The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission cut transporters and sellers of natural gas to the California market a major break Wednesday when it voted not to extend an initiative that requires them to report extensive information on their sales’ prices and volumes on a monthly basis.

The Commission imposed the requirement last July in an attempt to bring gas prices in the western state in line with the rest of the nation. The high gas prices in California have all but disappeared since then, a FERC staff member said, mooting the need for the reporting requirement.

The reporting requirement — which targeted all sellers of gas along with interstate pipelines and local distribution companies (LDCs) that serve the California market — will expire on Jan. 31. FERC’s previous plans to extend it until Sept. 30, 2002 have been nixed.

The Commission imposed the reporting requirement last summer in response to pressure from Capitol Hill lawmakers about the high gas prices in California. Marketers and other industry participants complained that the reporting initiative wasn’t necessary, and that FERC had overstepped its jurisdiction.

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