52 Pa. Code § 69.195 - Fitness of natural gas marketer or broker (including an LDC's affiliate)
(a)
Fitness
of brokers and marketers.
(1) Unless
otherwise stated, the phrase marketers or brokers, or both, includes all local
distribution company (LDC) affiliates, subsidiaries, parents, divisions, and
the like providing gas supply to the respective LDC's customers.
(2) To retain reliable service when the gas
industry unbundles, the Commission seeks to insure that brokers and marketers
operating in this Commonwealth possess the financial or technical, or both,
fitness necessary to meet their obligations consistent with the public interest
in system reliability and gas supplies. As assurance of the continuation of
reliable service and secure supplies is a prerequisite for opening
Pennsylvania's gas markets to full retail competition, both new and incumbent
providers of gas should be fully capable of providing reliable service and
supplies.
(3) The LDCs should
address the issue of financial and technical fitness in their tariffs, in
consultation with marketers or brokers, to assure the reliability of supplies
to the end user and the public interest in system reliability. The LDCs should
also address the matter of enforcement in any tariff, developed in consultation
with customers, marketers or brokers, submitted in adherence to this
section.
(b)
Demonstration of fitness to deliver gas. Gas suppliers that
wish to deliver gas to retail customers should demonstrate that they have the
requisite financial and technical fitness to meet their obligations to
customers consistent with the public interest in system reliability and LDC's
underlying supplier-of-last-resort obligation. The financial and technical
fitness is expected for any marketer or broker that wants to serve any or all
retail commercial, industrial or retail classes. Financial and technical
fitness is aimed at ensuring that a marketer or broker has the requisite
ability to offer service to the public.
(c)
Nondiscriminatory transportation
tariff rules. The LDCs may offer nondiscriminatory transportation
tariff rules, developed in consultation with marketers or brokers, governing
the qualifications of marketers and brokers. The rules should be consistent
with any registration requirements for marketers and brokers of the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission. The tariff rules should address the following:
(i) Financial fitness, including the ability
to comply with any penalties stemming from nonperformance or in response to
changed circumstances.
(ii)
Operational fitness, including the ability of the firm to meet peak demand of
contracted customers which could be met by a showing of sufficient gas reserves
or sufficient supply and capacity to meet the maximum daily delivery
obligations with sufficient emergency back up supplies.
(2) The information expected by this section
should be as generic as possible and be limited to the information needed for
system reliability and performance of an LDC's supplier-of-last-resort
obligations. The information expected by this section should avoid information
wanted solely or largely for an LDC's merchant function. The information
expected by this section should avoid mandating the disclosure of specific and
commercially sensitive information such as price, origin, destination, and the
like. Information provided to an LDC as part of its system reliability and
supplier-of-last-resort obligations may not be provided to an LDC's affiliate
as part an LDC's merchant operations.
Notes
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