PG&E

PG&E states that El Paso first raised the idea of a possible PG&E Corporation ownership interest in Ruby Pipeline on May 14, 2007. PG&E Corporation responded that it would defer consideration of an ownership interest until mid-October, 2007. By then, the major terms of the Precedent Agreement had been agreed upon.

PG&E maintains that it negotiated the Ruby Precedent Agreement at arms-length, without any undue favoritism, even though PG&E Corporation had an outstanding offer to acquire an ownership interest in the Ruby Pipeline. The Commission need only review the results of the negotiation process to see that PG&E negotiated with the sole objective of obtaining the best possible deal for its customers. PG&E submits that if it were acting on behalf of PG&E Corporation, it would not have insisted on a fixed-price of $0.68/Dth rate. The current Ruby rate for non-anchor shippers is $0.95/Dth.