1998 Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) Changes
Beginning Nov. 2, 1998, ANR Pipeline Co. implemented new standards that give utilities, customers and marketers more opportunities to change nominations during the gas day and save money on daily balancing costs.
These new standards were recommended by the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB) and approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). GISB was created by FERC in 1994 to set industry standards.
This is the second phase of recommendations by GISB to help standardize practices in the gas industry. The initial GISB standards were implemented in June 1997 after nearly four years of work.
FERC started this process in 1993 by creating five work groups to develop standard file formats and protocols for electronic gas transactions. Representatives from pipelines, producers, local distribution companies, end-users and marketers participated in this process. They formed GISB in 1994 to standardize electronic communication.
In the fall of 1995, FERC announced plans to revise pipeline standards and invited input. GISB filed 140 standard business practices for five areas. Forty parties filed comments on the standards.
In July 1996, FERC issued Order 587, adopting the GISB standards for all interstate pipelines. These standards, which all pipelines implemented between April 1 and June 1, 1997, covered five areas:
- nominations and confirmations
- flowing gas
- invoicing
- capacity release
- electronic communications
Customers Gain More Flexibility
Changes to the standards in 1998 offer customers more flexibility in nominating their gas supplies each day. Following is a summary of the most significant changes.
Each day, shippers have the right to make two intra-day nomination change requests and one evening nomination change request. The intra-day and evening nominations are good for only one day. The nomination reverts back to the original amount for the next gas day, unless it is changed by the shipper.
Natural Gas Nomination Timeline [PDF: 15 KB / 1 page]
ANR needs intra-day nomination change requests for Gas Day 1 by:
- 10 a.m. to take effect at 5 p.m. that same day*
- 5 p.m. to take effect at 9 p.m. that same day
ANR needs evening nomination change requests for Gas Day 2 by:
- 6 p.m. to take effect at 9 a.m. the next gas day*
Intra-day nominations for the next gas day can be submitted 24 hours a day. The Natural Gas Nomination Timeline summarizes the schedule of options available for customers to request changes in gas nominations.
Wisconsin Public Service must confirm all gas transportation nominations for customers and marketers.
- All start-of-day nominations are confirmed automatically by Public Service.
- Intra-day nomination change requests are reviewed individually and approved or denied by Public Service. The utility needs advance notice in order to change its nomination, balance the system and avoid penalty charges from ANR.
- Intra-day nomination change requests must be submitted to Public Service one hour before ANR's deadline. Intra-day nomination change requests should be faxed to Public Service's Gas Supply Group at 920-430-6806.
When ANR receives an intra-day nomination change request, it completes a validation process to determine if the request can be met. ANR checks three points on the system:
- gas supply
- pipeline capacity n the end-user's ability to accept the gas
If any one of these cannot meet the full amount requested, ANR approves the "lesser" amount that everyone can meet (according to GISB's "lesser of" procedure).
For example:
A customer's intra-day nomination change requests an additional 1,000 dekatherms (DTH) of gas. During the confirmation process, ANR learns that the gas supplier can provide 1,000 DTH of gas and the end-user can accept 1,000 DTH of gas, but the pipeline can handle only 900 DTH of gas. ANR will approve the lesser of the two amounts (900 DTH of gas) that it has confirmed the system can handle.
Customers who designate a marketer as the agent to manage their capacity contracts may need to update agency assignments with ANR. Two options are available.
- Nominating Agents are limited to only making nominations.
- Super Agents can manage all aspects of a customer's contract.
For more information, please contact us.