May 15, 2015 Natural Gas Council Joint Letter to Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Chairman Norman Bay on Prioritizing Implementation of New Pipeline Scheduling Timeline Prior to Embarking on Further Scheduling Deliberations at NAESB
Dear Chairman Bay: The Natural Gas Council, in conjunction with other gas industry participants, would like to thank you, each of the Commissioners, as well as the Commission staff for the hard work and thoughtful consideration expended over the past four years to achieve better coordination between the natural gas and power industries. Your efforts and encouragement have resulted in some very positive developments including, among other things, clarity on the permissibility of non-public operational pipeline/electric transmission operator communications, increased focus on regional fuel assurance efforts, as well as an improved and more flexible gas scheduling timeline recently adopted in Order No. 809. When fully implemented, this new gas scheduling timeline, along with changes in Section 206 filings by ISOs and RTOs to conform to the new gas scheduling timeline, should provide increased opportunities for power generators to participate in the gas scheduling timeline to ensure more reliable fuel supplies.
