Northern is providing the
following information as a reminder of the key items regarding the transition
from summer to winter service.
As always, please
contact your
customer service or marketing representative with any questions.
Summary
·
Firm Entitlement Changes
o
TF5 winter season entitlement begins and other changes in daily
entitlement levels, as described further below, occur November 1.
·
Seasonal Transportation Rate and Fuel Changes
o
Winter rates begin November 1.
§
Market
Area maximum tariff reservation rate is $25.799/Dth/day (TF5 and TFX service.)
§
Field Area
maximum tariff reservation rate is $13.476/Dth/day.
o
The winter Market Area fuel and unaccounted-for rate is 1.58%
(Fuel is 1.15% and UAF is 0.43%) of receipt volumes
o
Effective January 1, 2026, reservation and commodity rates for
transportation and storge services will change to reflect Northern’s proposed
rates associated with rate case RP25-989-000.
·
Allocations
o
Customers utilizing interruptible transportation services or
alternate points within firm transportation services will be subject to
allocation should demand at or through a constrained point or group on
Northern’s system be in excess of the point or group capacity.
·
Carlton Resolution Obligation
o
Customers subject to the Carlton Resolution Obligation must be
prepared to source gas at Carlton, or other operationally feasible receipt
points as determined by Northern, per the
assigned flow obligation posted to Northern’s website.
o
The Carlton Resolution Obligation is expected to be zero for Gas
Day November 1, and no notice will be emailed until the first increase. Note
that this first increase could be for Gas Day November 1.
·
Daily/Weekend System
Condition Notices
o
Northern Daily Highlights, which is emailed and posted on
Northern’s website each morning, will inform customers of critical notices and
other items of interest that may affect daily business on Northern.
o
Generally, weekend notices that inform customers of Northern’s
best estimate of the Carlton Resolution Obligation and balancing requirements
(SOL/SUL) anticipated during the weekend or holiday period will be posted to
Northern’s website on Thursday afternoons or prior to a holiday weekend.
·
Balancing Notices
o
During periods of high demand, a System Overrun Limitation (SOL)
may be required to ensure system integrity. Note that calling an SOL does not
limit capacity or the availability of alternate firm or interruptible service.
The sole purpose of an SOL is to request customers balance their deliveries
with their receipts.
o
During periods of low demand, a System
Underrun Limitation (SUL) may be required to ensure system integrity. Note that
calling an SUL does not limit capacity or the availability of alternate firm or
interruptible service. The sole purpose of an SUL is to request customers
balance their receipts with their deliveries.
Detailed Information
·
Transportation
and Storage Services
o
Transportation Entitlement
§
For most customers, winter
season entitlement levels are different than summer season entitlement levels.
Please review your contracts and contact your marketing representative with
questions.
§
TF Service
·
TF5 entitlement is effective November 1 through March 31.
·
TF12 base/variable billing determinants will be adjusted effective
November 1. Northern plans to notify customers of the revised determinants by
October 31.
o
Firm Storage Service
§
The storage withdrawal
period runs from November 1 through May 31. Please review your contract terms
and contact your marketing representative with questions.
§
Transportation of storage
withdrawals
·
Storage withdrawals will be
charged the applicable transportation commodity and fuel rates from the storage
receipt point to the delivery point except under the following conditions.
o
To the extent that volumes
are transported between a transportation point and its associated storage
point, no transportation fee or fuel shall be assessed.
o
If redelivery from the Ogden storage point is to a Market Area
point, there is no additional transportation or fuel charge. The Ogden storage
point has specific rules related to firm or interruptible transportation
service to/from the point, which can be reviewed in
Northern’s FERC Gas Tariff,
Part 7, Section 6.
§
Storage
dates throughout the heating season to remember:
·
Review the FDD storage contract, Appendix A, for the minimum and
maximum account balance parameters under the 3-Step, 4-Step and Gas-in-Place
storage options for balances on January 31 and March 1.
·
FDD account balances as of May 31, 2026, under the 3-Step, 4-Step
and Gas-in-Place storage options, are subject to an annual rollover charge
unless otherwise specified in customer’s individual agreement.
·
FDD-EG customers must have an inventory
balance of greater than or equal to 40% of the contract’s cycle quantity by
January 1 and maintain an inventory balance of greater than or equal to 30% of
the contract’s cycle quantity from February 1 through April 30.
·
Winter Transportation and Fuel Rates
o
Northern's seasonal rates transition from summer rates (April
through October) to winter rates (November through March) beginning November 1.
Winter rates are located on
Northern’s currently effective rates page.
o
Northern’s reservation rates are set out on Northern’s FERC Gas Tariff,
Part 4, Sections
1,
2,
5,
6 and
7.
o
Effective January 1, 2026, reservation and commodity rates for
transportation and storge services will change to reflect Northern’s proposed
rates associated with rate case RP25-989-000.
o
The winter Market Area fuel and unaccounted-for rate is 1.58%
(Fuel is 1.15% and UAF is 0.43%) of receipt volumes
o
The Field Area transportation fuel matrix can be found on
Northern’s website on the
Transport & Fuel
Rates webpage.
·
Storage
Fuel Percentage
o
Northern does not retain storage fuel during the withdrawal
period.
·
Allocations
o
Customers utilizing interruptible transportation services or
alternate points within firm transportation services will be subject to
allocations should demand at or through a constrained point or group on the
system be in excess of the point or group capacity.
o
The following Market Area group allocation documents can be found
on Northern’s website under the
Allocation of Capacity
Overview
webpage:
§
Group
Allocation Receipt Points Not Impacted
§
Zones in
Allocation Groups
o
Storage Nomination Guidance
§
Located on
the
At a Glance web page,
the Storage Nomination Guidance is Northern’s best estimate of potential
storage constraints and allocations based on recent customer nominations and
current market conditions.
§
Information
is intended to provide general information only, and can change at any time,
without notice.
§
Information
provided:
·
Direction of Possible Constraint – Injection/Withdrawal/Evaluation
Pending
·
Likelihood of Allocation – Likely/Unlikely/Evaluation Pending
§
Standard refresh at 9 a.m. CCT each day
·
Notice Guidelines
o
Various
notices are posted to Northern’s website and are available
by email to those customers who have
subscribed to email notifications.
o
Northern is committed to providing timely and useful notices to its customers regarding
system information that may impact scheduling decisions. While Northern’s
tariff provides minimum notification timelines for Carlton Flow Obligation, SOL
and SUL notices, Northern recognizes that the tariff timing requirements may
not always provide the desired advance notice for
customers to best manage their daily business. As a result, the information
below summarizes Northern’s best-efforts communication guidelines related to
Carlton Sourcing Obligation, SOL and SUL postings. These guidelines are based
on customer feedback and are reflective of normal gas trading timelines. If
Northern’s system experiences significant changes in forecast temperatures or
other unexpected operational conditions, Northern may need to react to such
conditions by posting notifications using the shorter timelines as provided in
the tariff to adequately protect system integrity. However, while
Northern retains the right to follow the timelines provided in the tariff,
every effort will be made to adhere to the guidelines listed below with the
goal of making minimal changes throughout a weekend or holiday period.
·
Carlton Sourcing Obligation
o
Effective
Gas Day November 1, those customers subject to the Carlton
Resolution Obligation must be prepared to source gas at Carlton (POI 388),
or other operationally feasible receipt points as determined by Northern, per
the assigned
flow
obligation posted to Northern’s website on the
Carlton Resolution webpage.
o
Beginning October 30, 2025, at 9 a.m. CCT for Gas Day November 1,
the daily Carlton sourcing obligation will be posted to Northern’s website
on the
Carlton Resolution and
At
A Glance webpages.
o
The Carlton Resolution Obligation is expected to be zero on Gas
Day November 1 and no notice will be posted or emailed until the first
increase. Note that this first increase could be for Gas Day November 1.
o
Tariff Timeline
: Northern
is required to notify customers of an increase or decrease in firm receipts at
Carlton no later than twenty-four (24) hours prior to the Timely nomination
deadline (Northern’s FERC Gas
Tariff, Part 8, Section 29.3), which is 1 p.m. CCT two days prior to the
applicable gas day.
o
Best Efforts
: Northern
will post the Carlton Resolution Obligation information by 9 a.m. CCT two days
prior to the applicable gas day.
o
Weekend/Holiday Best
Efforts
: Northern will post a summary of the weekend
or holiday Carlton Resolution Obligation requirements by 7 a.m. CCT the
last gas trading day before the weekend or holiday.
o
Northern will endeavor to maintain the Carlton Resolution
Obligation as provided in the early guidance notification posted on the last
gas trading day before the weekend or holiday. However, in the event Northern
has the ability to reduce the quantity of the Carlton Resolution Obligation
when the actual Carlton Resolution Obligation is posted, Northern will provide
such reductions to accommodate customers with the utmost flexibility, while
also considering customers’ receipt point scheduling priorities.
·
System Overrun Limitation (SOL)
o
Tariff Timeline
: Northern
is required to notify customers of an SOL no later than 3 p.m. CCT of the
applicable gas day (Northern’s FERC Gas
Tariff, Part 8, Section 48.3.)
o
Best Efforts
: Northern
will post SOL information by 7 a.m. CCT the day prior to the applicable gas
day.
o
Weekend/Holiday Best Efforts
: Northern
will post weekend or holiday SOL information by 7 a.m. CCT the last gas trading
day prior to the weekend or holiday.
o
Northern will make every effort to maintain
the SOL posting information to minimize customer risk regarding negative DDVCs resulting
from under-takes at delivery points. Northern will make every effort to
maintain at least the allowable SMS percentages as originally posted for the
SOL days but may increase the availability of SMS on an SOL day if system
conditions allow.
·
System Underrun Limitation (SUL)
o
Tariff Timeline
: Northern
will notify customers of an SUL no later than twenty-seven (27) hours prior to
the applicable gas day (Northern’s FERC Gas
Tariff, Part 8, Section 48.6), which is 6 a.m. CCT the day prior to the
applicable gas day.
o
Weekend/Holiday Best Efforts
: Northern
will post weekend and holiday SUL information by 6 a.m. CCT the last gas
trading day prior to the weekend or holiday.
o
Northern will make every effort to maintain the SUL posting
information constant throughout a weekend or holiday to minimize customer risk
regarding positive DDVCs resulting from over-takes at delivery points.
·
Information Resources
o
A link to Northern’s
Customer Activities webpage
includes:
§
Nominations/Scheduling
§
Capacity
Release
§
Contracts
§
Flowing
Gas
§
Invoices
§
Informational
Postings
§
Customer
Activities Bulletin
o
Accessing Northern’s
Informational Postings webpage
will provide access to:
§
Critical,
non-critical and planned service outage notices
§
SOL, SUL
& Critical Day Status
§
Operationally
Available Capacity Maps
§
Northern’s
tariff and rates
§
Gas
Quality information
§
TMS Online
Cycle Indicator
§
Temperature
Forecast
§
Capacity
Constraints by Cycle
§
Storage
Nomination Guidance
o
Northern Daily Highlights are emailed to subscribers every morning
by approximately 5:30 a.m. CCT. The email conveniently lists:
§
Critical
notices
§
Pipeline
status updates
§
Marketing/commercial
items of interest
§
Accounting/billing
and general business information
·
If you would like to subscribe to the Northern Daily Highlights,
please visit the
Notification and
Security Administration page on Northern’s website.
o
A link to
Support webpage
includes:
§
Agreements/forms
§
Allocation
of capacity information
§
Change password
§
Frequently
Asked Questions (FAQs)
§
Customer
presentations
§
Point
location list
§
Request
email notifications using the Notification and Security Administration System
§
Training materials
§
TMS
training videos
o
Operational Data Interchange (ODI) can also be accessed through
Northern’s website, which provides the most current measurement data by station
that is automatically updated as Electronic Flow Measurement (EFM) data becomes
available, typically every 15 minutes. Please contact your customer service
representative or complete the
Customer Activities
Sign Up form for ODI access.
