Orders

ORDER NUMBER

G-90-22

 

IN THE MATTER OF

the Utilities Commission Act, RSBC 1996, Chapter 473

 

and

 

Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. and

Pacific Northern Gas (N.E.) Ltd.

Application for Approval of a Low Carbon Energy Cost Recovery Mechanism and

Biomethane Purchase Agreements

 

BEFORE:

R. I. Mason, Panel Chair

A. C. Dennier, Commissioner

M. Kresivo, QC, Commissioner

 

on March 31, 2022

 

ORDER

WHEREAS:

 

A.      On November 17, 2021, Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. and Pacific Northern Gas (N.E.) Ltd. (collectively, PNG) submitted an application to the British Columbia Utilities Commission (BCUC) pursuant to sections 59 to 61 of the Utilities Commission Act (UCA) seeking approval of a Low Carbon Energy (LCE) Cost Recovery Mechanism, and pursuant to section 71 of the UCA and the BCUC Rules for Natural Gas Energy Supply Contracts, seeking approval of Biomethane Purchase Agreements (BPAs) with ATCO Future Fuel RNG Limited Partnership (ATCO) and Tidal Energy Marketing Inc. (Tidal) (Application);

B.      PNG requests, among other things, to establish an LCE rate of $27.50/Gigajoule and to recover LCE-related costs through sales to voluntary LCE customers, PNG’s own company use gas, and off-system sales. PNG seeks approval to capture unrecovered LCE-related costs in a new deferral account to be recovered from customers through an LCE cost recovery rate rider;

C.      By Order G-6-22 dated January 11, 2022, the BCUC established a written hearing process and regulatory timetable to review the Application. The timetable included intervener registration, one round of information requests, final submissions on the BPAs and reply, submissions on further process, and further process to be determined;

D.      BC Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA) and the Residential Consumer Intervener Association (RCIA) registered as interveners;

E.       On March 10, 2022, PNG provided a submission on further process, recommending that the proceeding move to final arguments, however, should the BCUC and interveners recommend further process, continuation of the written process would be appropriate;

F.       By March 18, 2022, BCSEA and RCIA provided submissions on further process, recommending that the proceeding move to final arguments;

G.      The Panel has reviewed the submissions to-date and determined that a further regulatory timetable is warranted to review the LCE Cost Recovery Mechanism portion of the Application.

 

NOW THEREFORE the BCUC orders that a further regulatory timetable is established as set out in Appendix A to this order.

 

 

DATED at the City of Vancouver, in the Province of British Columbia, this             31^st                day of March 2022.

 

BY ORDER

 

Original signed by:

 

R. I. Mason

Commissioner

 

 

Attachment

 

 

Pacific Northern Gas Ltd. and

Pacific Northern Gas (N.E.) Ltd.

Application for Approval of a Low Carbon Energy Cost Recovery Mechanism and

Biomethane Purchase Agreements