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Tariff
A Tariff in TariffShark represents a tariff, rate schedule, service agreement, or similar document that must be filed electronically as a result of FERC Order 714. Large Tariffs, such as gas industry open access tariffs and electric industry open access transmission tariffs, must be managed and filed as a series of smaller documents. Small Tariffs, such as oil industry tariffs and electric industry market based rates, may be managed and filed in their entirety.
FERC's eTariff documentation talks about "tariffs," but these are most closely related to TariffShark Tariff Databases. FERC's eTariff documentation also talks about "tariff records." These relate to TariffShark Tariff Records and Tariff Record Versions. The way that TariffShark Tariffs relate to FERC's eTariff system, on the other hand, is a little less obvious. FERC's eTariff documentation talks about tariff records and parent tariff records. For example, consider three tariff records all belonging to Tariff 123: section 3, section 3.2, and section 3.2.1. Section 3 would be the parent of section 3.2, which would be the parent of section 3.2.1. It turns out that Tariff 123 is also represented by a tariff record and this tariff record is the parent of section 3. So, TariffShark Tariffs are represented in FERC's eTariff system as "root" tariff records, ones that have no parent.
Once a Tariff has been created in TariffShark and filed with FERC, it tends to remain an active part of the Tariff Database for a long time. However, it is possible to remove a Tariff from a Tariff Database as of a specific date. In order to do this, you would cancel the Tariff.
FERC provides a type of filing for cancelling a tariff (NOTE that this is FERC's definition of the term "tariff"). This type of filing requests the cancellation of an entire Tariff Database and all of its Tariffs. Use it only when that is what you intend to do. Also, TariffShark v1.0 does not fully support this type of filing. Therefore, if you need to cancel an entire Tariff Database, please contact TariffShark Support.
The pieces of large tariffs, those that have been decomposed into multiple Tariff Records (like gas industry open access tariffs and electric industry open access transmission tariffs), are filed and accepted by FERC at various times. Determining which pieces (Tariff Record Versions) are in effect at any point in time is an important exercise. TariffShark provides two tools to assist with this activity: Tariff Timeline and Publish Tariff.
One of the Tariff data elements in TariffShark is the Tariff Collation. This is a number that places the Tariffs in a Tariff Database in a particular order. By default, Tariffs displayed on TariffShark's Tariff Records screen will be sorted in Tariff Collation sequence. Most importantly, however, the Tariff Collation specifies the seqence in which Tariffs will be presented in FERC's eTariff Viewer. The maximum value of a Tariff Collation is dictated by the Record Numbering Scheme selected for the Tariff.
The Tariffs in a Tariff Database can use different Record Numbering Schemes, but the schemes must have the same number of bits allocated to level 1. Learn more here.
Other important Tariff data elements are the Default Record Format and the Record Format, each with possible values of "Section", "Sheet", and "Whole Document". The Default Record Format establishes a default for each Tariff Record created under a Tariff. This is a time-saving feature that makes Tariff Record creation easier. The Record Format is the format of the root Tariff Record that TariffShark creates when you create a Tariff.
Record Format Rules
- If you select Section as the Default Record Format, the Record Format may be either Section or Whole Document.
- If you select Sheet as the Default Record Format, the Record Format may be either Sheet or Whole Document.
- If you select Whole Document as the Default Record Format, the Record Format must be Whole Document.
- If the Record Format is Whole Document, the Tariff cannot have child Tariff Records -- it will consist of merely a root tariff record.
- For Companies operating under a Lite TariffShark license, Whole Document is the only option for Default Record Format and Record Format.
Related Elements
- A Tariff exists within the context of a Tariff Database.
- A Tariff can have many Tariff Records. A Tariff always has at least one Tariff Record, which is a root Tariff Record. In a Tariff that is broken into multiple Tariff Records, the root Tariff Record's content is commonly the title page. In a Tariff that is NOT broken into multiple Tariff Records, the root Tariff Record's content is the entire tariff.
- A Tariff is assigned a Record Numbering Scheme.
