Amendment #15 to H4739

Gas Leaks

Representatives Barber of Somerville, Cabral of New Bedford, Connolly of Cambridge, Decker of Cambridge, Ehrlich of Marblehead, Farley-Bouvier of Pittsfield, Fernandes of Falmouth, Gentile of Sudbury, Hawkins of Attleboro, Hay of Fitchburg, Kaufman of Lexington, Khan of Newton, Lewis of Framingham, Livingstone of Boston, Meschino of Hull, Provost of Somerville, Rogers of Cambridge, Stanley of Waltham and Ultrino of Malden move to amend the bill by inserting after section 3 the following two sections:

SECTION 3A. Said Chapter 164 of the General Laws is hereby further amended by adding the following section:

Section 147. (a) For the purposes of this section, “lost and unaccounted for gas” shall mean an amount of gas that is the difference between the total gas purchased by a gas company and the sum of: (i) total gas delivered to customers; and (ii) total gas used by a gas company in the conduct of its operations.

(b) The department shall issue regulations requiring all gas companies to report to the department, in a uniform manner, lost and unaccounted for gas for each year. Such standards shall include: (i) a method using operational and billing data to determine the total amount of lost and unaccounted for gas and to identify and measure each of its components; and (ii) a method using engineering characteristics and operational data to identify and measure all sources and locations where lost and unaccounted for gas occurs in the natural gas systems.

(c) The department may grant waivers from regulatory requirements as necessary for the development of innovative projects to reduce lost and unaccounted for gas. Such innovative projects shall be intended to reduce costs to ratepayers and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. An application for a waiver shall include the goals of the innovative project, the expected cost, the expected benefit to ratepayers and the expected reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.

SECTION 3B. Section 147 of chapter 164 of the General Laws shall take effect on January 1, 2020; provided, however, that the regulations required to implement said section 147 of said Chapter 164 shall be promulgated and in effect not later than December 31, 2019.