Orders

ORDER NUMBER

E-10-19

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

and

Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.

Application for Acceptance of Natural Gas Supply Contracts for

April 2019 to October 2019

BEFORE:

R. I. Mason, Commissioner

B. A. Magnan, Commissioner

T. A. Loski, Commissioner

on May 9, 2019

ORDER

WHEREAS:

A.      On April 10, 2019, pursuant to section 71 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA), Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. (PNG) filed with the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) an application to accept natural gas contracts for the period April 1, 2019 to October 31, 2019 (Application);

B.      By Order G-130-06 dated October 26, 2006, the BCUC approved Rules for Natural Gas Energy Supply Contracts (Rules). Appendix A of Order G-130-06 contains the Rules, which are intended to facilitate the BCUC’s review of natural gas energy supply contracts, pursuant to section71 of the UCA;

C.      By Letter L-21-18 dated July 20, 2018, the BCUC accepted the PNG Annual Gas Contracting Plan dated June 8, 2018 (2018/19 ACP), which covered the period of November 2018 to October 2019. The 2018/19 ACP, describes PNG’s plan to meet the natural gas requirements for all of PNG’s service areas, including PNG West (west of Summit Lake) and Pacific Northern Gas (N.E.) Ltd. [PNG(N.E.)], for the 2018/2019 Gas Year. PNG(N.E.) includes Fort St. John, Dawson Creek and Tumbler Ridge;

D.      By Order E-24-18 dated November 22, 2018, the BCUC accepted for filing natural gas supply contracts for November 2018 to October 2019. Order E-24-18 included a directive to PNG to file a report that details gas supply arrangements for the balance of the 2018/19 ACP (April 2019 to October 2019) no later than April 15, 2019;

E.       PNG has requested that details of the filing be kept confidential for reasons of commercial sensitivity and submits that disclosure of this information may adversely affect PNG’s ability to secure the most competitively price gas supply arrangements in the future; and

F.       The BCUC has reviewed the natural gas supply contracts, as shown in Appendix A to this Order, and is satisfied that the contracts are consistent with the 2018/19 ACP, the market factors are appropriate considering market prices at the time they were negotiated and the contracts are in the public interest.

NOW THEREFORE, pursuant to section 71 of the UCA, and the BCUC Rules for Natural Gas Energy Supply Contracts, the BCUC accepts the natural gas contracts shown in Appendix A to this order. The BCUC will hold the details of the Application and associated documents confidential as requested by PNG as they contain commercially sensitive information.

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this                 9th                 day of May, 2019.

BY ORDER

Original signed by:

R. I. Mason

Commissioner

Attachment

Pacific Northern Gas Ltd.

Application for Acceptance of Natural Gas Supply Contracts for

April 2019 to October 2019