Enron Mail

From:ruth.concannon@enron.com
To:kevin.heal@enron.com
Subject:TransCanada Shipper Settlement -- Impact to Sithe/Independence
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Date:Wed, 21 Mar 2001 04:46:00 -0800 (PST)

Cc: rob.milnthorp@enron.com, frank.vickers@enron.com, hunter.shively@enron.com,
eric.ledain@enron.com, martin.cuilla@enron.com,
geoff.storey@enron.com
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X-From: Ruth Concannon
X-To: Kevin Heal
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As we discussed yesterday, the TCPL Mainline Service and Pricing Settlement
language
on the proposed Capacity Turnback Policy may be very important feature of the
Settlement
if ENA ends up reducing its sale to the plant and is responsible for
mitigating the cost of Sithe's
transportation upstream of Chippawa. The other features such as FT Make-Up
Credits and AOS
Credits on Sithe's transport will create new opportunities to generate
incremental revenues for
ENA and Sithe. The IT Floor Price will directly impact the "death spiral"
of future capacity
decontracting and resulting increased demand charges for Sithe if the IT
Floor is placed below
100% of firm tolls.

Here are some additional comments and questions on the draft language on
TCPL's
Turnback Policy:

1) Policy is good only through December 31, 2002, the ending date of the
Settlement.
There are a couple pipeline expansions (i.e. Iroquois' Eastchester and a
rumored
alternative to the Canadian portion of Millenium) that have a Fall 2003
in-service
date. Will TCPL's "queue" for new capacity kick-off the Turnback Policy?
Is there
a requirement that TCPL's upstream capacity match up with takeaway capacity
in
the U.S., for example Iroquois's 230,000 dth/d Eastchester project. Sithe's
capacity
may only partially prevent an additional expansion from Dawn to Waddington.
Sithe's capacity, however, would have higher value if the rumored Dawn to
Niagara
expansion alternative to Millenium becomes a reality. Can the language be
clarified
so that we don't lose out on turning back Sithe's capacity if an expansion
project
does not quite hit the deadline of December 31, 2002?

2) Requests for Turnback to be only posted on TCPL's bulletin board. Can
TCPL be
required to make a written notification to all FT shippers? What will be
the minimum
amount of time that shipper will have to prepare turnback bids? Several
weeks to
a month is typical for U.S. pipelines and can occur simultaneously during
the Open
Season for the expansions.

3) Existing FT shippers along the path on the Mainline System being expanded
may
offer to turnback all, or a portion of, their FT contracts. What criteria
and who
determines the path to be expanded? If a downstream expansion project is for
10 years, what if TCPL only needs to expand for the first couple of years
and then
there is more turnback? It just seems that there is so much TCPL discretion
on the
bid and evaluation process? Could some guidelines or goals established ahead
of time, in addition to the highest NPV process, that would direct how some
of these
decisions are made?

4) FT Shippers can turnback capacity on a permanent or temporary basis. Is
this
the approach that TCPL is proposing to handle that capacity is only needed
for
say 10 years to match up with Iroquois' Eastchester project? In the U.S.
shippers
have ROFR rights to extend their contract after the initial term. Is
turnback capacity
and the evaluation process that TCPL is proposing considering extending
contracts
beyond the primary term?

5) Turnback premiums and turnback discounts. I believe the goal should be
that
Shipper's such as Sithe, who have the longest contract term on TCPL's shipper
list, are protected from any increased rate base that will lead to higher
prices in
the future if the entire pipeline is not fully contracted. This is an
optimization step
that needs to be included during the bid evaluations. I am not clear whether
the proposed NPV approach and the Policy Item #7 fully protects long-term
shippers?

6) During the NPV evaluation, are 100% tolls used or just the reservation
charges?

7) The valuation of the NPV cost of new Facilities and/or "Transportation by
Others"
capacity to meet new service reuirements. Sithe's St. Clair to Chippawa
transport
is already a "TBO" capacity contract from Dawn to Chippawa. Could the
wording
be changed in the evaluation formula so that TCPL considers the net cost
impact
to the TCPL. on the net facility impact, rather than just any new savings in
"TBO"
capacity costs?

8) All turnback costs and revenues will be recorded in a Flow-Through Deferral
Account. Will remaining firm shippers see all the benefit or the cost from
how
this account will be applied in the next subsequent Test Year?


If you have any questions, please call me at x31667,

Ruth