FERC, in a final rule issued Wednesday, imposed new quarterly financial reporting requirements on natural gas and electric companies, and on oil pipeline companies to keep closer tabs on the energy industry.

The quarterly reporting is in addition to the annual reports that jurisdictional companies currently submit to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. The agency said it expects the new reporting requirements to help it better identify and evaluate emerging industry trends, business conditions and financial issues affecting regulated companies [RM03-8].

The additional reporting burden is the result of the “dramatic lesson” learned in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corp., said Chairman Pat Wood.

Specifically, the rule adds two new forms — one for electric and natural gas companies (Form No. 3-Q), and another for oil pipeline companies (Form No. 6-Q). Regulated energy companies will be required to provide a basic set of financial statements and other data in their quarterly reports, according to the Commission.

Major public utilities and licensees, and major natural gas companies must submit their first quarterly report by July 9 of this year. Smaller (non-major) public utilities and licensees, and gas companies and oil pipelines have until July 23 to file their first quarterly report.

Starting with their second quarterly report, major public utilities and licensees, and major gas companies must file 60 days after the end of each quarter. The smaller (non-major) public utilities and licensees, and gas companies and oil pipelines have until 70 days after the end of each quarter to submit their quarterly financial reports to FERC.

As part of the rule, the Commission also eliminated the requirement for regulated companies to notify the agency about their cash-management activities. It noted that it was unnecessary since regulated companies will be required to provide detailed financial information about their capital structure as part of their quarterly and annual reports.

In addition, FERC said it updated its annual reporting requirement, including changing the filing dates for these reports.

The final rule was not released to the public Wednesday. It will become effective 30 days after being published in the Federal Register.

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