(a) Requirements. Upon approval by the Commission, a natural gas pipeline company may adjust its rates, annually, to recover from its customers annual charges assessed by the Commission under part 382 of this chapter pursuant to an annual charge adjustment clause (ACA clause). Prior to the start of each fiscal year, the Commission will post on its Web site the amount of annual charges to be flowed through per unit of energy sold or transported (ACA unit charge) for that fiscal year. A company's ACA clause must be filed with the Commission and must incorporate by reference the ACA unit charge for the upcoming fiscal year as posted on the Commission's Web site. A company must incorporate by reference the ACA unit charge posted on the Commission's Web site in each of its rate schedules applicable to sales or transportation deliveries. The company must apply the ACA unit charge posted on the Commission's Web site to the usage component of rate schedules with two-part rates. A company may recover annual charges through an ACA unit charge only if its rates do not otherwise reflect the costs of annual charges assessed by the Commission under §382.106(a) of this chapter. The applicable annual charge, required by §382.103 of this chapter, must be paid before the company applies the ACA unit charge. Upon payment to the Commission of its annual charges, the ACA unit charge for that fiscal year will be incorporated by reference into the company's tariff, effective throughout that fiscal year.

(b) Application for rate treatment authorization. A company seeking authorization to use an ACA unit charge must file with the Commission a separate ACA tariff record containing:

(1) A statement that the company is collecting an ACA unit charge, as calculated by the Commission, applicable to all the pipeline's sales and transportation rate schedules,

(2) A statement that the ACA unit charge, as revised annually and posted on the Commission's Web site, is incorporated by reference into the company's tariff,

(3) For companies with existing ACA clauses, a proposed effective date of the tariff change of October 1 of the fiscal year; for companies seeking to utilize an ACA clause after October 1 of the fiscal year, a proposed effective date 30 days after the filing of the tariff record, unless a shorter period is specifically requested in a waiver petition and approved), and

(4) A statement that the pipeline will not recover any annual charges recorded in FERC Account 928 in a proceeding under subpart D of this part.

(c) Changes to the ACA unit charge must be filed annually, to reflect the annual charge unit rate authorized by the Commission each fiscal year.

[Order 582, 60 FR 52996, Oct. 11, 1995, as amended by Order 714, 73 FR 57535, Oct. 3, 2008; Order 776, 78 FR 19412, Apr. 1, 2013]