Current through Reg. 49, No. 12; March 22, 2024
(a) Definitions.
The following words and terms, when used in this section, shall have the
following meanings, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Balancing authority--The Electric
Reliability Council of Texas or other responsible entity that integrates
resource plans ahead of time, maintains electricity demand and resource balance
within a balancing authority area, and supports interconnection frequency in
real time for a power region in Texas.
(2) Commission--The Railroad Commission of
Texas.
(3) Curtailment event--When
a gas utility determines that its ability to deliver gas may become inadequate
to support continuous service to firm customers on its system and it reduces
deliveries to one or more firm customers. For the purposes of this section, an
interruption of delivery or service to interruptible gas customers does not
constitute a curtailment event. Prior to reducing deliveries to one or more
firm customers, a gas utility interrupts deliveries to interruptible customers
pursuant to mutually agreed upon contracts and/or tariffs.
(4) Electric generation
facilities--Facilities registered with the applicable balancing authority
including bulk power system assets, co-generation facilities, distributed
generation, and backup power systems.
(5) Firm or firm deliveries--Natural gas
deliveries that are described as firm under a contract or tariff.
(6) Gas utility--An entity that operates a
natural gas transmission pipeline system or a local distribution company that
is subject to the Commission's jurisdiction as defined in Texas Utilities Code,
Title 3.
(7) Human needs
customers--Residences, hospitals, water and wastewater facilities, police,
fire, military and civil defense facilities, and locations where people may
congregate in an emergency such as schools and places of worship. A human needs
customer also includes small commercial customers that cannot practicably be
curtailed without curtailing human needs.
(8) Interruptible or interruptible
deliveries--Natural gas deliveries that are not described as firm under a
contract or tariff.
(b)
Applicability. This section takes effect on September 1, 2022. This section
applies when any gas utility experiences a curtailment event affecting
intrastate service on any of its intrastate natural gas pipelines. When a gas
utility experiences a curtailment event, the gas utility shall curtail
deliveries according to the priorities listed in subsection (c) of this section
unless and until the gas utility has an approved curtailment plan pursuant to
subsection (d) of this section. The curtailment priorities in this section
apply to sales of natural gas owned by a gas utility and/or deliveries
utilizing a gas utility's transportation capacity. The priorities in this
section do not apply to sales of gas owned by an entity that is not a gas
utility. The term "deliveries" in this section includes sales and/or
transportation service.
(c)
Priorities.
(1) Unless a gas utility has an
approved curtailment plan pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, a gas
utility shall apply the following priorities in descending order during a
curtailment event:
(A) firm deliveries to
human needs customers and firm deliveries of natural gas to local distribution
systems which serve human needs customers;
(B) firm deliveries to electric generation
facilities;
(C) firm deliveries to
industrial and commercial users of the minimum natural gas required to prevent
physical harm and/or ensure critical safety to the plant facilities, to plant
personnel, or the public when such protection cannot be achieved through the
use of an alternate fuel;
(D) firm
deliveries to small industrials and regular commercial loads that use less than
3,000 Mcf per day;
(E) firm
deliveries to large industrial and commercial users for fuel or as a raw
material where an alternate fuel or raw material cannot be used and operation
and plant production would be curtailed or shut down completely when natural
gas is curtailed;
(F) firm
deliveries to large industrial and commercial users for fuel or as a raw
material where an alternate fuel or raw material can be used and operation and
plant production would be curtailed or shut down completely when natural gas is
curtailed; and
(G) firm deliveries
to customers that are not covered by the priorities listed in subparagraphs (A)
- (F) of this paragraph.
(2) Deliveries to customers within the same
priority on the portion of the system which is subject to curtailment shall be
curtailed to the extent practicable on a pro rata basis according to scheduled
quantities. If a customer's end-use requirements fall under two or more
priorities, then such requirements must be treated separately when applying
this schedule of priorities to the extent practicable. Transportation customers
have equivalent end-use priorities as sales customers.
(3) When applying the priorities of this
section, a gas utility may rely on the representations of its customers and/or
their end users regarding the nature of customers' deliveries.
(d) Curtailment plans. Order 489
and any curtailment plan approved by the Commission prior to the effective date
of this section is superseded by this section. A gas utility may file its own
curtailment plan for approval with the Oversight and Safety Division. A gas
utility shall follow the priorities listed in subsection (c) of this section
unless and until the gas utility has an approved curtailment plan on file with
the Commission. The first three priorities in any individual curtailment plan
must be consistent with the first three priorities listed in subsection
(c)(1)(A) - (C) and (2) of this section. A gas utility shall provide to its
customers notice of an application for a curtailment plan. A gas utility shall
provide notice on the same day the gas utility files its application with the
Commission. The gas utility may provide notice by hand delivery, by first
class, certified, registered mail, commercial delivery service, electronic
methods, or by such other manner as the Commission may require. The notice
shall be in the form prescribed by the Commission. The Oversight and Safety
Division may administratively approve the curtailment plan if no request for
hearing is filed within thirty days of such notice. The Commission shall set
the matter for hearing if it receives a timely request for hearing from a
customer of the gas utility.
(e)
Required tariff filings. Within 90 days of the effective date of this section,
each gas utility shall electronically file with the Commission, in the manner
prescribed by the Commission, tariffs that shall include either:
(1) the curtailment priorities as specified
in this section; or
(2) a
curtailment plan approved by the Commission as specified in subsection (d) of
this section.
(f)
Curtailment emergency contact information. Each gas utility shall maintain
current curtailment emergency contact information with the Commission and shall
submit curtailment emergency contact information on or before November 1 of
each year.