New York Approves Pipeline Refunds to Aggregation Customers in Addition to Sales Customers at NYSEG

The New York PSC granted New York State Electric & Gas Corporation a temporary waiver of certain portions of the company's Gas Cost Refund tariff provision to allow a refund received by the company from Tennessee Gas Pipeline Company to be returned to non-daily metered (aggregation) gas customers as well as retail sales customers.

Under a FERC settlement, Tennessee remitted rate refunds to supporting or non-opposing shippers for the months of June 2011 through October 2011. NYSEG's share of the Tennessee refunds, including interest, is $539,000.

In accordance with its existing tariff, PSC No. 90 - Gas, supplier refunds are passed back to retail sales customers only, through the Gas Supply Charge.

For the purposes of the Tennessee refunds, NYSEG proposed a waiver from its current tariff to allow the refunds to be passed back to non-daily metered transportation (aggregation) customers as well as retail sales customers, in Gas Supply Areas 1 and 3.

NYSEG noted that in accordance with the Public Service Commission's mandatory capacity assignment requirements, NYSEG contracts for upstream capacity to serve all retail sales and aggregation customers. Tennessee capacity is included in the company's upstream capacity requirements, and is part of the capacity assigned to Energy Service Companies (ESCOs) to meet aggregation customers' peak day needs in GSA 1 and 3.

"Since NYSEG has secured this capacity to meet the upstream capacity needs of both retail sales and aggregation customers, NYSEG proposes that all such customers be considered eligible for the Tennessee refunds," NYSEG had said.

NYSEG proposed that the Tennessee refunds be included in the Transition Surcharge as adjustments for both retail sales customers and aggregation customers, in GSA 1 and 3.

"The Tennessee refund represents a refund of capacity costs that were paid for by both aggregation and sales customers in GSA 1 and 3. It is therefore appropriate to allow the refund to be passed back to the customers that paid those costs," the PSC said in granting the waiver, and allowing the refund to be paid to both sales and aggregation (ESCO) customers.

The refund is to be paid over a 12-month period.