(a) Scope and jurisdiction. This section applies to
complaints within the Commission's jurisdiction about natural gas
purchasing, selling, shipping, transportation, and gathering practices.
This section does not apply to matters arising under Texas Utilities
Code, Chapter 103, entitled "Jurisdiction and Powers of Municipality,"
or initiated under Texas Utilities Code, Chapter 104, Subchapter C,
entitled "Rate Changes Proposed by Utility," or Subchapter G, entitled
"Interim Cost Recovery and Rate Adjustment."
(b) Definitions. The following words and terms, when
used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Common purchaser--Has the same meaning as is given
that term in Texas Natural Resources Code, §111.081.
(2) Complainant--A person who submits a complaint to
the Commission pursuant to this section.
(3) Director--The director of the Gas Services Division
of the Railroad Commission of Texas or the director's delegate.
(4) Gatherer--A person providing gathering service
for a fee for a third party.
(5) Gathering service--Use of a pipeline to collect
gas and bring it to a common point.
(6) Informal complaint proceeding--The process set
out in this section for addressing complaints against entities within
the Commission's jurisdiction, including but not limited to natural
gas purchasers, sellers, shippers, transporters, and gatherers.
(7) Mediator--The individual who conducts an informal
complaint resolution mediation.
(8) Monitor--The Commission employee appointed by the
director to manage an informal complaint proceeding and/or assist
a mediator who is not a Commission employee in the management of an
informal complaint proceeding. A monitor may also be a mediator.
(9) Natural gas purchaser--A person that purchases
natural gas.
(10) Natural gas seller or seller--A person that sells
natural gas, including but not limited to a producer.
(11) Natural gas utility--Has the same meaning as is
given that term in Texas Utilities Code, §101.003 and §121.001.
(12) Participant--A complainant, respondent, monitor,
or mediator in an informal complaint proceeding.
(13) Person--An individual, corporation, partnership,
joint venture, or other legal entity of any kind.
(14) Respondent--A person who is the subject of a complaint
submitted to the Commission pursuant to this section.
(15) Shipper--A person for which a transporter is currently
providing, has provided, or has pending a written request to provide
transportation services.
(16) Similarly-situated shipper--A shipper that seeks
or receives transportation service under the same or substantially
the same, physical, regulatory, and economic conditions of service
as any other shipper of a transporter. In determining whether conditions
of service are the same or substantially the same, the Commission
shall evaluate the significance of relevant conditions, including,
but not limited to, the following:
(A) service requirements;
(B) location of facilities;
(C) receipt and delivery points;
(D) length of haul;
(E) quality of service (firm, interruptible, etc.);
(F) quantity;
(G) swing requirements;
(H) credit worthiness;
(I) gas quality;
(J) pressure (including inlet or line pressure);
(K) duration of service;
(L) connect requirements; and
(M) conditions and circumstances existing at the time
of agreement or negotiation.
(17) Transportation service--The receipt of a shipper's
natural gas at a point or points on the facilities of a transporter,
and re-delivery of a shipper's natural gas by the transporter at another
point or points on the facilities of the transporter, or on another
person's facilities, including exchange, backhaul, displacement, and
other methods of transportation, provided, however, that the term
"transportation service" shall not include processing services or
the movement of gas to which the transporter has title.
(18) Transporter--Any common purchaser of gas, any
gas utility, or any gas pipeline, that provides gas gathering and/or
transmission transportation service for a fee.
(c) Policy.
(1) The Commission encourages affordable, expeditious,
and fair settlement and resolution of disputes regarding natural gas
purchasers, sellers, transporters, and gatherers. The Commission will
not tolerate discrimination among similarly situated shippers and
sellers as is prohibited by Texas Natural Resources Code, Chapter
111, entitled "Common Carriers, Public Utilities, and Common Purchasers,"
and Texas Utilities Code, Title 3, Subtitle A, entitled "Gas Utility
Regulatory Act," and Subtitle B, entitled "Regulation of Transportation
and Use," and other matters of dispute subject to the Commission's
jurisdiction. This section is adopted in furtherance of that policy.
(2) To accomplish the policy set out in this section,
Commission employees, acting pursuant to this section, will attempt
to facilitate, encourage, and promote resolution and settlement of
complaints against natural gas purchasers, sellers, shippers, transporters,
gatherers, and other persons subject to the Commission's jurisdiction
consistent with the public interest and without lengthy and potentially
expensive formal proceedings. The informal complaint procedure is
intended to establish a forum for communication, with the goal of
achieving mutually acceptable compromise and resolution that is in
the public interest.
(3) Filing a complaint pursuant to this section is
not a prerequisite to the filing of a formal complaint. If a complaint
pertains to the loss of or inability to account for gas, the complaint
must be filed pursuant to §2.5 of this title (relating to Informal
Complaint Process Regarding Loss of or Inability to Account for Gas.
The informal complaint resolution process is an optional method for
resolving complaints. However, if an informal complaint is filed and
the Commission determines that there is sufficient reason to go forward,
the respondent shall participate in the process. At any time prior
to the mediator's issuance of the confidential memorandum pursuant
to subsection (e)(13) of this section, a complainant may unilaterally
withdraw an informal complaint or a complainant and respondent may
jointly agree to the dismissal of an informal complaint.
(d) General requirements and limitations.
(1) The Commission will not process anonymous complaints
under this section.
(2) The communications, records, conduct, and demeanor
of the participants in each informal complaint proceeding are confidential
and handled in accordance with Texas Government Code, §2009.054,
entitled "Confidentiality of Certain Records and Communications."
(3) A mediator shall have completed 40 hours of Texas
mediation training that meets the standards of the Texas Alternative
Dispute Resolution Procedures Act, as set out in Texas Government
Code, §154.052, and must follow the ethical guidelines for mediators
adopted by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Section of the State
Bar of Texas.
(4) A mediator may be either a Commission employee
or a non-Commission employee. If the complainant and respondent submit
a written request to the director agreeing to share all costs of mediation,
they may retain a non-Commission employee to conduct the mediation.
If the complainant and respondent are unable to agree on whether to
engage a non-Commission employee as the mediator, or in the absence
of a request for a non-Commission employee mediator, the director
shall appoint a Commission employee to conduct the mediation. If the
mediator is not a Commission employee, then the director shall appoint
a Commission employee as a monitor. The monitor will act as a technical
advisor to the non-Commission employee mediator and may, at the direction
of the non-Commission employee mediator, participate in the informal
complaint proceeding. A non-Commission employee mediator shall have
the same duties and obligations of a Commission employee mediator
and may, in his or her sole discretion, compel the complainant and
respondent to provide information pursuant to subsection (e)(10) of
this section.
(5) Mediators and monitors shall not communicate with
a Commission hearings examiner or a Commissioner about any material
or substantive aspect of a complaint or reply filed pursuant to this
section.
(6) Each complainant and respondent in an informal
complaint proceeding shall cooperate fully in gathering and disclosing
information requested by the mediator or monitor and shall participate
in good faith in all aspects of the informal complaint proceeding.
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