Missouri Code of State Regulations
Title 20 - DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE AND INSURANCE
Division 4240 - Public Service Commission
Chapter 3 - Filing and Reporting Requirements
Section 20 CSR 4240-3.265 - Natural Gas Utility Petitions for Infrastructure System Replacement Surcharges
Current through Register Vol. 49, No. 6, March 15, 2024
PURPOSE: This rule sets forth the definitions, parameters and procedures relevant to the filing and processing of petitions pertaining to an infrastructure system replacement surcharge (ISRS), including the information that a natural gas utility must provide when it files a petition and associated rate schedules to establish, change or reconcile an ISRS.
(1) As used in this rule, the following terms mean:
(2) Pursuant to the provisions of this rule and sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo, a natural gas utility may file a petition and proposed rate schedules with the commission to establish or change ISRS rate schedules that will allow for the adjustment of its rates and charges to provide for the recovery of costs for eligible infrastructure system replacements; provided that the ISRS, on an annual-ized basis, must produce ISRS revenues of at least the lesser of one-half of one percent (1/2%) of the natural gas utility's base revenue level approved by the commission in the natural gas utility's most recent general rate case proceeding or one (1) million dollars, but not in excess of ten percent (10%) of the subject utility's base revenue level approved by the commission in the utility's most recent general rate proceeding.
(3) An ISRS, and any future changes thereto, shall be calculated and implemented in accordance with the provisions of this rule and sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo.
(4) ISRS revenues shall be subject to refund based upon a finding and order of the commission, to the extent provided in subsections
(5) and (8) of section 393.1015, RSMo. (5) The commission shall not approve an ISRS for a natural gas utility that has not had a general rate proceeding decided or dismissed by issuance of a commission order within the past three (3) years, unless that utility has filed for or is the subject of a new general rate proceeding.
(6) In no event shall a natural gas utility collect an ISRS for a period exceeding three (3) years unless it has filed for or is the subject of a new general rate proceeding; provided that the ISRS may be collected until the effective date of new rate schedules established as a result of the new general rate proceeding, or until the subject general rate proceeding is otherwise decided or dismissed by issuance of a commission order without new rates being established.
(7) Upon the filing of a petition seeking to establish or change an ISRS, the commission will provide notice of the filing.
(8) The natural gas utility shall provide the following notices to its customers, with such notices to be approved by the commission in accordance with section (9) of this rule before they are sent to the customers:
(9) Within twenty (20) days of the natural gas utility's filing of a petition to establish an ISRS, the subject utility shall submit the following items to the commission for approval or rejection, and the office of the public counsel may, within ten (10) days of the gas utility's filing of this information, submit comments regarding these notices to the commission:
(10) When a natural gas utility files a petition pursuant to the provisions of this rule and sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo, the commission shall conduct an examination of the proposed ISRS.
(11) The staff of the commission may examine the information of the natural gas utility provided pursuant to this rule and sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo, to confirm the underlying costs and proper calculation of the proposed ISRS, and may submit a report regarding its examination to the commission not later than sixty (60) days after the natural gas utility files its petition. The staff shall not examine any other revenue requirement or ratemaking issues in its consideration of the petition or associated proposed rate schedules.
(12) The commission may hold a hearing on the petition and the associated proposed rate schedules and shall issue an order to become effective not later than one hundred twenty (120) days after the natural gas utility files the petition.
(13) If the commission finds that a petition complies with the requirements of sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo, the commission shall enter an order authorizing the natural gas utility to impose an ISRS that is sufficient to recover appropriate pretax revenues, as determined by the commission.
(14) The monthly ISRS shall vary according to customer class and shall be calculated based on the customer numbers reported in the most recent annual report of the natural gas utility so long as the monthly ISRS for each customer class maintains a proportional relationship equivalent to the proportional relationship of the monthly customer charge for each customer class.
(15) Commission approval of a petition, and any associated rate schedules, to establish or change an ISRS pursuant to sections 393.1009 to 393.1015, RSMo, shall in no way be binding upon the commission in determining the ratemaking treatment to be applied to eligible infrastructure system replacements during a subsequent general rate proceeding when the commission may undertake to review the prudence of such costs. In the event the commission disallows, during a subsequent general rate proceeding, recovery of costs associated with eligible infrastructure system replacements previously in an ISRS, the natural gas utility shall offset its ISRS in the future as necessary to recognize and account for any such overcollec-tions. Nothing in this rule or section 393.1015, RSMo, shall be construed as limiting the authority of the commission to review and consider infrastructure system replacement costs along with other costs during any general rate proceeding of any natural gas utility.
(16) A natural gas utility may effectuate a change in an ISRS no more often than two (2) times during every twelve (12)-month period, with the first such period beginning on the effective date of the rate schedules that establish an initial ISRS. For the purposes of this section, an initial ISRS is the first ISRS granted to the subject utility or an ISRS established after an ISRS is reset to zero pursuant to the provisions of section (18) of this rule.
(17) At the end of each twelve (12)-month period that an ISRS is in effect, the natural gas utility shall reconcile the differences between the revenues resulting from the ISRS and the appropriate pretax revenues as found by the commission for that period and shall submit the reconciliation and proposed ISRS rate schedule revisions to the commission for approval to recover or refund the difference, as appropriate.
(18) A natural gas utility that has implemented an ISRS shall file revised ISRS rate schedules to reset the ISRS to zero when new base rates and charges become effective following a commission order establishing customer rates in a general rate proceeding that incorporates eligible costs previously reflected in an ISRS into the subject utility's base rates. If an over or under recovery of ISRS revenues, including any commission ordered refunds, exists after the ISRS has been reset to zero, that amount of over or under recovery shall be tracked in an account and considered in the next ISRS filing of the natural gas utility. The commission shall reject an ISRS petition after a commission order in a general rate proceeding unless the ISRS revenues requested in the petition, on an annualized basis, will produce ISRS revenues of at least the lesser of one-half of one percent (1/2%) of the natural gas utility's base revenue level approved by the commission in the natural gas utility's most recent general rate case proceeding or one (1) million dollars, but not in excess of ten percent (10%) of the subject utility's base revenue level approved by the commission in the utility's most recent general rate proceeding.
(19) Upon the inclusion of eligible costs previously reflected in an ISRS into a natural gas utility's base rates, the subject utility shall immediately thereafter reconcile any previously unreconciled ISRS revenues, and track them per section (18) of this rule, as necessary to ensure that revenues resulting from the ISRS match, as closely as possible, the appropriate pretax revenues as found by the commission for that period.
(20) At the time that a natural gas utility files a petition with the commission seeking to establish, change or reconcile an ISRS, it shall submit proposed ISRS rate schedules and its supporting documentation regarding the calculation of the proposed ISRS with the petition, and shall serve the office of the public counsel with a copy of its petition, its proposed rate schedules and its supporting documentation. The subject utility's supporting documentation shall include workpapers showing the calculation of the proposed ISRS, and shall include, at a minimum, the following information:
(21) In addition to the information required by section (20) of this rule, natural gas utilities shall, either when they file their proposed ISRS rate schedules or when they file their next general rate case after an ISRS goes into effect, submit, at a minimum, the following supporting documentation to staff and the office of the public counsel, for each ISRS filed since the utility's last general rate case:
(22) In addition to the information required by section (20) of this rule, the natural gas utility shall also provide the following information when it files a petition with the commission seeking to establish, change or reconcile an ISRS:
*Original authority: 386.250, RSMo 1939, amended 1963, 1967, 1977, 1980, 1987, 1988, 1991, 1993, 1995, 1996; 393.140, RSMo 1939, amended 1949, 1967; and 393.1015, RSMo 2003.