Vol. 137, No. 25 — December 3, 2003

Registration
SI/2003-184 3 December, 2003

FINANCIAL ADMINISTRATION ACT

Northern Pipeline Agency Cost Recovery Charge Remission Order

P.C. 2003-1832 19 November, 2003

Her Excellency the Governor General in Council, considering that it is in the public interest to do so, on the recommendation of the President of the Treasury Board, pursuant to subsection 23(2.1) (see footnote a)  of the Financial Administration Act, hereby makes the annexed Northern Pipeline Agency Cost Recovery Charge Remission Order.

NORTHERN PIPELINE AGENCY COST RECOVERY CHARGE REMISSION ORDER

1. Remission is hereby granted to Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. of the portion of the charge under subsection 29(1) of the Northern Pipeline Act, and any related interest, paid or payable in respect of both the invoice issued on September 30, 2003 and the invoice to be issued on December 31, 2003.

EXPLANATORY NOTE

(This note is not part of the Order.)

This Order remits a portion of the charge paid or payable by Foothills Pipe Lines Ltd. (Foothills) in respect of certificates of public convenience and necessity declared to be issued by the Northern Pipeline Act, and deemed to be certificates issued by the National Energy Board (NEB), for the construction of a natural gas pipeline. Subsection 29(1) of that Act requires that the company pay to the Receiver General an amount, determined in accordance with regulations made under section 24.1 of the National Energy Board Act, in respect of the costs incurred by the Northern Pipeline Agency (NPA) and the NEB in overseeing and surveying the planning and construction of, and procurement for, the pipeline and in ensuring compliance with the terms and other conditions to which the certificates are subject. Foothills has been granted such certificates.

The National Energy Board Cost Recovery Regulations require that program costs be forecasted for the following year and the company invoiced on a quarterly basis. On completion of year-end auditing, an adjustment is made to payments for the following year to take into account surplus fees collected. The forecasted costs for the current year have not materialized and it is projected that the fees collected from Foothills to date from the first two quarterly billings are sufficient to recover the operating costs of the NPA for the remainder of the year.

The surplus fees are expected to be significant and, absent an immediate remission, it would take at least two years to complete the adjustment. This Order thus remits the remaining two quarterly billings of September 30, 2003 and December 31, 2003.

Footnote a

S.C. 1991, c. 24, s. 7(2)

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