Rule 4901:1-19-01 | Definitions.
(A) "Alternative rate plan" means a method, alternate to the method provided in section 4909.15 of the Revised Code, for establishing rates and charges for a distribution service or for a commodity sales service or ancillary service that is not exempt pursuant to section 4929.04 of the Revised Code. Alternative rate plans may include, but are not limited to, methods that provide adequate and reliable natural gas services and goods in this state; minimize the costs and time expended in the regulatory process; tend to assess the costs of any natural gas service or goods to the entity, service, or goods that cause such costs to be incurred; afford rate stability; promote and reward efficiency, quality of service, or cost containment by a natural gas company; provide sufficient flexibility and incentives to the natural gas industry to achieve high quality, technologically advanced, and readily available natural gas services and goods at just and reasonable rates and charges; or establish revenue decoupling mechanisms. Alternative rate plans also may include, but are not limited to, automatic adjustments based on a specified index or changes in a specified cost or costs.
(B) "Ancillary service" means a service that is ancillary to the receipt or delivery of natural gas to consumers, including, but not limited to, storage, pooling, balancing, and transmission.
(C) "Applicant" means a natural gas company, as defined in division (G) of section 4929.01 of the Revised Code, that has filed an application under either section 4929.04 or 4929.05 of the Revised Code.
(D) "Choice-eligible customer" means a customer who is eligible, according to a natural gas company's tariffs, to choose the customer's retail natural gas supplier, and who is not enrolled in the percentage of income payment plan program or any successor program.
(E) "Choice-ineligible customer" means a customer who is ineligible, according to a natural gas company's tariffs, to choose the customer's retail natural gas supplier, but who is not enrolled in the percentage of income payment plan program or any successor program.
(F) "Commodity sales service" means the sale of natural gas to consumers, exclusive of any distribution or ancillary service.
(G) "Consumer" means any person or association of persons purchasing, delivering, storing, or transporting, or seeking to purchase, deliver, store, or transport, natural gas, including industrial consumers, commercial consumers, and residential consumers, but not including natural gas companies.
(H) "Default commodity sales service" means commodity sales service supplied to choice-eligible customers who have not chosen their retail natural gas supplier, choice-ineligible customers, or PIPP-enrolled customers.
(I) "Distribution service" means the delivery of natural gas to a consumer at the consumer's facilities, by and through the instrumentalities and facilities of a natural gas company, regardless of the party having title to the natural gas.
(J) "Exit the merchant function" means the complete transfer of the obligation to supply default commodity sales service for choice-eligible customers from a natural gas company to retail natural gas suppliers without the occurrence of a competitive procurement process.
(K) "Market" means the set of all actual and potential buyers and sellers of a particular product.
(L) "PIPP-enrolled customer" means a customer who is enrolled in the natural gas utility's percentage of income payment plan program or any successor program.
(M) "Product" means commodity sales and/or ancillary goods or services.
(N) "Reasonably available alternatives" means buyers have access to a product that is available soon enough, priced low enough, with quality high enough, under comparable terms and conditions to permit its substitution as an alternative.
(O) "Relevant market" means the market for the product that is the subject of an application for exemption.
(P) "Transmission" means the act or process of transporting the commodity in bulk from a source or sources of supply to principal parts of the system or to other utility systems.
Last updated October 7, 2024 at 1:04 PM
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