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FERC Proposes Survey to Gauge Reaction to Voluntary Reporting Guidelines
FERC is proposing to survey up to 300 natural gas and power traders twice — this October and next March — to determine if they have adopted voluntary guidelines for reporting more detailed information on energy trades to industry publications. The Commission said the survey would determine whether “further steps” were required to ensure the accuracy, reliability and transparency of price indices.
Recommended guidelines include adopting a code of conduct as well as requiring all price reporting be handled by a non-trading employee, such as a chief risk officer.
In a Federal Register notice, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission indicated it wanted to survey producers, generators, marketers, industrial users and commercial customers that buy or sell “large quantities” of natural gas or electricity in the cash market. Companies that trade energy derivatives or financial instruments would not be included. The survey would consist of 20 questions that would include the elements of trades reported to publishers, whether a voluntary code of conduct had been adopted and whether some or all of the trades were reported.
FERC wants to have the first survey results due on Oct. 1, 2003 and the second set of results due March 1, 2004. Public comments on the proposed surveys are due by Sept. 17.
Several producers filed comments in August recommending FERC delay finalizing the proposed price reporting rules until it had evaluated the voluntary guideline approach (see Daily GPI, Aug. 19). In their comments, the producers said that if the Commission did proceed with the proposed amendments to blanket certificates, it would need to refine its definitions of prohibited behavior.
The Commission approved voluntary guidelines in June in an attempt to straighten out the market’s private and confidential price reporting and index-setting system for reporting gas transactions to index developers (see Daily GPI, June 26). Chairman Pat Wood at the time urged industry to “get back in the reporting business so we get more of the volumes that are actually being transacted reported to existing price collectors.”
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