Notice of Annual Change in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods; Oil Pipeline Regulations Pursuant to the Energy Policy Act of 1992; Revisions

The Commission's regulations include a methodology for oil pipelines to change their rates through use of an index system that establishes ceiling levels for such rates. The Commission bases the index system, found at 18 CFR 342.3, on the annual change in the Producer Price Index for Finished Goods (PPI-FG), plus zero-point seven eight percent (PPI-FG + 0.78%). The Commission determined in the December 2020 Order ^[1] and in the Order Reinstating Index ^[2] that PPI-FG + 0.78% is the appropriate oil pricing index factor for pipelines to use for the five-year period commencing July 1, 2021.

The regulations provide that the Commission will publish annually an index figure reflecting the final change in the PPI-FG after the Bureau of Labor Statistics publishes the final PPI-FG in May of each calendar year. The annual average PPI-FG index figures were 254.6 for 2023 and 257.7 for 2024.^[3] Thus, the percent change (expressed as a decimal) in the annual average PPI-FG from 2023 to 2024, plus 0.78%, is positive 0.019976.^[4] Oil pipelines must multiply their July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026 index ceiling levels by positive 1.019976 ^[5] to compute their index ceiling levels for July 1, 2025, through June 30, 2026, in accordance with 18 CFR 342.3(d). For guidance in calculating the ceiling levels for each 12-month period beginning January 1, ( printed page 21918) l995,^[6] see Explorer Pipeline Company, 71 FERC ¶ 61,416, at n.6 (1995).

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