Gas Transport & Capacity Charges | What to Verify

Identify the owner and calculation of each transport charge

Do not label every noncommodity charge negotiable or count a tariff correction as a supplier-rate saving. Use the state’s primary tariff resources for the actual account.

Worked example: an excluded component reverses the headline comparison

Suppose a hypothetical commodity proposal shows $0.70 per therm but excludes a modeled $0.05 component, while another includes that same component at $0.74. On those assumptions, the first comparable price is $0.75, not $0.70. At 10,000 therms it is $100 more expensive before fees, delivery, taxes and other differences.

The example only works if the $0.05 item is genuinely separate in the first offer and genuinely included in the second. Obtain the written scope rather than treating an uncertain exclusion as a known amount. Identify whether a capacity or transportation charge comes from a supplier agreement, utility schedule or another arrangement. Do not add it twice or assume that a supplier can waive a regulated utility charge.

Identify which capacity right is being priced

FERC describes how firm pipeline capacity can be released into a secondary market and how a marketer can bundle gas with transport. This helps explain why a supplier capacity component and a utility distribution charge are not interchangeable. Ask for the service, delivery point and contract basis behind each charge before deciding whether two offers include the same obligation. FERC: firm capacity release and secondary transportation markets.

Reconcile quantity, period and unit for the charge

Check whether the determinant is actual throughput, reserved daily capacity, a monthly minimum or another tariff measure. A charge quoted per day cannot be added to a per-therm rate without its billing basis. Preserve the original calculation and show any normalization separately. Avoid adding a separately listed item again when a supplier’s written bundled price already includes it. EIA: natural gas volume, heat content and energy units; FERC: interstate and intrastate pipeline responsibilities.

An inclusion map that prevents a double count

Create one row for each named capacity, transport, fuel or balancing component. Identify the issuer, calculation basis, unit, applicable period and whether it is in the quoted supplier price. Tie each row to the agreement or tariff rather than inferring scope from an invoice abbreviation. Test a low-throughput month when reserved or minimum charges may remain. Ask the counterparty to reconcile any overlap before comparing totals; adding every visible line can be as misleading as omitting them.

Use the appropriate planning tool

Gas unit converter: Normalize actual energy units only after identifying the billing determinant; a reserved daily quantity is not automatically monthly consumption.