Standards for Business Practices for Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations that establish standards for interstate natural gas pipeline business practices and electronic communications to incorporate by reference into its regulations the most recent version of the standards, Version 1.8, adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) and to make other minor corrections. This rule upgrades the Commission's current business practice and communication standards to reflect the latest version approved by the NAESB WGQ (i.e., the Version 1.8 Standards), and is necessary to increase the efficiency of the pipeline grid, make pipelines' electronic communications more secure, and is consistent with the mandate that agencies provide for electronic disclosure of information.