Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates

The document critiques the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission's (FERC) current method of approving interstate natural gas pipelines based primarily on private precedent agreements rather than regional need. It argues that this approach leads to unnecessary infrastructure and higher costs, especially as electrification increases due to climate change. The authors contend that FERC has the legal authority under the Natural Gas Act to implement regional planning, similar to how it regulates electricity transmission, to ensure more efficient and just rates.

• The current FERC process for authorizing interstate natural gas pipelines relies heavily on precedent agreements between developers and customers, which often leads to the approval of unnecessary and underused infrastructure that increases costs for ratepayers.
• Climate change increases the risk of natural gas pipelines becoming obsolete as states and cities transition toward electrification, highlighting the inefficiency of the current planning process.
• There is a regulatory inconsistency between how FERC handles gas and electricity transmission; while electricity transmission is planned by centralized regional entities under the Federal Power Act, gas transmission lacks such regional planning despite similar statutory requirements under the Natural Gas Act.

APA

Ünel, L. D. B. (2024). Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates. Institute for Policy Integrity. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regional-planning-for-just-and-reasonable-rates

Chicago

Ünel, Libby Dimenstein, Burçin. Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates. Institute for Policy Integrity, 2024. https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regional-planning-for-just-and-reasonable-rates.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Ünel |first1=Libby Dimenstein, Burçin |title=Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates |publisher=Institute for Policy Integrity |date=19 January 2024 |url=https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regional-planning-for-just-and-reasonable-rates |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{nel2024regional, author = {Ünel, Libby Dimenstein, Burçin}, title = {{Regional Planning for Just and Reasonable Rates}}, institution = {Institute for Policy Integrity}, year = {2024}, month = jan, url = {https://policyintegrity.org/publications/detail/regional-planning-for-just-and-reasonable-rates}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }