Although expressing its reluctance to do so, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission awarded Atlanta Gas Light (AGL) Wednesday a limited term, limited jurisdiction Natural Gas Act certificate and waiver of the shipper-must-hold-title rule so it could continue to assign its upstream Part 157 interstate pipeline capacity to Georgia marketers.

FERC has granted similar limited jurisdictional authority and waivers to the Atlanta, GA-based utility on a number of occasions in the past to help it carry out its unbundling activities, but the Commission indicated that its patience with AGL was wearing thin.

“While the Commission is reluctant to grant new authority for Atlanta to make further assignments of its Part 157 services, the Commission…recognizes that the public interest lies in avoiding delay in the injection of sufficient gas supplies to satisfy the requirements of Atlanta’s end users during the upcoming winter heating season,” the order said [RP98-206-008]. Therefore, FERC will grant AGL “for one more injection/withdrawal season, the same temporary certificate authorizations and waivers that expired last year.” The new authority and waiver will expire on March 31, 2003.

In addition, FERC directed AGL to show cause “why it should not be found to have been allocating and releasing upstream interstate capacity without the requisite certificate authority in violation of the NGA” since March 31, 2001.

The Commission also ordered AGL, as well as the interstate pipelines providing upstream services under Part 157 certificates, to show cause why these certificates should not be converted to provide for open-access service under Part 284.

“We are concerned about the continued use of Part 157 certificates, which were originally issued to support bundled service on Atlanta’s system, for purposes unrelated to the original intent of the certificates. We have urged the parties to consider conversion of those certificates to Part 284 open access, which would allow unbundled service for Atlanta and its customers to proceed on the same transparent and not unduly discriminatory basis as the rest of the pipeline industry,” the order noted.

“The proposal before us here…consists of an untenable use of interstate pipeline capacity in a fashion that is at odds with the Commission’s open-access regulatory scheme, and that allows Atlanta to retain exclusive control of the disposition of interstate capacity, to the benefit of a select set of local Georgia marketers, one of whom is Atlanta’s affiliate,” FERC said in seeking show cause on AGL’s Part 157 certificates.

©Copyright 2002 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.