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Abandoned Well
An oil or gas well not in use because it was a dry hole originally, or because it has ceased to produce in paying quantities. State statutes and regulations require the plugging of abandoned wells to prevent oil, gas or water seeping from one stratum of underlying rock to another.

Abandonment
Termination of a sale or interstate transportation of natural gas. Abandonment of a service that is subject to FERC jurisdiction requires some type of advance determination by the FERC under Section 7 (b) of the NGA that the "present or future public convenience and necessity" requires termination.

Abandonment, Pregranted
A provision of a FERC certificate of public convenience and necessity that authorizes abandonment on a future condition subsequent or on a date certain.

Access
The legal right to use gas transmission and /or distribution system as a means of transferring natural gas as set forth in the contract.

Account No. 191
Tracking system established by the FERC for unrecovered gas supply costs incurred by interstate pipelines, to be eliminated once pipelines sell gas at market-based rates under blanket sales certificates pursuant to Order No. 636.

Account No. 858
Tracking system established by the FERC used by interstate pipelines for costs incurred transporting sales gas on upstream pipelines.

Acid Rain
Also called acid precipitation or acid deposition, acid rain is precipitation containing harmful amounts of nitric and sulfuric acids formed primarily by nitrogen oxides and sulfur oxides released into the atmosphere when fossil fuels are burned. It can be wet precipitation (rain, snow or fog) or dry precipitation (absorbed gaseous and particulate matter, aerosol particles or dust). Acid rain has a pH below 5.6. Normal rain has a pH of about 5.6, which is slightly acidic. The term pH is a measure of acidity or alkalinity and ranges from 0 to 14. A pH measurement of 7 is regarded as neutral. Measurements below 7 indicate increased acidity, while those above indicate increased alkalinity.

Acquired Capacity Agreement
Under capacity release, an agreement between a gas pipeline and an acquiring shipper which establishes the terms and conditions for the acquiring shipper using firm capacity rights from a releasing shipper.

Acquiring Shipper
In the context of capacity release, a shipper who acquires firm capacity rights from a releasing shipper (also known as "replacement shipper").

Ad Valorem Tax
Tax imposed at a percent of a value. Local property taxes are often ad valorem taxes.

Agency Service
An arrangement which allows a gas buyer to give an agent authority to act on the buyer's behalf to arrange or administer pipeline transportation and/or sales services.

Aggregative Schedule
A coordination requirement which calls for identification of the purchasing-selling entities that "aggregate" an interchange schedule.

Aggregator
A company that consolidates a number of individual users and/or supplies into a group.

Alliance
An agreement among businesses, organizations or groups to work cooperatively toward a common purpose.

Alternate Firm Receipt/Delivery Point
Firm receipt or delivery point, not including primary points designated in a gas contract, at which a firm shipper may schedule gas receipt or delivery with a priority above that of interruptible service.

Alternate Fuel Capability
The ability of any user such as an industrial facility to use more than one fuel, whether or not the facilities for such use have actually been installed.

Alternative Delivery Procedure (ADP)
A futures contract provision in which buyers and sellers make and take delivery under terms and conditions which differ from those imposed in the futures contract.

Alternative Fuel Capacity
The on-site availability of apparatus to burn more than one fuel.

As-Billed
The methodology in natural gas pipeline rate design in which all charges that the pipeline paid for transportation, transition costs, etc., pass through to its customers in the same form, demand or commodity by which those costs were charged to the pipeline.

Asset
An economic resource, tangible or intangible, which is expected to provide benefits to a business.

At-Risk Condition
A condition placed upon certificates of Public Convenience and Necessity issued by the FERC which places the responsibility for under- recovery of costs regarding pipeline expansion or new construction on the pipeline sponsor and/or new customers, rather than on the pipeline's other customers.

Average Revenue per Unit of Gas Sales (By Class of Service)
Revenue from the sale of natural gas to a class of service, exclusive of penalties and forfeited discounts, divided by the corresponding number of units sold. Units may be therms, Btu or cubic feet.