United Cities Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission

601 N.E.2d 1014, 235 Ill. App. 3d 577, 176 Ill. Dec. 316, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1463
Appellate Court of Illinois·Decided September 10, 1992·No. 4-91-0940·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinions

JUSTICE STEIGMANN

delivered the opinion of the court:

United Cities Gas Company (United Cities) appeals from the orders of the Illinois Commerce Commission (Commission) entered following a proceeding to reconcile revenues collected by United Cities in 1988 with the actual cost of gas purchased for that year. (Illinois Commerce Comm’n v. Kaskaskia Gas Co. (Oct. 4, 1991), _ Ill. Commerce Comm’n Rep. _ (ICC Nos. 89 — 0357, 89 — 0365 cons.) (United Cities Gas Co., respondent in ICC No. 89 — 0365) (hereinafter Kaskaskia).) Specifically, United Cities appeals from that portion of the Commission’s orders which denied recovery of $260,553 of gas costs allocated to United Cities’ Illinois customers and the Commission’s order to refund, with interest, that amount.

We affirm.

I. Facts

In September 1989, the Commission commenced reconciliation proceedings in accordance with section 9 — 220 of the Public Utilities Act (Act) (Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch.1112/3, par. 9 — 220) and directed United Cities to present evidence showing its reconciliation of purchased gas adjustment (PGA) clause revenues with the actual cost of gas purchased for the 12 months ending December 31, 1988.

A. The Administrative Process

In Citizens Utilities Co. v. Illinois Commerce Comm’n (1988), 124 Ill. 2d 195, 200-01, 529 N.E.2d 510, 512-13, the supreme court explained the process by which revenues are received by public utilities as follows:

“In establishing the rates that a public utility is to charge its customers, the Commission bases the determination on the company’s operating costs, rate base, and allowed rate of return. A public utility is entitled to recover in its rates certain operating costs. A public utility is also entitled to earn a return on its rate base, or the amount of its invested capital; the return is the product of the allowed rate of return and rate base. The sum of those amounts — operating costs and return on rate base — is known as the company’s revenue requirement. The components of the ratemaking determination may be expressed in ‘the classic ratemaking formula R (revenue requirement) = C (operating costs) + Ir (invested capital or rate base times rate of return on capital).’ (City of Charlottesville, Virginia v. Federal Energy Regulatory Comm’n (D.C. Cir. 1985), 774 F.2d 1205, 1217, citing T. Morgan, Economic Regulation of Business 219 (1976).) The same formula is used by the Commission in ratemaking determinations for Illinois. The revenue requirement represents the amount the company is permitted to recover from its customers in the rates it charges. Ratemaking is done in the context of a test year ***.”

Under section 9 — 220 of the Act, the Commission may authorize utilities in Illinois to recover all gas purchases through the application of the Commission’s PGA clause. That section reads as follows:

“Notwithstanding the provisions of Section 9 — 201, the Commission may authorize the increase or decrease of rates and charges based upon changes in the cost of fuel used in the generation or production of electric power, changes in the cost of purchased power, or changes in the cost of purchased gas through the application of fuel adjustment clauses or purchased gas adjustment clauses. *** Cost shall be based upon uniformly applied accounting principles. Annually, the Commission shall initiate public hearings to determine whether the clauses reflect actual costs of fuel, gas or power purchased to determine whether such purchases were prudent, and to reconcile any amounts collected with the actual costs of fuel, power or gas prudently purchased. In each such proceeding, the burden of proof shall be upon the utility to establish the prudency of its cost of fuel, power or gas purchases and costs.” Ill. Rev. Stat. 1989, ch. 1112/3, par. 9-220.

Gas supply costs are recovered exclusively under the PGA clause, while all other costs of service are recovered in base rates. Base rates are set in periodic rate hearings or cases. (See Citizens Utilities, 124 Ill. 2d at 200-01, 529 N.E.2d at 512-13.) Under the PGA clause, a gas utility’s gas costs are first estimated and then incorporated into a formula that determines in a gas cost rate. This gas cost rate is then used in combination with the base rate to determine a customer’s monthly bill. Any fluctuations in the cost of fuel and power incurred by a utility are passed on to the consumer on a monthly basis through the PGA clause. See Business & Professional People for the Public Interest v. Illinois Commerce Comm’n (1988), 171 Ill. App. 3d 948, 955, 525 N.E.2d 1053,1056.

Section 9 — 220 of the Act requires a gas utility to reconcile the revenues received from customers through the gas cost rate with the gas supply costs it actually incurred for the prior year. Because the gas cost rate as determined by the PGA clause is based on estimates, and actual gas prices can change during the year, there can be either an over collection or an under collection of gas costs by the utility. After reconciliation, the utility collects any “underrecovery” for the year from the customers or refunds any “overrecovery” by adjustments to a factor (R4) of the PGA clause. Any adjustment takes effect the following year. Accordingly, the Commission conducts annual proceedings to reconcile costs and revenues.

The proceedings at issue in this case involve the reconciliation of the gas supply costs and revenues of United Cities in 1988 for its Illinois customers. (This reconciliation procedure is known as a “true-up.”)

B. Evidence Adduced at the Hearings

United Cities is an investor-owned public utility regulated by the Commission. It provides natural gas service to five separate Illinois service areas, including Harrisburg, Illinois. United Cities provides natural gas service in seven other States and is subject to the regulatory jurisdiction of those States.

Texas Eastern Transmission Corporation (Texas Eastern) is the pipeline supplier for United Cities’ Harrisburg service area, as well as for Unitéd Cities’ Franklin and Murfreesboro service areas in Tennessee. United Cities’ contracts with individual pipeline suppliers are approved by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC). United Cities purchased gas from Texas Eastern under a demand/commodity rate schedule that included a fixed demand charge, and a commodity charge based on volume usage. The demand charge is composed of two fees: a contract demand charge and a storage demand charge. In exchange for the contract demand charge, Texas Eastern guaranteed that it would have gas and pipeline capacity to deliver to United Cities’ customers. This contract demand charge was a fixed monthly amount paid by United Cities to Texas Eastern. The storage demand charge guaranteed that Texas Eastern would have field storage and tank capacity and actual gas up to the contracted daily maximum quantity required for United Cities’ customers.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

United Cities Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission, 601 N.E.2d 1014, 235 Ill. App. 3d 577, 176 Ill. Dec. 316, 1992 Ill. App. LEXIS 1463 (Ill. Ct. App. 1992).

601 N.E.2d 1014 (United Cities Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

Related

Lehmann v. Department of Children & Family Services
796 N.E.2d 1165 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 2003)
Merrifield v. Illinois State Police Merit Board
294 Ill. App. 3d 520 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1997)
United Cities Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission
643 N.E.2d 719 (Illinois Supreme Court, 1994)
Illinois Power Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission
626 N.E.2d 713 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1993)
United Cities Gas Co. v. Illinois Commerce Commission
601 N.E.2d 1014 (Appellate Court of Illinois, 1992)