Natural Gas Balancing Item Protocol
Company Name:
Respondent:
Contact:
City and State:
Date and Time of Interview:
Interviewer Name:
We want to thank you again for agreeing to meet with us to help EIA resolve a problem it is having with its monthly balancing item between supply and disposition.
We just want to reiterate that:
Any comments and information you provide with us during the interview will be only be used to resolve the balancing item problem.
Finally, you or your company will not be mentioned by name in any report.
Ask to audio record:
Recording is only listened to by people directly related to this project
Primarily used by us to write our final report which will not contain any identifying information
After I turn on the recorder I’ll ask you to say your name, date, and that it is okay to record
EIA’s Problem
EIA’s monthly balancing item is skewed. There is a systematic error. Coming out of the heating season, it is positive; consumption has been greater than supply. The opposite has happened coming out of the “shoulder” or cooling season, it is negative; consumption is less than supply.
The Natural Gas Division (NGD) thinks that the volume data for some companies do not correspond to the report month on Form EIA-857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers,” particularly in the residential and commercial sectors. NGD thinks that these companies are reporting gas consumed, for example, in October and November. In addition, NGD is unsure that the revenue is tied to volumes.
We are talking to respondents about their record keeping and reporting procedures to find if the problem is on that end and to devise a solution.
Major Questions:
How does your company reconcile its volume records and corresponding revenue each month for your company to report to EIA on Form EIA-857?
Follow-up: What period of time does volume reported in the Form EIA-857 represent?
Follow-up: What period of time does revenue reported in the Form EIA-857 represent?
If your Form EIA-857 report includes estimates from on unbilled volumes, do you later reconcile those estimates to the actual meter reads when they become available?
If so, how?
What are the components of revenue?
What are the components of price?
What is the relationship of your rate classes to EIA’s customer classes?
Follow-up: Do different rate classes have different billing cycles?
From where do you get the customer counts that you provide to EIA each month?
Probes:
Meter?
Account?
Dwelling?
Can the operations department report an accurate end of the month volume number on time?
Do you make other reconciliations for reporting, for example to the IRS, Securities and Exchange Commission, and State Public Utility Commission?
Other Questions:
Where is your Citygate?
Could you change your internal reporting and bookkeeping to fit EIA’s reporting model?
This is for companies that only report transportation values. For which natural gas marketers are you providing transportations services for the residential and/or commercial sectors?
| File Type | application/msword |
| File Title | Natural Gas Balancing Item Questions |
| Author | Rutchik, Robert |
| Last Modified By | GS1 |
| File Modified | 2009-06-04 |
| File Created | 2009-06-04 |