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Commercial Natural Gas Rates
Rate Schedule 63

FIRM TRANSPORTATION GAS SERVICE

 

DEFINITIONS

  • "Contract Amount" means the maximum amount of Transport Gas a Customer may transport through the gas distribution facilities of Athens Utilities Board on any Day as established by a Transportation Service Agreement.
  • "Customer" means a person or entity contracting with or otherwise receiving services from Athens Utilities Board for firm transportation service under Rate Schedule "63."
  • "Daily Amount" means the amount of Transport Gas approved by Athens Utilities Board from time to time to be Delivered by Customer and Redelivered by Athens Utilities Board on a daily basis.
  • "Day" means a period of twenty-four ("24") consecutive hours, beginning and ending at 8:00 a.m. prevailing Athens time.
  • "Delivery" means the delivery of Transport Gas to Athens Utilities Board. "Deliver" shall mean the act of Delivery.
  • "Determination Period" means the twelve-month period beginning July 1 and ending June 30, inclusive.
  • "Load Factor" means the quotient obtained by dividing the average daily Redelivery of Transport Gas to Customer for the Determination Period by the maximum daily Redelivery of Transport Gas to Customer for the Winter Period.
  • "Notice of Interruption" means the notice given by Athens Utilities Board to Customer that a Period of Interruption has commenced or will commence.
  • "Period of Interruption" means any period of time during which Athens Utilities Board shall interrupt or curtail the transportation of Transport Gas.
  • "Redelivery" means the delivery of Transport Gas to Customer by Athens Utilities Board. "Redeliver" shall mean the act of Redelivery.
  • "Transport Gas" means the gas purchased from a supplier other than Athens Utilities Board that Customer has arranged to have delivered via any connected interstate natural gas pipeline to one or more of the delivery points of Athens Utilities Board for Redelivery to Customer.
  • "Transportation Service Agreement" means the contract between Athens Utilities Board and Customer whereby Athens Utilities Board agrees to provide firm transportation service, on its system only, to Customer.
  • "Unauthorized Gas" means the quantity of gas (a) taken by Customer exceeding the Contract Amount, or (b) taken by Customer exceeding that permitted during a Period of Interruption.
  • "Winter Period" means the five-month period from November 1 to and including March 31 included in the Determination Period.

 

AVAILABILITY

Service under Rate Schedule "63" is available to any commercial or industrial customer provided:

  1. The Customer is located within the service area of Athens Utilities Board; and
  2. The Customer used 50,000 therms or more in three of the twelve months of the previous Determination Period; and
  3. The Customer's annual gas usage, on an actual or projected basis, is not less than 400,000 therms; and
  4. The Customer's Load Factor is .50 or greater during the previous Determination Period; and
  5. The Customer meets the following definition of a commercial or industrial customer: "Commercial customers are businesses primarily engaged in the sales of goods or services, including institutions and governmental agencies. Industrial customers are engaged primarily in a process that creates or changes raw or unfinished materials into another form or product including the generation of electric power."
  6. The Customer must execute a Transportation Service Agreement.
  7. The Customer will provide the necessary funding to be determined by AUB to install, and maintain telemetry equipment for hourly, daily, and monthly meter readings not limited to telemetry equipment but should include the cost of telephone lines, electrical lines, and right of way maintenance necessary for utility operations of the meter and service line to the site.
  8. The Customer must meet the applicable credit standards set by AUB.

In the event Customer shall fail to continue to meet conditions 1 through 8 during the previous Determination Period, service under Rate Schedule "63" shall no longer be available. Customer shall be reclassified to the appropriate rate schedule effective August 1 of each year.

 

A Customer may have multiple meters at each location. Each meter must meet the conditions imposed by 1 through 8 to qualify for Rate Schedule "63." If a meter fails to meet the conditions imposed by 1 through 8, the meter will be billed under Rate Schedule "32".

 

CHARACTER OF SERVICE

Pursuant to a Transportation Service Agreement and Rate Schedule "63," Athens Utilities Board shall deliver up to the Contract Amount of Transport Gas received from one or more connected pipelines for Customer's account.

 

Gas transported under Rate Schedule "63" shall be used only by Customer at its facilities and shall be redelivered to no more than two meters at each facility located within the service area of Athens Utilities Board and shall not be resold by Customer.

 

All service under Rate Schedule "63" and all associated Transportation Service Agreements shall be for firm service. In the event of a Period of Interruption affecting gas transportation service, or if the Transport Gas cannot be Delivered to Athens Utilities Board by a supplier of Customer for any reason, Customer shall be permitted to purchase gas in accordance with Rate Schedule "43," if capacity on the distribution system of Athens Utilities Board and the transporting pipeline is available and Rate Schedule "43" is not otherwise curtailed.

 

NET RATE

The net rate for service under Rate Schedule "63" for each monthly billing period shall be the sum of the Customer Charge, the Transportation Charge, and the Other Charges, each calculated as follows:

Customer Charge:
 
$200.00 per month
 
Transportation Charge:
 
$0.2070 per therm for the first 10,000 therms; plus
 
  $0.1930 per therm from 10,001 therms to and including 20,000 therms; plus
 
  $0.1790 per therm for the excess over 20,000 therms.
 
Other Charges: The sum of Scheduling Penalties, Imbalance Charges, and Unauthorized Overrun Penalties, as herein defined, and any pipeline scheduling, balancing, transportation, unauthorized overrun penalties, or other similar charges incurred by Athens Utilities Board in connection with the transportation of gas on behalf of Customer, as applicable.
 

 

PURCHASED GAS ADJUSTMENT

Rate Schedule "63" is not subject to the Purchased Gas Adjustment of Athens Utilities Board.

 

MINIMUM BILL

The minimum bill for each monthly billing period shall be the Customer Charge. The minimum bill will be billed for each monthly billing period beginning with the date of initial service and ending with the date service is terminated at the request of the Customer, inclusive.

 

PAYMENT TERMS

Bills for service under Rate Schedule "63" will be rendered monthly. Each bill rendered for service is due and payable on the date it is issued. The rates and charges under Rate Schedule "63" are net, the gross rate being five percent ("5%") higher. In the event the current monthly bill is not paid on or before the last date for payment as specified on the bill, the gross rate shall apply to any unpaid amount of the bill.

 

UNAUTHORIZED OVERRUN PENALTY

No Customer shall take Unauthorized Gas. Customer must immediately notify Athens Utilities Board if it has taken, or anticipates taking, Unauthorized Gas. If the Unauthorized Gas is the result of Customer exceeding the Contract Amount, Customer shall be charged the Commodity Rate, adjusted for the current Purchased Gas Adjustment, under Rate Schedule "43." If the Unauthorized Gas is the result of Customer exceeding the amount permitted during a Period of Interruption, Customer shall be charged, in addition to the applicable Commodity Charge, as described in the previous sentence, a penalty of $1.50 per therm for all such Unauthorized Gas taken. In addition, Customer shall be charged for all penalties and charges assessed Athens Utilities Board on behalf of Customer by the transporting pipelines(s).

 

In addition to the charges discussed in the previous paragraph, Athens Utilities Board may pursue any other remedy available to it under applicable law, including, but not limited to, suspension or termination of service and/or cancellation of Customer's Transportation Service Agreement. The existence of a penalty shall not be construed to give Customer the right to take Unauthorized Gas.

 

SCHEDULING OF SERVICE

By noon eastern time five business days prior to the beginning of each month, Customer must inform Athens Utilities Board of its::

  1. Nomination of daily quantity of gas to be transported for the next month,
  2. Choice of pipeline for transportation for such month, and 
  3. Nominated supplies of gas to be transported so Athens Utilities Board can confirm such nominations.

 

If Customer does not provide a timely nomination to transport gas provided by a party other than Athens Utilities Board, Customer will have nominated Rate Schedule "43" by default. Once Customer makes the monthly election and nominations set forth above, any further changes during a month will require prior approval of Athens Utilities Board.

 

As soon as practicable during the succeeding month, Customer shall provide Athens Utilities Board a copy of its supplier's written verification of actual quantities delivered during the preceding month.

 

BALANCING OF DELIVERIES

Deliveries and Redeliveries of gas hereunder shall be at uniform rate of flow with no significant fluctuations or imbalance. Customer, insofar as practicable, shall correct any imbalances during the month in which they occur. Customer may adjust its daily nominations during a month in order to correct any accumulated imbalance and maintain a monthly balance, subject to the operating limitations of Athens Utilities Board. Athens Utilities Board reserves the right to limit the amount of such imbalances to avoid operating problems and to comply with balancing requirements of any pipeline transporting gas hereunder. Customer will be responsible for any imbalance charges assessed by the pipeline in connection with any gas transported by Athens Utilities Board under this Rate Schedule "63." Athens Utilities Board reserves the right to reduce nominations when, in the judgment of Athens Utilities Board, such action is necessary to reduce or eliminate operational problems. Athens Utilities Board will use its best efforts to notify Customer before proceeding with a unilateral reduction and will notify Customer of any reduction to Customer's nomination instituted by Athens Utilities Board.

 

It shall be the responsibility of Customer to maintain a daily and monthly balance with its transporting pipelines to avoid any assessment of penalties against Athens Utilities Board. If Athens Utilities Board is assessed a penalty by Customer's transporting pipeline, Athens Utilities Board shall have the right to pass-through all such penalties to Customer to the extent Customer is responsible for causing Athens Utilities Board to be assessed such penalties.


RESOLUTION OF MONTHLY IMBALANCES

Any differences between the quantities delivered to the city gate stations of Athens Utilities Board for the account of Customer for the month, and the quantities consumed by Customer as metered for the month, shall be the "Monthly Imbalance." Unless Athens Utilities Board and Customer agree to correct the Monthly Imbalance in kind, the Monthly Imbalance shall be resolved monthly by "cashing out" the imbalances, as they are known to exist at that time. If Customer consumes more gas than it has delivered to Athens Utilities Board, Customer will be deemed to be "short" by the amount of the deficiency, and Athens Utilities Board will sell gas to Customer in an amount equal to the deficiency and at a price equal to the highest weighted index price for any week beginning in the calendar month as published in Gas Daily plus an average of the current commodity transportation rates of the pipeline transporters of Athens Utilities Board inclusive of all surcharges and fuel times the premium percentage corresponding to the deficiency listed in the table below. If Customer consumes less gas than it has delivered to Athens Utilities Board, Customer will be deemed "long" by the amount of the surplus, and Athens Utilities Board will buy the amount of the surplus by paying Customer a price equal to the lowest weighted index price for any week beginning in the calendar month as published in Gas Daily plus an average of the current commodity transportation rates of the pipeline transporters of Athens Utilities Board inclusive of all surcharges and fuel times the discount percentage corresponding to the percentage of the surplus listed in the table below.

 

Percentage Imbalance
 
Short(Premium)
 
Long(Discount)
 
Equal to or less than 5 percent
 
100%
 
100%
 
Over 5 percent and less than or equal to 10 percent
 
115%
 
85%
 
Over 10 percent and less than or equal to 15 percent
 
130%
 
70%
 
Over 15 percent and less than or equal to 20 percent
 
140%
 
60%
 
Over 20 percent
 
150%
 
50%
 

 

A Monthly Imbalance for any month that becomes apparent after the close of the month shall be treated as a Monthly Imbalance for the month in which the Monthly Imbalance is discovered.

 

NOTICES

To the extent possible, Athens Utilities Board shall give Customer at least a one hour Notice of Interruption before a Period of Interruption begins. A Notice of Interruption may be written or oral and shall be sufficient if given by Athens Utilities Board via telephone or in person to the person or persons designated from time to time by Customer as authorized to receive such notices, or by facsimile transmission to the telephone number designated from time to time by Customer, or if mailed or hand-delivered in writing to Customer's premises. If a Period of Interruption involves only a reduction in the amount of gas being transported, the Notice of Interruption shall state the daily and/or hourly quantity of gas that Customer may transport. A Period of Interruption shall continue in effect until Athens Utilities Board notifies Customer that the Period of Interruption has terminated or until the time specified in the Notice of Interruption expires.

 

SERVICE AVAILABILITY

All requests for new or additional service or the transfer of existing service to higher priority end use will be supplied based on the judgment of Athens Utilities Board as to the available gas supply, the load factor or use pattern of the Customer, end use priority as may be specified by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission ("FERC") or other appropriate governmental authority, impact on the local economy, and the laws of the State of Tennessee.

 

CONTRACT FOR SERVICE

Each customer receiving service under Rate Schedule "63" shall execute a contract with Athens Utilities Board for at least one year to end on the August 1st specified in said contract.

 

RULES AND REGULATIONS

All service provided hereunder is subject to the Rules and Regulations of Athens Utilities Board which may from time to time be revised.

 

SERVICE INTERRUPTION AND CURTAILMENT

Gas service under Rate Schedule "63" is subject to the curtailment provisions contained within the Rules and Regulations of Athens Utilities Board.