[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 62 (Monday, April 1, 2013)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 19409-19413]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-07078]



[[Page 19409]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

18 CFR Part 154

[Docket No. RM12-14-000; Order No. 776]


Annual Charge Filing Procedures for Natural Gas Pipelines

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Energy.

ACTION: Final rule.

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SUMMARY: In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission or FERC) is amending its regulations to revise the filing 
requirements for natural gas pipelines that choose to recover 
Commission-assessed annual charges through an annual charge adjustment 
(ACA) clause. Currently, natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause 
must make an annual tariff filing to reflect a revised ACA unit charge 
authorized by the Commission for that fiscal year. To reduce the 
regulatory burden on these pipelines, the Commission will eliminate 
this annual filing requirement. In its place, the Commission will 
require natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to incorporate 
the Commission-authorized annual charge unit rate by reference to that 
rate, as published on the Commission's Web site located at http://www.ferc.gov.

DATES: This rule will become effective May 31, 2013.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Adam Bednarczyk (Technical Issues), 
888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6444, 
[email protected]. Michelle A. Davis (Legal Issues), 888 First 
Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8687, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Before Commissioners: Jon Wellinghoff, Chairman; Philip D. Moeller, 
John R. Norris, Cheryl A. LaFleur, and Tony Clark.
    Issued March 21, 2013.
    1. In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission or FERC) is amending its regulations at 18 CFR 154.402 to 
revise the filing requirements for natural gas pipelines that choose to 
recover Commission-assessed annual charges through an annual charge 
adjustment (ACA) clause. Currently, natural gas pipelines utilizing an 
ACA clause must make an annual tariff filing to reflect a revised ACA 
unit charge authorized by the Commission for that fiscal year. To 
reduce the regulatory burden on these pipelines, the Commission will 
eliminate this annual filing requirement. In its place, the Commission 
will require natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to 
incorporate the Commission-authorized annual charge unit rate by 
reference to that rate, as published on the Commission's Web site 
located at http://www.ferc.gov.

I. Background

A. Commission Regulations

    2. The Commission is required to ``assess and collect fees and 
annual charges in any fiscal year in amounts equal to all of the costs 
incurred by the Commission in that fiscal year.'' \1\ To accomplish 
this, the Commission created the annual charges program, which is 
designed to recover the costs of administering the natural gas, oil, 
and electric programs by calculating the costs of each program, net of 
filing fees, and properly allocating them among the three programs.\2\ 
This proceeding applies only to the recovery of annual charges assessed 
to entities in the natural gas program.
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    \1\ See Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act, Public Law 99-509, 
Title III, Subtitle E, Sec. 3401, 1986 U.S. Code Cong. & Ad. News 
(100 Stat.) 1874, 1890-91 (codified at 42 U.S.C. 7178 (2012)).
    \2\ Annual Charges Under the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act 
of 1986, Order No. 472, FERC Stats & Regs. ] 30,746, clarified by, 
Order No. 472-A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,750, order on reh'g, Order 
No. 472-B, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,767 (1987), order on reh'g, 
Order No. 472-C, 42 FERC ] 61,013 (1988).
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    3. The provisions governing the assessment of annual charges are 
codified in Part 382 of the Commission's regulations.\3\ In brief, 
after the Commission calculates the costs of administering the natural 
gas regulatory program,\4\ it assesses those costs to natural gas 
pipeline companies (Pipelines).\5\ Each Pipeline is assessed a 
proportional share of the Commission's costs of administering the 
natural gas program. That proportional share is based on the proportion 
of the total gas subject to Commission regulation which was sold and 
transported by each company in the immediately preceding calendar year 
to the sum of the gas subject to the Commission regulation which was 
sold and transported in the immediately preceding calendar year by all 
natural gas pipeline companies being assessed annual charges.\6\ For 
example, if a Pipeline sold and transported 10 percent of the total gas 
subject to the Commission's regulations, that Pipeline would be 
assessed 10 percent of the costs of the natural gas regulatory program 
in the form of an annual charge.
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    \3\ 18 CFR part 382 (2012).
    \4\ Id. at 382.102(d) (defining the ``natural gas regulatory 
program'' as the Commission's regulation of the natural gas industry 
under the Natural Gas Act; Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; Alaska 
Natural Gas Transportation Act; Public Utility Regulatory Policies 
Act; Department of Energy Organization Act; Outer Continental Shelf 
Lands Act; Energy Security Act; Regulatory Flexibility Act; Crude 
Oil Windfall Profit Tax Act; National Environmental Policy Act; 
National Historic Preservation Act).
    \5\ For the purposes of this proceeding, we use the term natural 
gas pipeline company (Pipeline) as it is defined in 18 CFR 
382.102(a) (2012): ``any person: (1) Engaged in natural gas sales 
for resale or natural gas transportation subject to the jurisdiction 
of the Commission under the Natural Gas Act whose sales for resale 
and transportation exceed 200,000 Mcf at 14.73 psi (60 [deg]F) in 
any of the three calendar years immediately preceding the fiscal 
year for which the Commission is assessing annual charges; and (2) 
Not engaged solely in ``first sales'' of natural gas as that term is 
defined in section 2(21) of the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978; and 
(3) To whom the Commission has not issued a Natural Gas Act Section 
7(f) declaration; and (4) Not holding a limited jurisdiction 
certificate.''
    \6\ 18 CFR 382.202 (2012).
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    4. Pipelines are entitled to recover these annual charges from 
their customers, and they have two options for doing so. First, upon 
Commission approval, a Pipeline may adjust its rates annually to 
recover the annual charges through an ACA clause.\7\ Second, a Pipeline 
may seek to recover its annual charges through its general 
transportation rates.\8\ This proceeding proposes to modify only the 
first method, i.e., recovery of annual charges through an ACA clause, 
as it is widely used among Pipelines.
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    \7\ Id. at 154.402.
    \8\ Order No. 472, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,746 at 30,629.
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    5. Order No. 472 recognized that although the Commission generally 
disfavors the use of tracking mechanisms, it is appropriate that 
Pipelines be permitted to pass through these annual charges directly to 
customers.\9\ Accordingly, the Commission provided Pipelines an option 
of passing along the annual charges to customers through a surcharge to 
their transportation rates reflected in an ACA clause.\10\ The 
Commission's requirements for Pipelines that choose to utilize an ACA 
clause are codified in section 154.402 of the Commission's 
regulations.\11\ The ACA clause must be filed with the Commission and 
indicate the amount of annual charges to be flowed through per unit of 
energy sold or transported (ACA unit charge). The ACA unit charge will 
be specified by the Commission at the time the Commission calculates 
the annual charge bills. A company must reflect the ACA unit charge in 
each of its rate schedules applicable to sales or transportation 
deliveries. The company

[[Page 19410]]

must apply the ACA unit charge to the usage component of rate schedules 
with two-part rates. A company may recover annual charges through an 
ACA unit charge only if its rates do not otherwise reflect the costs of 
annual charges assessed by the Commission under Sec.  382.106(a) of 
this chapter. The applicable annual charge, required by Sec.  382.103 
of this chapter, must be paid before the company applies the ACA unit 
charge.\12\
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    \9\ Id.
    \10\ Id.
    \11\ 18 CFR 154.402 (2012).
    \12\ Id. at 154.402(a).
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    6. Pipelines that seek to recover annual charges through an ACA 
clause must file a tariff record containing a statement that the 
company is collecting an ACA per unit charge, as approved by the 
Commission, applicable to all the pipeline's sales and transportation 
rate schedules, the per unit charge of the ACA, the proposed effective 
date of the tariff change (30 days after the filing of the tariff sheet 
or section, unless a shorter period is specifically requested in a 
waiver petition and approved), and a statement that the pipeline will 
not recover any annual charges recorded in FERC Account 928 in a 
proceeding under subpart D of [part 154 of the Commission's 
regulations].\13\
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    \13\ Id. at 154.402(b).
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    Additionally, the Commission requires these Pipelines to file 
revised tariff records to reflect changes to the ACA unit charge 
authorized by the Commission each fiscal year.\14\
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    \14\ Id. at 154.402(c).
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    7. Each year the Commission sets the ACA unit charge for the 
natural gas program in July.\15\ Pipelines that wish to begin 
collecting the ACA unit charge on the first day of the fiscal year are 
required to file revised tariff records reflecting changes in the ACA 
unit charge by September 1 of each year, to be effective October 1 of 
that year.\16\ So long as the Pipeline has paid its annual charge to 
the Commission, the Commission will accept the tariff records, and they 
will go into effect on October 1. To the extent that the ACA unit 
charge remains the same from one year to the next, existing Pipelines 
that already reflect that ACA unit charge in their tariffs need not 
make a filing for that year. This annual process is designed to ensure 
that Pipelines collect charges for the entire fiscal year, as defined 
in Part 382 of the Commission's regulations.
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    \15\ The Commission publishes this change via a notice entitled, 
``FY [Year] Gas Annual Charges Correction for Annual Charges Unit 
Charge,'' which is available on the Commission's Web site, located 
at http://www.ferc.gov.
    \16\ See 18 CFR 382.102(i) (2012) (defining ``fiscal year'' as 
the twelve-month period that begins on the first day of October and 
ends on the last day of September); see also id. at 154.402(b)(3) 
(requiring the proposed effective date of the tariff change revising 
the ACA unit charge to be 30 days after the date the change is 
filed, unless a shorter period is specifically requested in a waiver 
petition and approved).
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    8. In 2011, the Commission received 145 filings to reflect the 
annual change in the ACA unit charge. In years in which the ACA unit 
charge does not change, there are fewer filings. However, some 
Pipelines, such as those that have recently gone into service and have 
been billed an annual charge, are still permitted to submit a filing to 
the Commission in order to pass along the annual charge to their 
customers.

B. Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR)

    9. On October 18, 2012, the Commission issued a NOPR proposing to 
eliminate the ACA unit charge filing requirement set forth in Part 154 
of the Commission's regulations. The Commission received comments in 
support of the NOPR from the American Gas Association, Spectra 
Entities, Interstate Natural Gas Association of America (INGAA) and KO 
Transmission Company. In addition to INGAA's comments in support of the 
NOPR, INGAA proposes a minor modification to the NOPR to eliminate 
unnecessary confusion and to reduce the filing burden on pipelines. 
Specifically, INGAA proposes requiring pipelines to submit compliance 
filings 30 or 60 days prior to the proposed October 1, 2013, effective 
date of this Final Rule.\17\
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    \17\ See INGAA Comments at 2-3.
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II. Discussion

    10. In an effort to reduce the regulatory burden associated with 
annual tariff filings to reflect the current year's ACA unit charge, 
the Commission will eliminate the annual filing requirement for 
Pipelines utilizing an ACA clause. In its place, the Commission will 
require Pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to incorporate the 
Commission-authorized ACA unit rate by reference to that rate, as 
published on the Commission's Web site. Accordingly, Pipelines that 
wish to continue utilizing an ACA clause will be required to make a 
one-time tariff revision that incorporates the ACA unit charge 
published on the Commission's Web site into the Pipeline's tariff as 
the ACA unit charge for the relevant fiscal year.\18\
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    \18\ See 18 CFR 382.102(i) (2012) (defining ``fiscal year'' as 
the twelve-month period that begins on the first day of October and 
ends on the last day of September).
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    11. The Commission is aware that in addition to the basic statutory 
requirement that all rates and charges be on file with the 
Commission,\19\ the filing requirements associated with the annual 
revisions to the ACA unit charge serve important practical functions. 
First, the annual tariff filing (and the Commission's acceptance of 
that filing) establishes an effective date upon which the Pipeline is 
entitled to begin collecting that fiscal year's ACA unit charge. 
Second, the annual filing provides the Commission with an opportunity 
to ensure that the Pipeline has actually paid the annual charge that it 
seeks to recover from customers.\20\
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    \19\ 15 U.S.C. 717c (2006).
    \20\ Order No. 472, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,746 at 30,629-30 
(explaining that Pipelines may only collect those annual charges 
that they have already paid to the Commission).
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    12. Because the annual filing requirement will be eliminated under 
the reforms set forth in this Final Rule, the Commission will require 
Pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to incorporate by reference into 
their tariffs the ACA unit charge specified in the annual notice issued 
by the Commission entitled ``FY [Year] Gas Annual Charges Correction 
for Annual Charges Unit Charge.'' This ACA unit charge shall be 
effective on the first day of October following issuance of this notice 
and shall extend to the last day of September the following year (i.e., 
the duration of the fiscal year). However, the ACA unit charge shall 
only be incorporated by reference into the Pipeline's tariff, and 
thereby assessed to shippers, if the Pipeline has paid its annual 
assessment, as reflected on a new notice, entitled ``Payment Status of 
Pipeline Billings--FY [Year],'' that the Commission will issue each 
year. This notice will identify the Pipelines that have been assessed 
annual charges for a fiscal year and indicate whether they have paid 
their charges and are, therefore, authorized to recover the ACA unit 
charge from shippers. The Commission will issue the ``Payment Status of 
Pipeline Billings--FY [Year]'' notice on the last business day of the 
fiscal year, and provide updates as necessary. All of the documents can 
be found on the Annual Charges page of the Natural Gas section of the 
Commission's Web site, located at http://www.ferc.gov.
    13. We emphasize that the only thing changed by this Final Rule is 
the filing requirement for those Pipelines that utilize an ACA clause. 
This Final Rule does not prevent Pipelines from continuing to recover 
annual charges assessed by the Commission through their transportation 
rates, as established in a general rate case. Nor does this Final Rule 
modify how the Commission calculates the costs of the natural gas

[[Page 19411]]

regulatory program or how the ACA unit charge is calculated or 
assessed.
    14. We are taking this action as part of our commitment to 
continually review our regulations and eliminate those requirements 
that impose an unnecessary burden on regulated entities. We find that 
requiring Pipelines to incorporate the ACA unit charge by reference to 
the notices published on the Commission's Web site will retain all of 
the transparency and consumer safeguards embodied in the Commission's 
existing regulations. However, it will eliminate approximately 145 
filings each year, thereby reducing the regulatory burden on the 
Pipelines and the Commission.

III. Compliance

    15. This Final Rule requires Pipelines to implement the changes set 
forth herein in time for the 2014 fiscal year. Accordingly, the 
Commission will require each Pipeline utilizing an ACA clause to make a 
one-time compliance filing revising its tariff to incorporate by 
reference the ACA unit charge published on the Commission's Web site, 
as discussed above. In order to give Pipelines subject to these 
modifications adequate time to implement these changes, this compliance 
filing will be due 60 days before the required effective date of 
October 1, 2013.

IV. Information Collection Statement

    16. The Office of Management and Budget's (OMB) regulations require 
approval of certain information collection requirements imposed by 
agency rules.\21\ Upon approval of a collection of information, OMB 
will assign an OMB control number and an expiration date. Respondents 
subject to the filing requirements of a rule will not be penalized for 
failing to respond to this collection of information unless the 
collection of information displays a valid OMB control number.
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    \21\ 5 CFR 1320.11 (2012).
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    17. The Commission sought comments on its burden estimates 
associated with adoption of the NOPR proposals. In response to the 
NOPR, no comments were filed addressing the reporting burden estimates 
imposed by these requirements. Therefore the Commission will use the 
same estimates in this Final Rule.
    18. The following FERC-542 reporting requirements contained in this 
Final Rule are being submitted to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review under section 507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(d). The burden estimates reflect the time 
necessary for respondents to update their tariffs according to this 
Final Rule. Additionally, these estimates highlight reductions to the 
burden since respondents will no longer have to file ACA charge tariff 
adjustments. More specifically, the Commission estimates it will 
require eight hours per response to make the ``one-time'' (during the 
first year only) compliance tariff changes set forth in this Final Rule 
to place the new tariff language into effect. However, in each year 
(including the 1st year), the Commission also estimates that filers 
will see a two-hour reduction in burden per response from no longer 
filing ACA charge tariff adjustments. The following table displays the 
estimated annual burden hour impact of the Final Rule.

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                                                     Number of                         Addition of        Reduction of
 FERC-542 in the final rule in      Number of      responses per     Total number     average burden     average burden     Net average      Estimated
            RM12-14                respondents     respondent per    of responses       hours per          hours per       burden hours    total annual
                                                        year           per year          response           response       per response       burden
                                            (A)  (B)..............     (A) * (B) =  (D)..............  (E)..............     (D) + (E) =       (C) * (F)
                                                                               (C)                                                   (F)
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Year 1.........................             145  1 Compliance                  145  +8 (Compliance     0................              +8           +1160
                                                  Filing.                            Filing).
Year 1.........................             145  1 Avoided ACA                 145  0................  -2 (ACA filing)..              -2            -290
                                                  filing.
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Year 1 SUBTOTAL................  ..............  .................  ..............  .................  .................              +6            +870
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Year 2.........................             145  1 Avoided ACA                 145  0................  -2 (ACA filing)..              -2            -290
                                                  filing.
Year 3.........................             145  1 Avoided ACA                 145  0................  -2 (ACA filing)..              -2            -290
                                                  Filing.
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    NET TOTAL..................  ..............  .................  ..............  .................  .................  ..............            +290
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To understand the burden estimates above, reference the following 
equation:

Year 1 + Year 2 + Year 3 [rarr] +870 hours - 290 hours - 290 hours = 
+290 hours
    The net total additional annual burden associated with this Final 
Rule over Years 1-3 period is 290 hours. Thus, the average additional 
annual burden for Years 1-3 is 97 hours (290 hours / 3 years = 97 hours 
per year). Further, the Commission estimates that each respondent (on 
average) should experience a decrease to the annual burden (of 2 hours 
per year) due to the avoidance of the ACA filing.
    Information Collection Costs: The Commission seeks comments on the 
costs to comply with these requirements. It has projected the average 
cost for all respondents to be the following: \22\
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    \22\ The cost figures are derived by multiplying the total hours 
to prepare a response (hours) by an hourly wage estimate of $59 (a 
composite estimate that includes legal, technical and support staff 
wages and benefits obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistic data 
at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm and http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).
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     One-time total cost in Year 1 of $51,330 (870 hours * $59/
hour)
     Avoided cost per year (starting in Year 1) of $17,110 (290 
hours * $59/hour)
    Title: FERC-542, Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Tracking.
    Action: One-time filing and reduced future filings.
    OMB Control Number: 1902-0070.
    Respondents: Natural Gas Pipelines.
    Frequency of Responses: One-time implementation and future 
reduction in number of responses.
    Necessity of Information: The proposals in this Final Rule would, 
if implemented, result in a net reduction of annual burden of 
interstate natural

[[Page 19412]]

gas pipelines, starting with the fifth year and in each year 
thereafter.
    Internal Review: The Commission has reviewed the requirements 
pertaining to the modification of the Commission's regulations and made 
a preliminary determination that the revisions are necessary to reduce 
the burden imposed by the Commission on the natural gas industry. The 
Commission has assured itself, by means of its internal review, that 
there is specific, objective support for the burden estimates 
associated with the information requirements.
    19. Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting 
requirements by contacting the following: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426 [Attention: 
Ellen Brown, Office of the Executive Director, email: 
[email protected], phone: (202) 502-8663, fax: (202) 273-0873].
    20. Comments concerning the collection of information and the 
associated burden estimate, should be sent to the Commission in this 
docket and to the Office of Management and Budget, Office of 
Information and Regulatory Affairs, Washington, DC 20503 [Attention: 
Desk Officer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, telephone: 
(202) 395-4638, fax: (202) 395-4718]. For security reasons, comments to 
OMB should be submitted by email to: [email protected]. 
Comments submitted to OMB should include Docket Number RM12-14-000 and 
OMB Control Number 1902-0070.

V. Environmental Analysis

    21. The Commission is required to prepare an Environmental 
Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement for any action that may 
have a significant adverse effect on the human environment.\23\ The 
Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these 
requirements as not having a significant effect on the human 
environment.\24\ The actions set forth here fall within categorical 
exclusions in the Commission's regulations for rules that are 
clarifying, corrective, or procedural, for information gathering, 
analysis, and dissemination, and for sales, exchange, and 
transportation of natural gas that requires no construction of 
facilities.\25\ Therefore, an environmental assessment is unnecessary 
and has not been prepared as part of this Final Rule.
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    \23\ Regulations Implementing the National Environmental Policy 
Act of 1969, Order No. 486, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,783 (1987).
    \24\ 18 CFR 380.4 (2012).
    \25\ See id. at 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), 380.4(a)(27).
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VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    22. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) \26\ generally 
requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The RFA mandates consideration of regulatory alternatives that 
accomplish the stated objectives of a Final Rule and that minimize any 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The Small Business Administration's (SBA) Office of Size Standards 
develops the numerical definition of a small business.\27\ The SBA has 
established a size standard for pipelines transporting natural gas, 
stating that a firm is small if its annual receipts are less than $25.5 
million.\28\
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    \26\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612 (2000).
    \27\ 13 CFR 121.101 (2012).
    \28\ Id. at subsection 486.
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    23. The regulations set forth here impose requirements only on 
interstate pipelines, the majority of which are not small businesses. 
Most companies regulated by the Commission do not fall within the RFA's 
definition of a small entity. Approximately 145 entities would be 
potential respondents subject to data collection FERC-545 reporting 
requirements. Nearly all of these entities are large entities. For the 
year 2011 (the most recent year for which information is available), 
only 15 companies not affiliated with larger companies had annual 
revenues of less than $25.5 million. Moreover, these requirements are 
designed to benefit all customers, including small businesses. The 
Commission estimates that the one-time cost per small entity is 
$354.\29\ In the future, small entities should see a cost savings 
related to avoiding an annual ACA charge adjustment filing. The 
Commission does not consider the estimated $354 impact per entity to be 
significant. Accordingly, pursuant to Sec.  605(b) of the RFA, the 
Commission certifies that this Final Rule should not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
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    \29\ This number is derived by multiplying the hourly figure (6) 
by the cost per hour ($59). 6 hrs * $59/hr = $354.
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VII. Document Availability

    24. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the 
Internet through FERC's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov) and in FERC's 
Public Reference Room during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 
p.m. Eastern time) at 888 First Street NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 
20426.
    25. From FERC's Home Page on the Internet, this information is 
available on eLibrary. The full text of this document is available on 
eLibrary in PDF and Microsoft Word format for viewing, printing, and/or 
downloading. To access this document in eLibrary, type the docket 
number excluding the last three digits of this document in the docket 
number field.
    26. User assistance is available for eLibrary and the FERC's Web 
site during normal business hours from FERC Online Support at 202-502-
6652 (toll free at 1-866-208-3676) or email at 
[email protected], or the Public Reference Room at (202) 502-
8371, TTY (202) 502-8659. Email the Public Reference Room at 
[email protected].

VIII. Effective Date and Congressional Notification

    27. These regulations are effective May 31, 2013. The Commission 
has determined, with the concurrence of the Administrator of the Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB, that this rule is not a 
``major rule'' as defined in section 351 of the Small Business 
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996.

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 154

    Natural gas, Pipelines, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    By the Commission.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
    In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission amends Part 154, 
Chapter I, Title 18, Code of Federal Regulations, as follows:

PART 154-RATE SCHEDULES AND TARIFFS

0
1. The authority citation for part 154 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  15 U.S.C. 717-717w; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 U.S.C. 7102-
7352.


0
2. In Sec.  154.402, revise paragraphs (a) and (b) to read as follows:


Sec.  154.402  ACA expenditures.

    (a) Requirements. Upon approval by the Commission, a natural gas 
pipeline company may adjust its rates, annually, to recover from its 
customers annual charges assessed by the Commission under part 382 of 
this chapter pursuant to an annual charge adjustment clause (ACA 
clause). Prior to the start of each fiscal year, the Commission will 
post on

[[Page 19413]]

its Web site the amount of annual charges to be flowed through per unit 
of energy sold or transported (ACA unit charge) for that fiscal year. A 
company's ACA clause must be filed with the Commission and must 
incorporate by reference the ACA unit charge for the upcoming fiscal 
year as posted on the Commission's Web site. A company must incorporate 
by reference the ACA unit charge posted on the Commission's Web site in 
each of its rate schedules applicable to sales or transportation 
deliveries. The company must apply the ACA unit charge posted on the 
Commission's Web site to the usage component of rate schedules with 
two-part rates. A company may recover annual charges through an ACA 
unit charge only if its rates do not otherwise reflect the costs of 
annual charges assessed by the Commission under Sec.  382.106(a) of 
this chapter. The applicable annual charge, required by Sec.  382.103 
of this chapter, must be paid before the company applies the ACA unit 
charge. Upon payment to the Commission of its annual charges, the ACA 
unit charge for that fiscal year will be incorporated by reference into 
the company's tariff, effective throughout that fiscal year.
    (b) Application for rate treatment authorization. A company seeking 
authorization to use an ACA unit charge must file with the Commission a 
separate ACA tariff record containing:
    (1) A statement that the company is collecting an ACA unit charge, 
as calculated by the Commission, applicable to all the pipeline's sales 
and transportation rate schedules,
    (2) A statement that the ACA unit charge, as revised annually and 
posted on the Commission's Web site, is incorporated by reference into 
the company's tariff,
    (3) For companies with existing ACA clauses, a proposed effective 
date of the tariff change of October 1 of the fiscal year; for 
companies seeking to utilize an ACA clause after October 1 of the 
fiscal year, a proposed effective date 30 days after the filing of the 
tariff record, unless a shorter period is specifically requested in a 
waiver petition and approved), and
    (4) A statement that the pipeline will not recover any annual 
charges recorded in FERC Account 928 in a proceeding under subpart D of 
this part.
* * * * *
[FR Doc. 2013-07078 Filed 3-29-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P