Terms Used In Virginia Code > Title 28.2 > Subtitle II > Chapter 5 > Article 4 - Surveys and Resurveys.

• Affected customer: means any customer of a natural gas utility receiving service at a premises served by eligible system expansion infrastructure. See Virginia Code 56-610
• Allowed distribution revenue: means the average annual, weather-normalized, nongas commodity revenue per customer associated with the rates in effect as adopted in the applicable utility's last Commission-approved rate case or performance-based regulation plan, multiplied by the average number of customers served. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Amendment: A proposal to alter the text of a pending bill or other measure by striking out some of it, by inserting new language, or both. Before an amendment becomes part of the measure, thelegislature must agree to it.
• Commission: means the Marine Resources Commission. See Virginia Code 28.2-100
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Commission: means the State Corporation Commission. See Virginia Code 56-603
• Commissioner: means the Commissioner of Marine Resources. See Virginia Code 28.2-100
• company: includes all corporations created by acts of the General Assembly of Virginia, or under the general incorporation laws of this Commonwealth, or doing business therein, and shall exclude all municipal corporations, other political subdivisions, and public institutions owned or controlled by the Commonwealth. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Conservation and ratemaking efficiency plan: means a plan filed by a natural gas utility pursuant to this chapter that includes a decoupling mechanism. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Contract: A legal written agreement that becomes binding when signed.
• Corporation: A legal entity owned by the holders of shares of stock that have been issued, and that can own, receive, and transfer property, and carry on business in its own name.
• Cost-effective conservation and energy efficiency program: means a program approved by the Commission that is designed to decrease the average customer's annual, weather-normalized consumption of energy, for gas and nongas elements combined, or avoid energy costs or consumption the customer may otherwise have incurred, and is determined by the Commission to be cost-effective if the net present value of the benefits exceeds the net present value of the costs at the portfolio level as determined by not less than any three of the following four tests: the Total Resource Cost Test, the Program Administrator Test (also referred to as the Utility Cost Test), the Participant Test, and the Ratepayer Impact Measure Test. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Decoupling mechanism: means a rate, tariff design or mechanism that decouples the recovery of a utility's allowed distribution revenue from the level of consumption of natural gas by its customers, including (i) a mechanism that adjusts actual nongas distribution revenues per customer to allowed distribution revenues per customer, such as a sales adjustment clause, (ii) rate design changes that substantially align the percentage of fixed charge revenue recovery with the percentage of the utility's fixed costs, such as straight fixed variable rates, provided such mechanism includes a substantial demand component based on a customer's peak usage, or (iii) a combination of clauses (i) and (ii) that substantially decreases the relative amount of nongas distribution revenue affected by changes in per customer consumption of gas. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Eligible expansion investment: means that portion of the total capital investment made by a natural gas utility in constructing eligible system expansion infrastructure that is in excess of those costs that would be considered economic under a natural gas utility's economic test, net of any contributions in aid of construction, up to the maximum level of investment per affected customer specified in a system expansion plan. See Virginia Code 56-610
• Eligible infrastructure: means storage, compressed natural gas, liquefied natural gas, transmission and distribution facilities to be used in the delivery of natural gas, or supplemental or substitute forms of gas sources by a natural gas utility. See Virginia Code 56-605
• Eligible infrastructure replacement: includes natural gas utility facility replacement projects that are identified as a result of an enhanced leak detection and repair program. See Virginia Code 56-603
• Eligible infrastructure replacement costs: includes the following:

  1. See Virginia Code 56-603

• Eligible system expansion infrastructure: means natural gas main pipelines and associated facilities, including service lines, meters, and other pertinent facilities, that are constructed and operated by a natural gas utility to deliver natural gas service to affected customers located in an unserved area. See Virginia Code 56-610
• Eligible system expansion infrastructure costs: includes :

  1. See Virginia Code 56-610

• Enhanced leak detection and repair program: means a program that is designed to allow a natural gas utility to deploy advanced leak detection technologies to more accurately identify active leaks as part of the natural gas utility's leak management program and to prioritize the repair of leaks that present a risk to safety or the environment. See Virginia Code 56-603
• Evidence: Information presented in testimony or in documents that is used to persuade the fact finder (judge or jury) to decide the case for one side or the other.
• Fixed costs: means any and all of the utility's nongas costs of service, together with an authorized return thereon, that are not associated with the cost of the natural gas commodity flowing through and measured by the customer's meter. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Includes: means includes, but not limited to. See Virginia Code 1-218
• Investment: means costs incurred to deploy eligible infrastructure including planning, development, and construction costs and, if applicable, an allowance for funds used during construction. See Virginia Code 56-605
• Investment: means costs incurred on eligible infrastructure replacement projects including planning, development, and construction costs; costs of infrastructure associated therewith; and an allowance for funds used during construction. See Virginia Code 56-603
• Locality: means a county, city, or town as the context may require. See Virginia Code 1-221
• Measure: means an individual item, service, offering, or rebate available to a customer of a natural gas utility as part of the utility's conservation and ratemaking efficiency plan. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Natural gas utility: means an investor-owned public service company engaged in the business of furnishing natural gas service to the public. See Virginia Code 56-605
• Natural gas utility: means any investor-owned public service company engaged in the business of furnishing natural gas service to the public. See Virginia Code 56-610
• Natural gas utility: means any investor-owned public service company engaged in the business of furnishing natural gas service to the public. See Virginia Code 56-603
• Person: means natural persons, firms, associations, cooperatives, corporations, limited liability companies, business trusts, partnerships, and limited liability partnerships. See Virginia Code 56-605
• Person: includes any individual, corporation, partnership, association, cooperative, limited liability company, trust, joint venture, government, political subdivision, or any other legal or commercial entity and any successor, representative, agent, agency, or instrumentality thereof. See Virginia Code 1-230
• Portfolio: means the program or programs included in a natural gas utility's conservation and ratemaking efficiency plan. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Precedent: A court decision in an earlier case with facts and law similar to a dispute currently before a court. Precedent will ordinarily govern the decision of a later similar case, unless a party can show that it was wrongly decided or that it differed in some significant way.
• Program: means a group of one or more related measures for a customer class. See Virginia Code 56-600
• Qualifying project: means an economic development project requiring natural gas service as to which the natural gas utility has made a good faith determination that the following criteria are satisfied:

  1. See Virginia Code 56-605

• Rate: means rate charged for any service rendered or to be rendered. See Virginia Code 56-1
• regulation: include joint rates, joint charges and joint regulations, respectively. See Virginia Code 56-1
• Revenue-neutral: means a change in a rate, tariff design or mechanism as a component of a conservation and ratemaking efficiency plan that does not shift annualized allowed distribution revenue between customer classes, and does not increase or decrease the utility's average, weather-normalized nongas utility revenue per customer for any given rate class by more than 0. See Virginia Code 56-600
• SAVE: means Steps to Advance Virginia's Energy Plan. See Virginia Code 56-603
• SAVE plan: means a plan filed by a natural gas utility that identifies proposed eligible infrastructure replacement projects and a SAVE rider. See Virginia Code 56-603
• SAVE rider: means a recovery mechanism that will allow for recovery of the eligible infrastructure replacement costs, through a separate mechanism from the customer rates established in a rate case using the cost of service methodology set forth in § Virginia Code 56-603
• Shoals: means subaqueous elevations covered by water less than four feet deep at mean low water. See Virginia Code 28.2-200
• State: when applied to a part of the United States, includes any of the 50 states, the District of Columbia, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and the United States Virgin Islands. See Virginia Code 1-245
• System expansion plan: means a plan filed by a natural gas utility that identifies the level of eligible system expansion infrastructure costs that are projected to be incurred over the term of the plan and provides the calculation of a system expansion rider. See Virginia Code 56-610
• System expansion rider: means a recovery mechanism that will allow for recovery of the eligible system expansion infrastructure costs from affected customers, through a separate mechanism from the customer rates established in a rate case using the cost-of-service methodology set forth in § Virginia Code 56-610
• utility: means any investor-owned public service company engaged in the business of furnishing natural gas service to the public. See Virginia Code 56-600