.
    In the appendix containing the file creation hints, instructions 
for saving a tab delimited file in Wordperfect 6.0 are added.

Modifications Unique to the Index of Customers

    In the instructions concerning the detail record, the definition of 
the data item, Max Storage Quantity, is clarified. There has been some 
confusion over which storage contract quantity the Commission requires 
to be reported. The Max Storage Quantity is the largest quantity of 
natural gas the pipeline is obligated to store for the shipper under 
the reported contract. The commission does not want a daily injection 
or withdrawal quantity reported in this field. Similarly, a pipeline 
must not report the daily injection or withdrawal quantity in the field 
reserved for the data item, Max Daily Transportation Quantity.
    Staff would also like to bring to the pipelines' attention two 
instructions to which some pipelines are not adhering. First, the 
regulation at 18 CFR 284.106(c)(3)(i) requires the pipeline to report 
the full legal name of the customer. Some of the indices received to 
date do not reflect the full legal name of the customers.
    Several guidelines should be followed when recording a customer's 
name. Take care to check the correct spelling of the name. TransCanada 
Pipelines Limited was spelled also TransCanada PipeLines Limited. Do 
not leave words out of a customer's name. The name, Washington Gas 
Light Company, was submitted correctly in some instances but also 
incorrectly as, Washington Gas Light, and Washington Gas.
    Pay attention to punctuation and do not abbreviate words within the 
name. NGC Transportation, Inc. was spelled:

NGC Transportation Inc.
NGC Transportation, Inc.
NGC TRANSPORTATION, INC.
NGC TRANS., INC.

By far, however, the most common error is the omission of the words 
company, corporation, or Inc. The pipeline must report the full legal 
name of the shipper.
    The regulation at 18 CFR 284.106(c)(3) requires the pipeline to 
report all firm transportation or storage service contracts. 
Individually certificated contracts appearing in Volume No. 2 of the 
pipeline's FERC Gas Tariff must be included. Several pipelines appear 
to have excluded these contracts from their indices. All firm 
transportation and storage contracts must be reported in the Index of 
Customers, including individually certificated transactions.

Modifications Unique to the Discount Rate Report

    The Commission received several discount rate reports in April 
which did not contain a paper copy of the report. The Commission 
requires a paper copy filing of the discount rate report. To avoid any 
further confusion, an instruction is added in the section, What to 
Submit, requiring an original and at least five paper copies of the 
letter of transmittal and of the data items required by 18 CFR 
284.7(c)(6) to accompany the electronic filing.
    The section, When to Submit, is modified to clarify that all 
reports submitted subsequent to the report due for March must comply 
with the electronic filing instructions. All resubmissions filed after 
April 15, 1996, therefore, no matter to what billing periods they 
apply, must be filed electronically.
    General Instruction 3 clarifies the file naming convention. 
Resubmissions for prior months must be segregated into separate files. 
However, they may be filed on a single diskette if submitted under the 
cover of a single letter of transmittal.
    General Instruction 5(C) is revised to refer to the measurement 
basis to be used when reporting the maximum and discounted rates. All 
of the rates must be reported on the same measurement basis as the 
rates reported in the pipeline's FERC Gas Tariff. General Instruction 
5(E) is modified to remind pipelines not to include dollar signs when 
reporting rates. General Instruction 7(B) is deleted since no rate 
schedules are reported in the discount rate report.
    The format for the paper copy of the discount rate report is 
unspecified. Several pipelines have simply printed on paper the 
contents of the electronic file. This is an acceptable format with the 
following modifications:
    (a) The pipeline must add column headers to the data to explain the 
contents of each column.
    (b) The Item ID must appear in the column heading for each data 
item so the Footnote ID can be properly interpreted.

Conclusion

    The filing requirements and regulations have been carefully crafted 
to ensure the data submitted by the pipelines is compatible with 
typical computer processing techniques. It is imperative for pipelines 
to adhere closely to the instructions to ensure the data's usefulness. 
Where a pipeline's data on file with the Commission does not conform to 
the regulations and filing requirements, we would expect to see a 
revision filed to bring the data into conformance.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-13352 Filed 5-28-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M