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NEB Rejects TransCanada's Keystone XL Toll Review Request

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TransCanada Corporation has received the National Energy Board (NEB)'s decision to reject TransCanada's request for review and variance of the NEB's previous decision released March 27, 2013 related to TransCanada's 2012-2013 restructuring proposal for tolls and service on the Canadian Mainline.

On June 11, the NEB informed TransCanada that it is dismissing the company's review and variance application in its entirety. The NEB's letter advised that its reasons for dismissing the application will follow at a later date. Although the NEB dismissed the application, it set a separate process for consideration of the tariff revisions that were included in the review and variance application.

"We are very disappointed that the NEB rejected our review and variance application without the opportunity for a full hearing and without issuing rationale for its rejection," TransCanada President and CEO Russ Girling said. "Our application was specifically designed to work within the new regulatory framework established by the NEB in its March 27 decision without trying to undo it."

The NEB's March 27 decision created a new model for the Mainline's tolls that is a departure from what TransCanada applied for and from the regulatory framework that has been in place for decades.

In its review and variance application filed May 1, 2013, TransCanada asked the NEB to adjust the five-year Empress to Dawn toll from $1.42/GJ to $1.52/GJ as well as the other tolls that are derived from the long-haul toll, approve tariff revisions required for implementation of the decision model, establish a surcharge methodology for recovery of future new costs that may be imposed during the five-year fixed toll period and change the implementation date of the decision from July 1, 2013 to November 1, 2013.

TransCanada is considering its future options including potential appeal.