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Natural Gas Glossary
Except where the context expressly states another meaning, the following terms have the following meanings whenever applied to a tariff. For definitions of terms used in the electric utility industry please see our A B C D E F G H I L M N O P R S T U W Alternate Fuel - A fuel other than natural gas or compressed natural gas. Alternate Fuel Capabilities - A situation where an alternate fuel could have been utilized, provided, however, where the natural gas is for feedstock or process uses and the only alternate fuel is propane or other gaseous fuel, then the consumer will be treated as if it had no alternate fuel capability. Alternate Fuel for Essential Agricultural Use - Any fuel which is economically practicable and reasonably available as determined by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). Annual Charge Adjustment or ACA - A surcharge as permitted by Section 154.38 (d) (6) of the FERC's Regulations to permit interstate pipeline companies to recover from its shippers all Total Annual Charges assessed it by the FERC under Part 382 of the FERC's Balancing Service Charge - The charge applicable to a customer's adjusted imbalance volume when Daily Balancing Service (DBS-1) is being utilized. Balancing Services - The company's managing of a customer's natural gas supply to enable the customer to match the customer's daily usage with the customer's confirmed pipeline delivery of third-party natural gas supplies. Customers who wish to receive third-party natural gas supplies must obtain balancing service through the balancing provisions in the Daily Balancing Service (DBS-1) or Comprehensive Balancing Service (CBS-1). Billing Cycle - The regular periodic interval used by a utility for reading the meters of customers for billing purposes. Boiler Fuel - Natural gas used as a fuel for the generation of steam or hot water (including natural gas used as a fuel for externally fired pressure vessels using heat transfer fluids other than water) or electricity, including the utilization of gas turbines for the generation of electricity. Btu - One British thermal unit, the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. Business Day - Any weekday when the Company's business office is open in the normal course of business. Calendar Month - The period beginning on the first "gas day" of the calendar month and ending on the first "gas day" of the next succeeding month. City Gate - The points of delivery between the interstate pipelines providing service to Company facilities. Commercial - Service to customers who are primarily engaged in wholesale or retail trade, agriculture, forestry, fisheries, transportation, communications, sanitary services, finance, insurance, real estate, personal services, government and service that does not fall directly within one of the other classifications. Company - Madison Gas and Electric Company (MGE). Company Administered Balancing Pool - In a pool of aggregated customer volumes administered by the Company under Daily Balancing Service for customers who are not members of a Third-Party Pool. Constraint Day - A day in which a High-Flow Constraint, Selective Constraint or a Low-Flow Constraint, as set forth herein, are declared. Curtailment - A reduction in gas deliveries or gas sales necessitated by a shortage of supply. Customer - A consumer of natural gas distributed in any one billing period at one location through one meter. An entity using gas at separate locations is considered a separate customer at each location. Customer's Gas Commodity Account - The amount of natural gas, under Comprehensive Balancing Service and measured in therms, that (a) has been delivered to the Company for redelivery to the customer but has not been consumed by the customer or (b) has been consumed by the customer in excess of the amount that has been delivered to the Company by the customer. A positive balance in the Customer's Gas Commodity Account means that the customer has used less natural gas than has been delivered to the Company for redelivery to the customer and that the Company is holding such amount of the customer's gas in storage. A negative balance in the Customer's Gas Commodity Account means that the customer has used more natural gas than has been delivered to the Company for redelivery to the customer. Daily Transportation Quantity - The average amount of natural gas that the Company estimates a customer served under Comprehensive Balancing Service will use for each day of a calendar month. Default Balancing Service - That a Third-Party Pool has selected pipeline balancing services, other than the Company's balancing services, and the pipeline balancing services do not cover the entire imbalance of the pool. The Company will provide Company Balancing Service for the remainder of the imbalance at Maximum Rates, as specified in the Daily Balancing Service rate schedule. Dekatherm - The quantity of heat energy which is equivalent to one million (1,000,000) Btu. Distribution - The process of transporting natural gas through the Company's facilities to the customer's facilities. Enhanced Transportation Service or ETS - ANR's Rate Schedule ETS, Enhanced Transportation Service as specified in ANR's FERC Gas Tariff. Essential Agricultural Use - Any use of natural gas which is certified by the Secretary of Agriculture as an "essential agricultural use" under Section 401(c) of the NGPA as identified in 7 C.F.R. Section 2900, et seq. Essential Company Use - Any use of natural gas which is necessary to maintain service to the balance of customers who are not curtailed. Feedstock - Natural gas used as a raw material for its chemical properties in creating an end product. Firm Customer - A customer receiving service under Rate Schedules or contracts designed to provide customer's gas supply and distribution needs on a continuous basis. Firm Service - A service offered to customers under schedules or contracts which anticipate no interruptions. Firm Storage Service or FSS - ANR's Rate Schedule FSS, Firm Storage Service as specified in ANR's FERC Gas Tariff. Firm Transportation Service or FTS - Transportation services for which facilities have been designed, installed and dedicated to a certified quantity. Force Majeure - Acts of God, strikes, lockouts, or other industrial disturbances, acts of a public enemy, wars, blockades, insurrections, riots, epidemics, landslides, lighting, earthquakes, fires, storms, storm warnings, floods, washouts, arrests, and restraints of governments and people, present or future, valid orders, decisions or rulings of any governmental authority having jurisdiction, civil disturbances, explosions, breakage or accident to machinery or lines of pipe, freezing of wells or lines of pipe, and any other cause, whether of the kind herein enumerated or otherwise, not within the control of the Company which, by the exercise of due diligence, Company is unable to prevent or overcome. The settlement of strikes or lockouts shall be entirely within the discretion of the Company and the above requirement that any inability to carry out obligations hereunder due to force majeure shall be remedied with all reasonable dispatch shall not require the settlement of strikes or lockouts by conceding to the demand of the opposing party when such course is inadvisable in the discretion of the Company. Gas - Natural gas, manufactured gas, propane-air gas or any mixture of hydrocarbons or of hydrocarbons and noncombustible gases, in a gaseous state, consisting predominately of methane determined on a Btu basis. Gas Day - A period of 24 consecutive hours, beginning Gas Research Institute or GRI - An Illinois not-for-profit corporation organized for the purpose of assisting all the gas industry in providing adequate, reliable, safe, economic, and environmentally acceptable gas service for the benefit of gas consumers and general public. The GRI Surcharge is the funding mechanism for GRI-approved expenditures. High-Flow Constraint Day - A day when the Company expects natural gas demand to exceed its available deliverable supply of gas for gas sales service needs. On such a day, the Company will interrupt Interruptible customers and/or require customers using third-party natural gas supplies to use no more than their daily confirmed pipeline deliveries to avoid incurring pipeline penalties and assure that adequate supplies are available for Firm Sales Service needs. Imbalance - When a party receives or delivers a quantity of natural gas, then redelivers or uses a larger or smaller quantity of natural gas to another party. Industrial - Service to customers who are primarily engaged in a process which creates or changes raw or unfinished materials into another form or product. This includes mining and manufacturing. Interruptible Customer - A customer receiving service under Rate Schedules or contracts which permit interruption of service on short notice due to insufficient gas supply or capacity to deliver that supply. Interruptible Service - Low-priority service offered to customers under schedules or contracts which anticipate and permit interruption on short notice, generally in peak-load seasons, by reason of the claim of firm service customers and higher priority users. Gas is available at any time of the year if the supply is sufficient and the supply system is adequate. Low-Flow Constraint Day - Any day that Company anticipates that it may be subject to pipeline or supplier penalties if natural gas supplies delivered to the Company exceed demand. On such a day, the Company will require customers using third-party natural gas supplies to use no less than their daily confirmed pipeline deliveries to avoid incurring pipeline penalties. Maximum Day Requirements - Will be determined from actual telemetered maximum day usage or by dividing the maximum monthly deliveries (customers shall have their maximum daily requirement calculated on the most recent maximum monthly consumption) by the number of billing days in that month. Volumes specified in the Curtailment Priority Categories of this tariff shall apply in the aggregate rather than on a unit-of-equipment basis. Monthly Delivered Quantity - The amount of natural gas that the Company estimated that a customer receiving service under Comprehensive Balancing Service will use in a calendar month. Nomination - A request for a physical quantity of gas under a specific purchase, sales or transportation agreement or for all contracts at a specific point. No-Notice Service or NNS - ANR's Rate Schedule NNS, No-Notice Service as specified in ANR's FERC Gas Tariff. Overnomination - A nomination that is more than the amount of gas that is used by the customer during the period of time covered by the nomination (e.g., a Gas Day or a Gas Month). For balancing purposes, the difference between an overnomination and the usage volumes will be divided by the nomination to determine the overnomination percentage. Under Daily Balancing Service, the absolute difference between the nomination and the usage volumes will be subject to the appropriate Balancing Service Charges or Penalties. Usage volumes will be adjusted as necessary to be on a comparable basis with nomination volumes before an overnomination or undernomination is calculated. Peak Day - The maximum daily quantity of gas distributed through the Company's system. Process - Gas used in appliances which were designed to burn a gaseous fuel so as to utilize those combustion characteristics of gaseous fuels, such as complete combustion, safe combustion products, flame geometry, ease of temperature control to precise levels, and optimum safety of heat application. Specifically excluded are steam and hot water boilers, gas turbines, space-heating equipment and indirect air heaters, where, for all such equipment, alternate fuel-burning equipment is available. A process gas load by this definition is a load for which there is no usable alternate to a gaseous fuel. PSCW - Public Service Commission of Wisconsin. Public Interest Facility - Hospitals, schools, correctional facilities, nursing homes, hotels and motels, and any other facilities whose occupants are dependent upon operators of the facility for protection from the elements and whose continuing operations are necessary to ensure public safety. Purchased Gas Adjustment or PGA - The Company's monthly adjustment to adjust the average cost of gas sold through the Company's gas sales service rate schedules as set forth on Sheet G40 of this tariff. Residential - Service to customers under the Residential Distribution Service Rate Schedule RD-1. Residential Lifeline - Service to eligible customers under the Residential Lifeline Distribution Service Rate Schedule RD-2. Scheduling - Is a process by which nominations are first consolidated by receipt point, by contract, and verified with upstream/downstream parties. If the verified capacity is greater than or equal to the total nominated quantities, all nominated quantities are scheduled. If verified capacity is less than nominated quantities, nominated quantities will be allocated according to scheduling priorities. Supplier - A party that sells the commodity of natural gas. System Supply - Purchases of natural gas for MGE's customers who purchase all of their natural gas supply from MGE. Take or Pay or TOP - A surcharge collected by interstate pipeline customers permitted by FERC orders, designed to recover the interstate pipeline's cost of settling its historic take-or-pay liabilities. Therm - The quantity of heat energy which is equivalent to one hundred thousand (100,000) Btu. Third-Party Natural Gas Supplies - Natural gas supplies that are purchased from an entity other than the Company. Third-Party Natural Gas Supply Nomination Form - The Company-designated nomination form which is required to be completed and submitted to the Company in accordance with terms and provisions of the Company's Daily Balancing Service (Rate Schedule DBS-1). Third-Party Pool - Customers who are aggregated, by a party other than the Company, for balancing purposes under Daily Balancing Service. Transportation Aggregation Group - Is a group of customers who have joined together for capacity release and nomination purposes under the Comprehensive Balancing Service Rate Schedule. Undernomination - A nomination that is less than the amount of gas that is used by the customer during the period of time covered by the nomination (e.g., a Gas Day or a Gas Month). For balancing purposes, the difference between an undernomination and the usage volumes will be divided by the nomination to determine the undernomination percentage. Under Daily Balancing Service, the absolute difference between the nomination and the usage volumes will be subject to the appropriate Balancing Service Charges or Penalties. Usage volumes will be adjusted as necessary to be on a comparable basis with nomination volumes before an overnomination or undernomination is calculated. Weighted Average Cost of Gas or WACOG - Is average cost of gas purchased during a given time period, usually a month. This WACOG includes gas injected or withdrawn from storage. |
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