Event Overview
This 1.5-day course will familiarize students with the ratemaking process pertaining to natural gas utilities. The second day of the course provides a peer-to-peer learning opportunity for registrants to engage in a mock-rate case under various role-playing exercises.
This course is designed to empower rate analysts, and non-rate professionals that would benefit from a more robust understanding of the ratemaking process. Inclusive of:
- How utilities make money.
- Regulatory considerations.
- Revenue requirements.
- Rate design.
- Mock rate case exercise.
- How employees can successfully manage their roles in a regulated environment.
Attendees will receive 11 Professional Development Hours upon completion.
Day 1: December 7
8 am – 4:30 pm, CT
Day 2: December 8
8 am – Noon, CT
Learning Objectives:
The first day provides information on the basic components of the rate process from the pipeline and LDC perspective, including fundamentals of the ratemaking process such as:
- Rate of return issues
- Mock rate case exercises
- Revenue requirements
- Cost of service issues
- Rate design components
- Regulatory considerations
- Future trends in ratemaking
The day concludes with an interactive group exercise, the Van Go Transportation Company, which illustrates issues companies face when structuring their rates and determining if services are fixed, variable, or both.
The second day of the workshop allows participants to apply the information received the previous day in a series of case studies and role-playing exercises. The Ratemaking Game – a set of case studies based on actual rate cases – divides participants into role-playing groups comprised of gas company representatives, commissioners, consumer advocates and interveners.
Who Should Attend
- Rate Analysts (two years or less) from LDC, transmission, or gas supply marketing companies
- Non-rate professionals from any department who would benefit from a broad understanding of the rate process, including: Operations, Government Relations, Marketing, Public Affairs, Accounting, Engineering, and other departments
Prerequisites
While not required, Ratemaking Fundaments: Information Every Utility Professional Should Know, would provide a solid foundation for this course.
Credly Digital Badge
Level 2 Natural Gas Utility Ratemaking Specialist
SGA has partnered with Credly, the leader in digital credentials, to certify the recipients have a working comprehension of pipeline and local distribution company’s ratemaking processes. Individuals have demonstrated the ability to identify regulatory agency jurisdiction, determine revenue requirements, cost-causation, gradualism, and political pragmatism. They understand rate and earnings implications, performance-based ratemaking and understand how a rate case is developed by participating in a mock rate case.
Criteria
Meet the Instructor
Mark Caudill, Attorney at Law, Mark D. Caudill, LLC
Mark Caudill is an attorney with more than 30 years of energy utility regulatory, legal, and management experience, including work before numerous state commissions and the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (“FERC”). Mark has served: natural gas distribution companies, interstate pipelines, and producers; electric distribution companies, transmission companies, and generators; energy marketers; and financial institutions that fund utility-related transactions. Based in the Atlanta metropolitan area, Mark is currently admitted to the Georgia and Alabama state bars. He works with companies and their local attorneys in matters regarding regulated markets. His clients include some of the leading energy companies in North America.
Mark previously served as a vice president and practice leader at MCR, a national management consulting firm specializing in regulated industries. Mark provided in-depth knowledge and expertise, including traditional ratemaking, alternative forms of regulation, supply and capacity planning, and regulatory case management. Prior to joining MCR, Mark served as Vice President for Energy Competition, and Corporate Secretary and Vice President for Rates and Regulatory at AGL Resources; Vice President of Rates and Regulatory for Atlanta Gas Light; Director of State Regulatory Affairs for Southern Natural Gas Company and Sonat; and as the Deputy Assistant General Counsel for Enforcement and the Special Assistant to the Deputy General Counsel at FERC.
In addition to appearing as an attorney in many rate and regulatory proceedings, Mark has appeared as an expert witness before state utility commission, FERC, state legislative committees, and U.S. congressional committees. Additionally, Mark regularly presents at industry and professional conferences, and he conducts seminars, workshops and mock trial training exercises to enhance the effectiveness of rate departments and in-house fact, policy and expert witnesses.
