Columbia Gas Transmission LLC
Third Revised Volume No. 1
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Effective Date: 03/03/2009, Docket: RP09-340-000, Status: Effective
Original Sheet No. 311 Original Sheet No. 311
GENERAL TERMS AND CONDITIONS (Cont'd)
9.6 Creditworthiness of Shipper.
(a) Subject to the provisions of paragraphs (b) and (c) below, Transporter shall not be required to
provide or to continue to provide service on behalf of any Shipper that (i) is or has become insolvent, (ii)
has applied for bankruptcy under Chapter 11 of the Bankruptcy Code or is subject to similar proceedings under
State or Federal Law, or (iii) fails, in Transporter's reasonable judgment, to demonstrate minimal
creditworthiness for all or any part of the service requested, based upon Transporter's consideration of
available credit data concerning Shipper and Shipper's past payment history, financial statements, and credit
reports.
(b) Criteria for Creditworthiness Determination
(1) Acceptance of a Shipper's request for service and the continuance of service are
contingent upon the Shipper satisfying, on an on-going basis, a credit appraisal by Transporter.
(2) Transporter shall apply consistent evaluation practices to all similarly situated
Shippers to determine the Shipper's financial ability to satisfy the payment obligations due to
Transporter over the term of the requested Service Agreement.
(3) A Shipper will be deemed creditworthy if
(i) its long-term unsecured debt securities are rated at least BBB by Standard &
Poor's Corporation ("S&P") or Baa2 by Moody's Investor Service ("Moody's"); and
(ii) Shipper's short-term and long-term outlook opinion is Stable or Positive from
S&P or Moody's; and
(iii) the net present value of the sum of reservation fees, utilization fees, and any
other associated fees for the contract term is less than 3% of Shipper's tangible net worth. As used
herein, "tangible net worth" shall be the sum of the capital stock, paid-in capital in excess of par
or stated value, and other free and clear equity reserve accounts less goodwill, patents, unamortized
loan costs or restructuring costs and other intangible assets. If Shipper is rated by multiple
agencies, the lower rating applies. A Shipper that is not rated by S&P or Moody's may use its
parent's rating if a guarantee acceptable to Transporter is provided. If the Shipper has multiple
Service Agreements with Transporter, then the total of all those Service Agreements shall be
considered in determining creditworthiness.
Transporter reserves the right to determine in its reasonable discretion, that a Shipper who requests
new service is not creditworthy to receive that service on the basis that Shipper has outstanding
payments due on invoices rendered by Transporter on current or past Service Agreements and Shipper has
defaulted on those payments per the terms of the General Terms and Conditions; provided, however, this
provision shall not affect amounts disputed by Shipper in good faith. This Section shall apply solely
to the Shipper that is the contract holder.
(4) If Shipper does not meet the criteria described above, then Shipper may have the
Transporter evaluate its creditworthiness based upon the level of service requested. That credit
appraisal shall be based upon Transporter's evaluation of the following information and credit
criteria:
(i) S&P and Moody's opinions watch alerts, and rating actions will be considered in
determining creditworthiness.
(ii) Consistent financial statement analysis will be applied by Transporter to
determine the acceptability of Shipper's current and future financial strength. Shipper's balance
sheets, income statements, cash flow statements, and auditor's notes will be analyzed along with key
ratios and trends regarding liquidity, asset management, debt management, debt coverage, capital
structure, operational efficiency, and profitability.