FERC Chairman Joseph Kelliher Thursday warned natural gas pipelines that they could face potential civil penalties if they continue to file late requests at the agency for waivers of their tariffs.

The issue was raised at the agency’s regular meeting just days after the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission acted on a last-minute waiver request from Chandeleur Pipe Line to carry out computer upgrades and maintenance. The Commission granted the request, but not before it chastised the pipeline for the lateness of its filing.

“If the tariff waiver request does involve significant matters and the waiver request is late, the company does run the risk [that] if we don’t grant the waiver they will have violated their tariff, and there would be the possibility of civil penalties that attach to those violations,” Kelliher said.

The Commission’s hands were previously tied with respect to penalizing companies for filing untimely waiver requests, but “that, of course, has been corrected by the Energy Policy Act,” he noted.

“I’m not saying we won’t grant tariff waiver requests, such as those presented in the Chandeleur order, but I think we are saying that natural gas companies should make timely requests for tariff waivers that allow for notice and comment. And if they make [late] requests, then the burden is on the company to demonstrate why they could not have made a timely request,” Kelliher said.

“In speaking with staff, it sounds like this [last-minute filing of waiver requests] is happening on an increasing basis,” said Commissioner Philip D. Moeller, who raised the issue at the meeting. “It’s one thing if it’s an emergency, but when it’s a planned outage or planned computer upgrade…we need a little more notice.”

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