The company has accepted $105 million less under the settlement than the $839,982,742 it initially sought.
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Atmos Pipeline-Texas will increase the amount it collects on its system for transporting gas by $12 million annually — or by 1.66 percent — under a settlement agreement approved this month by state regulators.
This change to the company’s “transportation revenue requirement” will affect home rates, albeit indirectly. The company’s previous transportation revenue requirement was $723 million annually. Under the settlement, it now goes to $735 million. However, even with the increase, the company has accepted $105 million less under the settlement than the $839,982,742 it initially sought.
Various intervenors, including the Atmos Cities Steering Committee and other city representatives, reached the unanimous settlement with Atmos in October. The Railroad Commission approved the settlement on December 13 without discussion.
Background of the Case
- On May 19, 2023, Atmos Pipeline-Texas, a Division of Atmos Energy Corporation, filed paperwork at the Railroad Commission to change its rates. ACSC intervened in the rate case, engaged consultants, conducted discovery, and identified aspects of the Atmos request that it found unreasonable.
- The company’s overall revenue requirement (which includes extraneous pass-through costs to third parties) will be $841,924,105 under the settlement, which is $109 less than the $951.1 million the company originally sought.
- The adopted changes will result in a capacity charge of $18.80038 per million British thermal units of MDQ (where MDQ is defined as the maximum daily quantity of gas over the pipeline system). This represents a $.30614 increase over the current capacity charge of $18.49424 — or an increase of 1.66 percent.
- The new capacity charge under the approved settlement agreement remains less than the $21.25 initially requested by APT.
The company will operate under an approved cost of equity of 11.45 percent under the approved settlement — as opposed to the company’s initial request of 13.5 percent. - This is the company’s first full rate case since 2016. More information can be found on the Railroad Commission website, under Case No. 00013758.