| (a) Definitions. The following words and terms, when
used in this section, shall have the following meanings, unless the
context clearly indicates otherwise.
(1) Balancing authority--The Electric Reliability Council
of Texas or other responsible entity that integrates resource plans
ahead of time, maintains electricity demand and resource balance within
a balancing authority area, and supports interconnection frequency
in real time for a power region in Texas.
(2) Commission--The Railroad Commission of Texas.
(3) Curtailment event--When a gas utility determines
that its ability to deliver gas may become inadequate to support continuous
service to firm customers on its system and it reduces deliveries
to one or more firm customers. For the purposes of this section, an
interruption of delivery or service to interruptible gas customers
does not constitute a curtailment event. Prior to reducing deliveries
to one or more firm customers, a gas utility interrupts deliveries
to interruptible customers pursuant to mutually agreed upon contracts
and/or tariffs.
(4) Electric generation facilities--Facilities registered
with the applicable balancing authority including bulk power system
assets, co-generation facilities, distributed generation, and backup
power systems.
(5) Firm or firm deliveries--Natural gas deliveries
that are described as firm under a contract or tariff.
(6) Gas utility--An entity that operates a natural
gas transmission pipeline system or a local distribution company that
is subject to the Commission's jurisdiction as defined in Texas Utilities
Code, Title 3.
(7) Human needs customers--Residences, hospitals, water
and wastewater facilities, police, fire, military and civil defense
facilities, and locations where people may congregate in an emergency
such as schools and places of worship. A human needs customer also
includes small commercial customers that cannot practicably be curtailed
without curtailing human needs.
(8) Interruptible or interruptible deliveries--Natural
gas deliveries that are not described as firm under a contract or
tariff.
(b) Applicability. This section takes effect on September
1, 2022. This section applies when any gas utility experiences a curtailment
event affecting intrastate service on any of its intrastate natural
gas pipelines. When a gas utility experiences a curtailment event,
the gas utility shall curtail deliveries according to the priorities
listed in subsection (c) of this section unless and until the gas
utility has an approved curtailment plan pursuant to subsection (d)
of this section. The curtailment priorities in this section apply
to sales of natural gas owned by a gas utility and/or deliveries utilizing
a gas utility's transportation capacity. The priorities in this section
do not apply to sales of gas owned by an entity that is not a gas
utility. The term "deliveries" in this section includes
sales and/or transportation service.
(c) Priorities.
(1) Unless a gas utility has an approved curtailment
plan pursuant to subsection (d) of this section, a gas utility shall
apply the following priorities in descending order during a curtailment
event:
(A) firm deliveries to human needs customers and firm
deliveries of natural gas to local distribution systems which serve
human needs customers;
(B) firm deliveries to electric generation facilities;
(C) firm deliveries to industrial and commercial users
of the minimum natural gas required to prevent physical harm and/or
ensure critical safety to the plant facilities, to plant personnel,
or the public when such protection cannot be achieved through the
use of an alternate fuel;
(D) firm deliveries to small industrials and regular
commercial loads that use less than 3,000 Mcf per day;
(E) firm deliveries to large industrial and commercial
users for fuel or as a raw material where an alternate fuel or raw
material cannot be used and operation and plant production would be
curtailed or shut down completely when natural gas is curtailed;
(F) firm deliveries to large industrial and commercial
users for fuel or as a raw material where an alternate fuel or raw
material can be used and operation and plant production would be curtailed
or shut down completely when natural gas is curtailed; and
(G) firm deliveries to customers that are not covered
by the priorities listed in subparagraphs (A) - (F) of this paragraph.
(2) Deliveries to customers within the same priority
on the portion of the system which is subject to curtailment shall
be curtailed to the extent practicable on a pro rata basis according
to scheduled quantities. If a customer's end-use requirements fall
under two or more priorities, then such requirements must be treated
separately when applying this schedule of priorities to the extent
practicable. Transportation customers have equivalent end-use priorities
as sales customers.
(3) When applying the priorities of this section, a
gas utility may rely on the representations of its customers and/or
their end users regarding the nature of customers' deliveries.
(d) Curtailment plans. Order 489 and any curtailment
plan approved by the Commission prior to the effective date of this
section is superseded by this section. A gas utility may file its
own curtailment plan for approval with the Oversight and Safety Division.
A gas utility shall follow the priorities listed in subsection (c)
of this section unless and until the gas utility has an approved curtailment
plan on file with the Commission. The first three priorities in any
individual curtailment plan must be consistent with the first three
priorities listed in subsection (c)(1)(A) - (C) and (2) of this section.
A gas utility shall provide to its customers notice of an application
for a curtailment plan. A gas utility shall provide notice on the
same day the gas utility files its application with the Commission.
The gas utility may provide notice by hand delivery, by first class,
certified, registered mail, commercial delivery service, electronic
methods, or by such other manner as the Commission may require. The
notice shall be in the form prescribed by the Commission. The Oversight
and Safety Division may administratively approve the curtailment plan
if no request for hearing is filed within thirty days of such notice.
The Commission shall set the matter for hearing if it receives a timely
request for hearing from a customer of the gas utility.
(e) Required tariff filings. Within 90 days of the
effective date of this section, each gas utility shall electronically
file with the Commission, in the manner prescribed by the Commission,
tariffs that shall include either:
(1) the curtailment priorities as specified in this
section; or
(2) a curtailment plan approved by the Commission as
specified in subsection (d) of this section.
(f) Curtailment emergency contact information. Each
gas utility shall maintain current curtailment emergency contact information
with the Commission and shall submit curtailment emergency contact
information on or before November 1 of each year.
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| Source Note: The provisions of this §7.455 adopted to be effective July 29, 2002, 27 TexReg 6687; amended to be effective May 14, 2018, 43 TexReg 2997; amended to be effective September 1, 2022, 47 TexReg 2516 |
