The California PUC opened a rulemaking said to, among other things, "implement a long-term planning strategy to manage the state’s transition away from natural gas-fueled technologies to meet California’s decarbonization goals. "

The rulemaking will address a wide range of issues in natural gas supply, planning, and cost allocation. Although nothing specifically related to the core transport agent (retail market) was scoped, issues such as capacity and cost allocation will presumably be impacted, if not included outright in the proceeding

Notably, among the questions posed by the PUC are:

• Should gas utilities maintain a specific amount of slack capacity or additional infrastructure in excess of the amount of backbone transmission and storage capacity necessary to meet the existing one-in-ten cold and dry year reliability standard? If so, how much?

• Should pipeline operating procedures, such as those for curtailments and operational flow orders, be uniform across the state to avoid the possibility of regulatory arbitrage?

• Should gas-fired electric generators be required to purchase a specific amount of long-term firm interstate and intrastate capacity?

• Given the current greenhouse gas-related laws, what is the appropriate gas infrastructure portfolio for gas utilities that operate in California?

• How much gas infrastructure is needed to ensure reliable gas service from 2019-2030, 2030-2040, and beyond 2045 (Time Horizons)?

• How can the Commission manage the transition of gas infrastructure so that the stranded costs and operations and maintenance expenses caused by declining throughput are mitigated?

A draft of the order adopted by the PUC is available here

Tags:
California   Natural gas  

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