FERC offers new system of gas carriage, rate making

A new four-part rule affecting natural gas transportation and proposed by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) calls for rate regulation that unleashes competition and contract carriage that is non-discriminatory. The rule would create a voluntary carriage program for end users and all others, would let pipelines buy out of their take-or-pay obligations, would offer each pipeline more flexibility to expand its markets or retrench, and would institute a new billing system with separate components for cheap, regulated gas and costlier, unregulated gas. The billing system could be a problem if some state regulators flow the cheap gas directly to residential users, excluding larger users.