[Federal Register Volume 63, Number 94 (Friday, May 15, 1998)]
[Notices]
[Page 27081]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 98-12930]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. RM93-11-000]
Revisions to Oil Pipeline Regulations Pursuant to the Energy
Policy Act of 1992; Notice of Annual Change in the Producer Price Index
for Finished Goods, Minus One Percent
May 11, 1998.
The Commission's regulations include a methodology for oil
pipelines to change their rates through use of an index system that
establishes ceiling levels for such rates. The index system as set
forth at 18 CFR 342.3 is based on the annual change in the Producer
Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG), minus one percent. The
regulations provide that each year the Commission will publish an index
reflecting the final change in the PPI-FG, minus one percent, after the
final PPI-FG is made available by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in May
of each calendar year.
The annual average PPI-FG index figure for 1996 was 131.3 and the
annual average PPI-FG index figure for 1997 was 131.8.\1\ Thus, the
percent change (expressed as a decimal) in the annual average PPI-FG
from 1996 to 1997, minus one percent, is a negative .006192.\2\ Oil
pipelines must multiply their July 1, 1997--June 30, 1998 rate ceiling
levels by 0.993808 to compute their rate ceiling levels for the period
July 1, 1998, through June 30, 1999, in accordance with 18 CFR
342.3(d).
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\1\ The final figures for the annual average PPI-FG is published
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics in mid-May of each year. This
figure is publicly available from the Division of Industrial Prices
and Prices Indexes of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, at (202) 606-
7705, and is available in print in August in Table 1 of the annual
data supplement to the BLS publication Producer Price Indexes.
\2\ [131.8--131.3]/131.3=.003808-.01=-.006192.
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To obtain July 1, 1998--June 30, 1999 ceiling levels, pipelines
must first calculate their ceiling levels for the January 1, 1995--June
30, 1995 index period, by multiplying their December 31, 1994 rates by
1.002175. Pipelines must then multiply those ceiling levels by 0.996415
to obtain the July 1, 1995--June 30, 1996 ceiling levels, multiply the
July 1, 1995--June 30, 1996 ceiling levels by 1.009124 to obtain the
July 1, 1996--June 30, 1997 ceiling levels and multiply the July 1,
1996-June 30, 1997 ceiling levels by 1.016583 to obtain the July 1,
1997--June 30, 1998 ceiling levels. Finally, pipelines must multiply
the July 1, 1997--June 30, 1998 ceiling levels by 0.993808 to obtain
the July 1, 1998--June 30, 1999 ceiling levels. See Explorer Pipeline
Company, 71 FERC para. 61,416 at n.6 (1995) for an explanation of how
ceiling levels must be calculated.
David P. Boergers,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 98-12930 Filed 5-14-98; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
