WPS can declare a Low-Flow Constraint Day if it
anticipates that too much gas will be nominated and delivered to its
system compared to expected use. The greatest probability for a Low-Flow
Constraint Day is during summer holidays, especially around July 4, when many
industries shut down completely for several days. If transportation
customers shut down their operations and don't adjust their nominations,
excess gas will be delivered to our system, potentially resulting in
penalties that we would need to charge to customers.
WPS must balance total nominations with
actual use each day. Any excess gas on our system is transported to storage fields
in Michigan. However, there are contractual limits on the amounts that
can be transported to storage each day. If a contracted capacity is
exceeded, WPS will incur overrun penalty charges. A
Low-Flow Constraint Day helps us avoid penalties from the pipeline,
which would need to be charged to customers.
Impacts for transportation customers
- Notification
- Customers are usually notified at least 2 hours
before the constraint day begins so they may adjust their nominations,
if needed, to balance with their expected actual use.
- Restrictions
- Customers must use at least as much gas as they nominated.
- Penalties
- Normal daily balancing charges apply to customers who
use more gas than they delivered to the WPS system.
If WPS receives any pipeline penalty charges, the
transportation customers who used less gas than they nominated will be assessed the
pipeline penalty charge in place of the normal daily balancing charge.
Impacts for interruptible customers
- Notification
- Interruptible customers are not affected and not
notified because WPS manages gas supply for
them.
