Annual Charge Filing Procedures for Natural Gas Pipelines

In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is amending its regulations to revise the filing requirements for natural gas pipelines that choose to recover Commission-assessed annual charges through an annual charge adjustment (ACA) clause. Currently, natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause must make an annual tariff filing to reflect a revised ACA unit charge authorized by the Commission for that fiscal year. To reduce the regulatory burden on these pipelines, the Commission will eliminate this annual filing requirement. In its place, the Commission will require natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to incorporate the Commission-authorized annual charge unit rate by reference to that rate, as published on the Commission's Web site located at http:// www.ferc.gov.