CC MEETING: September 10, 2019
DATE: August 27, 2019
TO: Erin Rinehart, City Manager
FROM: Laurie Garber, City Secretary/Admin. Services Director
Title
Consider An Ordinance Approving A Negotiated Settlement Between The Atmos Cities Steering Committee ("ACSC") And Atmos Energy Corp., Midtex Division Regarding The Company's 2019 Rate Review Mechanism Filings; Declaring Existing Rates To Be Unreasonable; Adopting Tariffs That Reflect Rate Adjustments Consistent With The Negotiated Settlement; Finding The Rates To Be Set By The Settlement Tariffs To Be Just And Reasonable And In The Public Interest; And Requiring The Company To Reimburse ACSC's Reasonable Ratemaking Expenses.
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BACKGROUND:
The City, along with 171 other Mid-Texas cities served by Atmos Energy Corporation, Mid-Tex Division ("Atmos Mid-Tex" or "Company"), is a member of the Atmos Cities Steering Committee ("ACSC"). In 2007, ACSC and Atmos Mid-Tex settled a rate application filed by the Company pursuant to Section 104.301 of the Texas Utilities Code for an interim rate adjustment commonly referred to as a GRIP filing (arising out of the Gas Reliability Infrastructure Program legislation). That settlement created a substitute rate review process, referred to as Rate Review Mechanism ("RRM"), as a substitute for future filings under the GRIP statute.
Since 2007, there have been several modifications to the original RRM Tariff. The most recent iteration of an RRM Tariff was reflected in an ordinance adopted by ACSC members in 2018. On or about April 1, 2019, the Company filed a rate request pursuant to the RRM Tariff adopted by ACSC members. The Company claimed that its cost-of-service in a test year ending December 31, 2018, entitled it to additional system-wide revenues of $70 million. Application of the standards set forth in ACSC's RRM Tariff required Atmos to reduce its request to $54 million, $39.3 million of which would be applicable to ACSC members. (ACSC is one of four groups allocated ...
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