1220-04-07-.06
Procedures For Uncollected Gas Cost Recovery:
Cite as Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 1220-04-07-.06
(1)
Recovery of uncollected gas costs using the modified Refund Adjustment Formula is optional.
Any Company electing to recover uncollected gas costs in its annual ACA filing using the
modified Refund Adjustment Formula shall comply fully with the following procedures:
(a)
At the time a customer account balance is written-off, the gas cost and the margin
portion of the uncollected amount for each customer account shall be specifically
identified from actual amounts billed and a percentage of total gas costs to the total
amount written-off established.
(b)
For purposes of the calculation in (a), other charges, such as late fees, applicable state
and local taxes, and collection fees shall not be included in the calculation of the
percentage of gas costs to the total amount written-off.
(c)
If the account balance written-off is later collected in full, the uncollected gas costs shall
be credited with the full amount of the gas cost portion of the account.
(d)
If the account balance written-off is not collected in full, the partial payment shall be
allocated and credited to uncollected gas costs using the same percentage established
for gas costs in (a).
(e)
If a Company’s billing system (including both computer and manual functions) is not
capable of accurately allocating a partial payment, the partial payment shall be credited
100% to uncollected gas costs first, with any remainder treated as recovered margin.
(f)
For those Companies whose allowance for uncollectible accounts (recovered in base
rates) contains a gas cost portion, the amount of that portion shall be netted with the
eligible uncollected gas costs included for recovery in the ACA. Each such Company
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shall submit its calculation of the amount to be netted with actual uncollected gas cost
amounts as part of the annual ACA filing.
(g)
The gas cost portion of written-off account balances and the amount of gas costs
recovered from subsequent payments on these accounts shall be charged or credited,
as appropriate, to the ACA account at least annually for inclusion in the ACA filing.
(h)
Any variance between amounts charged or credited in the annual filing of the ACA and
the amounts recorded in the monthly reports required in subparagraph (2) shall be
reconciled and documented by the Company for review by the TPUC Compliance Staff
(Staff) during the annual audit of the ACA.
(i)
Each Company shall file its policy (internal procedures followed) for determining the
uncollectibility of a customer account balance, disconnection of a customer’s service
for non-payment, collection attempts made by the company both before and after an
account balance is written-off, and conditions a customer must fulfill to be reconnected
to the gas system. This written policy shall be filed with the TPUC within thirty (30) days
of the effective date of this Rule part.
(2)
Each Company electing to recover uncollected gas costs in the ACA shall comply with the
following reporting requirements:
(a)
Customer account balances written-off shall be tracked separately in sufficient detail,
so as to permit the Staff to audit write-offs and subsequent payments on written-off
accounts.
(b)
Each Company shall submit a monthly summary report detailing each write-off and
each payment to a written-off account for that month and the total amount eligible for
recovery in the ACA no later than the first business day of the third month following the
reported month, using a format acceptable to the Staff. Corrections or adjustments to
these monthly reports shall be timely filed. Failure to submit a required monthly report
may result in disallowance of recovery in the ACA of the uncollected gas costs for that
month. The Company is responsible for contacting Staff should an extraordinary event
prevent the timely filing of this report.
(c)
Monthly reports shall be electronically filed in Excel format and shall contain, at a
minimum, the following information:
1.
Information reported at the time an uncollected account balance is written-off:
(i)
Customer account numbers, with spreadsheet data sorted by account
number in ascending order;
(ii)
Date that account balance is written-off;
(iii)
Amount of total gas cost written-off;
(iv)
Amount of total margin written-off;
(v)
Total amount of gas cost and margin written-off ((iii) plus (iv));
(vi)
Gas cost percentage of total amount written-off ((iii) divided by (v)); and
(vii)
Margin percentage of total amount written-off ((iv) divided by (v)).
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2.
Information reported at the time a full or partial payment is received on an
account balance that has been written-off:
(i)
Customer account numbers, with spreadsheet data sorted by account
number in ascending order;
(ii)
Date that payment was received;
(iii)
Original write-off date of the account balance applicable to this payment;
(iv)
Gas cost payment credited to written-off account balance;
(v)
Margin payment credited to written-off account balance;
(vi)
Total of gas cost payment (recovery) and margin payment (recovery) ((iv)
plus (v));
(vii)
Gas cost payment percentage of total amount recovered credited to
customer account ((iv) divided by (vi)); and
(viii) Margin payment percentage of total amount recovered ((v) divided by (vi)).
(3)
Each Company electing to recover uncollected gas costs in its annual ACA filing shall
sufficiently demonstrate to Staff that it is making reasonable efforts to collect delinquent
accounts prior to the account balance being written-off. As part of the ACA filing, the
Company shall submit a report showing the amount of uncollected gas costs by month, the
total revenues by month, and the percentage of uncollected gas costs compared to total
revenues by month and in total. The Company shall provide an explanation of any significant
increase in this percentage from one month to the next.
(4)
Failure of a Company to fully comply with the procedures and/or reporting requirements
contained in this Rule part may result in the disallowance of all or a portion of uncollected gas
costs eligible for recovery in the ACA during the annual ACA audit.
(5)
Once a Company makes the election to recover uncollected gas costs in the ACA, the
Company must continue to file its uncollected gas costs for recovery in the ACA in
compliance with this Rule.