User's manual: GCOST: A gas cost-of-service program: Version 1. 0

Technical Report · Mon May 01 04:00:00 EDT 1989

OSTI ID:6058648

Harunuzzaman, M; Iyyuni, G

The process of rate design for a gas distribution utility requires the use of cost-of-service studies. A cost-of-service study finds the various costs of serving all of a utility's customers, and allocates these costs to individual customer classes. Costs include investments in plant and equipment, operating expenses, and taxes. There are two distinct approaches that underlie cost-of-service studies. One approach is based on marginal costs and the other on embedded costs. The marginal-cost allocation can be defined as the incremental cost of adding a single customer to the system. The embedded cost is the customer's share of historical costs. Of the two approaches, the latter is easier to implement and traditionally has been used for rate-making purposes. GCOST is designed to perform cost-of-service studies using the traditional embedded cost approach. It accepts accounting, financial, and operating data as user input. It then allocates the various items of utility plant and operating expenses to each customer class according to user-specified methods. For each cost item or account, the user has the option of specifying an allocation method or formula. This flexibility allows the user to experiment with different combinations of allocation methods. GCOST is interfaced with a database management program, which is used to prepare input data files prior to running GCOST. The user has the choice of either using DBMGR, developed by NRRI, or the commercial software dBASE III PLUS, as the database management program. GCOST is designed for use on an IBM Personal Computer XT, AT, or compatible system.

• Research Organization: National Regulatory Research Inst., Columbus, OH (USA)
• OSTI ID: 6058648
• Report Number(s): NRRI-89-11; ON: TI89014121
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
320603* -- Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization-- Municipalities & Community Systems-- Public Utilities-- (1980-)
99 GENERAL AND MISCELLANEOUS
990220 -- Computers
Computerized Models
& Computer Programs-- (1987-1989)
ALLOCATIONS
CHARGES
COMMERCIAL SECTOR
COMPUTER CODES
COMPUTER PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION
COST
DATA BASE MANAGEMENT
DEMAND
DOCUMENT TYPES
G CODES
GAS UTILITIES
MANAGEMENT
MANUALS
OPERATING COST
PUBLIC UTILITIES