Natural Gas Data Needs in a Changing Regulatory Environment (1985) / Chapter Skim
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DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS
DISTRIBUTION COMPANIES AND CONSUMERS
Pages 124-151
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From page 124... ...
Gas Markets Ga s mar kets are usually clas s i f ied as r es ident ial , commerc ial , industr ial , and e lectr ic u t i l i ties . (A small amount of gas is consumed i n the transpor tat ion sector , pr imar ily as fuel for the compr ess ion of gas along gas transmiss ion pipel ines .
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From page 125... ...
In add i t ion to compe� ing w i th o i l , gas compete s w i th e lectr ic i ty in near ly a l l mar kets , w i th coal in large industr ial appl icat ions , and w i th coal and nuclear energy in the electr ic u t i l i ty market . S tate Ut i l i ty Regulat ion A large number of pr ivate and publ icly owned util i t ies are unde r s tate r egulat ion , although several s tates do not r egulate any publ icly owned ut i l i t ies ; i n some case s the pol i t ical control of mun ic ipal uti l i t ies i s de legated to the c i ty .
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From page 126... ...
These i ssues , therefor e , are mentioned br iefly in th is chapter , al though they ar e discussed mor e completely i n Ch apters 4 a nd s . Distr ibut ion Is sues Purchase Dec is ions Gover nment Dec i s ions S tate and local publ ic u t i l i ty commiss ions r ev iew dec i s ions by loca l distr ibutor s to purchase gas for resale .
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From page 127... ...
That informat ion would a lso help d istr ibutor s and s tate and local r egu lator s to assess overall market cond i t ions and the ou tlook for suppl ie s and pr ices i n g ene ral . Occas ional surveys of t rends in pipel ine producer contracts would prov ide r egulator s w i th a contex t for dec is ion s about d i s tr ibutor purchas ing behav ior but would not be in suff ic ient deta i l to enable d i str ibutor s to make par t icular supply choices ' tha t i n format ion would have to be deve loped by i nd iv idual compan ies .
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From page 128... ...
State s a nd d istr ibutor s , however , are i n a better pos i t ion to gather a rea spec i f ic data for par t icular rate case dec is ions . Ca r r iage and Tr anspor tat ion Rates Government Dec is ions W i th a more mar ket-or iented env ironment , user s ar e increas ing ly seek ing to purchase gas directly from producer s and to r ely on p ipel ines and d istr ibutors only for tr anspor tat ion and s tor age .
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From page 129... ...
The cho ices by these use r s can have impor tant e f fects on the cost r ecovery by the p ipel ines and d istr ibut ion com pan ies . They raise quest ions for state and federal regulator s abou t whether and how to fac i l itate g r eater f lexibility in u ser s ' gas purchas ing , how to pr ice ut i l ity serv ices to these user s , and how to deal w i th the lost r evenue r ecov�ry r esult ing f rom such bypass .
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From page 130... ...
Tr anspor tation and d istr ibut ion companies have to make s imi lar plan s for changes in long-term requ irements . Data Needs and Assessment E IA data collect ion e f for ts can be used to addr ess many of the issues concern i ng changes in consumpt ion , these a r e d iscussed i n g r eater deta i l i n the next sect ion .
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From page 131... ...
That system has now r eached the po int at wh ich the r ema ining shor tcoming s must be addressed by data collect ion spec i f ically des igned for the pr imary purposes of descr ibing the phys i cal character istics and economic behav ior of gas market s . Th e overall obj ec tive of data collect ion and r epor t ing for the d is tr ibut ion segment and user s of natural gas should be to develop a base l ine o f descr ipt ive informat ion about them .
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From page 132... ...
The AGA collects data from member d istr ibut ion compan ies and compiles some data ser ies de s c r ibing the operat ions of the industry . Stat i s t ics cover ing tr ansact ions between d i str ibut ion compan ies and g as consume r s are ava i lable only in h ighly d i sagg r egated and inconsis tent form from state comm i ss ions , from the AGA compilat ions , and from E IA r epor ts of g ener al energy consumpt ion r equ ired by s tatute .
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From page 133... ...
r gas storage and other act iv i t ies assoc i a ted w i th peak day operations , and some informat ion o n plant in-serv ice and construct ion prog r ams . The reports become the pr imary bas i s for the annual AGA publ icat ion , Gas Facts , wh ich presents descr ipt ive infor mat ion on the gas industry .
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From page 134... ...
b 8y S IC COde A By CUstoMrS A By Volumes A By State COde A aA : annually , Q : quar ter ly , M : monthly bcompiled by the Gas Requ i rements COnmai ttee .
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From page 135... ...
Th e only i ndustr ial sector pr ices that are presented monthly are d i r ec t industr ial sale s by inte r s tate pipel ines . These sales represen t somewhat less than 1 0 percent o f the total i ndustr ial sales volume and do not at all re f lec t the operat ion of the d istr ibut ion segment , so they are not r epr esentat ive sur rogates for a nat ional average i ndustr ial pr ice ser ies .
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From page 136... ...
Large i ndustr ial user s , moreover , are usually unr egulated bus inesses that v iew governmental energy data col lection as unwarranted intrus ions into propr ietary or compe t i t ively sens i t ive informat ion . Four th , more perhaps than in the other i ndustry segments , many s ig n i f icant sources o f data o n g a s d istr ibut ion and consumpt ion wer e des igned for o ther than energy-r elated interes ts -- e .
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From page 137... ...
E IA has collected annual data on res idential energy consumpt ion and expend itures and the character i s t ics of the s tock of energy consuming equ ipment in the r es ident ial sector from 1 9 7 8 to 1 9 8 2 and h a s moved t o a biennial schedule for 19 8 4 . These data se�v e as a benchmark to track r es ident ial energy consumpt ion and expend itures and have been used extens ively for pol icy develop ment , formulat ion and evaluat ion of a w ide var iety of i s sues , includ ing : natural gas der egulat ion , tax cred i ts , weather i z a t ion , low i ncome energy assistance and emerg ency prog r ams .
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From page 138... ...
As the d i scuss ion in Append i x 6A ind icates , ther e are shor tcoming s in almost all the ava i lable data ser ies for all gas mar kets and in descr ipt ive and pr ic ing informat ion concern ing the operations of g as d istr ibut ion compan ies , the only except ion i s gas use for fuel by e lectr ic u t i l i t ies . Ther e ar e four major data gaps : ( 1 )
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From page 139... ...
RECS : Hous ing ter i s t ics of Character i s t ics , RECS : Hous ing U n i ts Reg ress ion Analysrs-of Energy Consumpt ion by End Use, BIA AHS General Hous ing Energy-Rela ted Hous ing Char acte r i st ics , Bur eau of the Censu s SOC- 9 0 0 Char acter i s t ics of New Housing , Bur eau of the Censu s Ce nsus of Popu Decenn ial census r eports , Most deta i led source for hous ing lat ion and Bureau of the Censu s character i s t ics , conducted ever y 10 year s .
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From page 140... ...
AGA Monthly Gas U t i l i ty P r e l i• inary monthly da ta , der ived f r om AGA S ta t i s t ical Repor t , da ta on consumpt ion i n the r e s ide n t i a l and AGA 1 Na tu r a l Gas comme r cial sector s , a r e based on a survey o f Monthly, B IA 6 9 d istr ibut ion companies accoun t ing for 6 5 ' of sales to consume r s . These data ar e also used to est imate f inal mon thly f ig u r e s for th e Na tu r a l Ga s Annua l .
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From page 141... ...
NBECS : Consumpt ion and Expend i tures Expend i tures : Par t 1, Natural Gas and Electr i c i ty, BIA Industr ial Sec tor Cost and Quan t i ty B IA-1 76 Natur a l Gas Annua l , of Fue l Consumed Na tu r a l Gas Mon thly , EIA Monthly est imates der ived by subtracting consumpt ion of othe r sec tor s f rom tota l consumpt ion . ASH and CM , Fue l s and Electr ic Tabulated by SMSA , s tate , S I C .
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From page 142... ...
Natu r a l Ga s sales by producer s , i n t r a s tate MonthlY , EIA pipel ines , d i str ibut ion COJDpan i e s not included . Pr ices , Na t iona l FERC-1 1 Natural Gas Mon thly , EIA Av erag e El ectr ic U t i l i t ies Qu an t i ty and E IA-1 7 6 Natural Ga s Annual , EIA � Value COnsWied • w E IA-7 59 N a tu r a l Ga s Mon th ly , Na tu r a l Gas An n ua l , Cos t and Qua l i ty of Fu e l s for El ec t r i c U t i l i t ies , E l e c t r ic Powe r An n ua l , EIA Pr ices , National BLS , Natural Gas Monthly, EIA Aver: age E IA-1 7 6 E IA- 7 5 9 Annual Repor t to COngr ess , Vol .
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From page 143... ...
HUD Depar tmen t of Hous ing and Urba n Deve lopme n t NBECS Nonres idential Bu i lding Energy Consuaption survey ( Energy Informat ion Adm i n i s tration ) NNS Na t ional Wea ther Serv ice RECS Re s idential Energy Consuaption Survey ( Energy I n formation Adm i n is t r a t ion )
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From page 144... ...
6 . 2 The pane l r ecommends that the Energy Informat ion Admini s tration r esume annual collection of pr ice and consumpt ion data f r om natur al gas user s in the r es ident ial and commerc ial sectors and i n i t iate annual collect ion of pr ice and consumpt ion data f r om user s in the industr ial sector .
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From page 145... ...
However , for policy makers or i ndustry manager s to under s tand more decontrol led natural gas markets , it will be equally t.por tant to col lect data on the d is tr ibut ion segment of the i ndustry . Distr ibutor s Because many p ipe l ines are a lso d is tr ibutor s and because p ipel ine cus tome r s include d i str ibut ion compan ies , some of the PBRC forms , such a s FERC-2 , Annual Repor t of Natural Ga s Compan ies , and FBRC-1 6 , Repor t of Ga s Supply and Requ irements , also ind irectly prov ide informat ion on the d istr ibution of gas .
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From page 146... ...
Nat ional aver age natural gas pr ices to user s , wh ich are r egular ly repor ted in the Natural Gas Monthly and the Monthly Energy Rev iew , ar e f rom d ispar ate sources . The indus tr ial sec tor i s r epresented only by d i r ec t sales by maj or inte r s tate pipel ines to large industr ial cu s tomer s .
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From page 147... ...
Inventor ies of phys ical energy-us ing equ ipment , fuel cho ices , consumpt ion , and even proj ected proposals are repor ted in deta i l and i n t imely fash ion . The t r ad i t ional and ongo ing governmental i nvolvement i n the regulat ion of the electr ic u t i l i ty industry , espec ially in system plann ing and r e l iab i l i ty , probably ensur es that these data will r emain adequate for an under s tand ing of the natural gas shar e of the u t i l i ty s ector .
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From page 148... ...
cur r ently , ther e ar e cr i t ical de f ic iencies in the two pr imar y s ources that under l ie the indus tr ial sector data . The data base that i s central to the descr ipt ion and analys i s of the phys ical capab i l i t i e s o f energy-using equ ipment i n the industr ial sector i s the Sur vey of Large COmbustor s (Energy Informat ion Administrat ion , l 983b )
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From page 149... ...
but spec ial i zed and r apidly chang ing demand is los t to the ser ies . Regardless of the shor tcomings of the survey , par ticular ly the long lag in publ icat ion , however , the ASM has been the sole comprehens iv e sour ce for informat ion about industr ial energy consumption .
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From page 150... ...
Energy Information Administration 1983a Natural Gas : Use and Expendi tures .
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From page 151... ...
There can be and have been d isruptions i n all energy sources . Elec tr ic ut i l i ty sys tems have blackouts , there are str ikes in coal mines 7 natural gas wells f r eeze up1 compressor s tations on gas pipel ines mal funct ion , r e f inery product ion i s impa ired by fr ig id weathe r .
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