Algonquin Gas Transmission placed into service on Jan. 7 the remaining facilities of its 342,000 Dth/d Algonquin Incremental Market (AIM) Project, which transports natural gas produced in the Marcellus and Utica shales from Ramapo, NY, to citygates in Connecticut, Rhode Island and Massachusetts.

In October, FERC gave Algonquin permission to place certain AIM facilities into service that have been utilized to provide 245,000 Dth/d of incremental firm transportation service, the company said in a filing this week. Late last month, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission authorized placing the remaining AIM facilities into service.

FERC first authorized AIM in March 2015 [CP14-96]. The project, announced by parent Spectra Energy in early 2012, called for construction of 37.4 miles of pipeline in Connecticut, Massachusetts, New York and Rhode Island.

Algonquin was authorized by FERC in October to increase some of its initial rates in order to recoup higher-than-expected construction costs. FERC approved a proposal by Algonquin to amend its certified initial reservation charges due to increased construction costs for the pipeline and related facilities that comprise the AIM Project, including the 4.1-mile West Roxbury Lateral.

FERC said Algonquin could increase its initial reservation charge for the AIM Project from an estimated $42.5748/Dth to $48.507/Dth for Rate Schedule AFT-1 service. Algonquin will also raise the initial reservation charge for the West Roxbury Lateral from an estimated $18.1976/Dth to $24.378/Dth for Rate Schedule AFT-CL service. The company will also levy a commodity charge of $0.0069/Dth for Rate Schedule AFT-1 to recover $603,667 in variable costs.

According to FERC, the proposed initial rates reflected a first-year cost of service of about $199 million for the AIM Project and $29.3 million for the West Roxbury Lateral.