Transportation service terms and definitions

Backstopping gas

A backstopping fee will be charged to the customer or marketer if the marketer or supplier did not deliver, on any given day, enough gas to the FortisBC distribution system to meet total demand for their customers.

Balancing gas

A balancing fee will be billed to the customer or marketer at the end of each month if the amount of gas consumed for the month, within an allowable variance, is greater than the amount of gas delivered to FortisBC.

Demand/capacity factor (rates 5 and 25 only)

A fixed monthly charge based on the customer's peak day gas consumption during the previous winter billing period. The charge is similar to a reservation fee and is paid regardless of whether or not any gas flows that month.

Firm service

Gas service provided year-round without interruption.

Gigajoule

Natural gas energy is measured in gigajoules (GJ). One gigajoule of natural gas is equivalent to approximately 278 kilowatt hours (kWh) of electricity or 30 litres of gasoline. One GJ can heat a 2,000-square-foot house for about a day.

1 GJ = 948,200 Btu = 278 kWh
1 MMBtu = 1.055 GJ

Interruptible service

Gas service provided to customers, which may be reduced due to supply or system capacity limitations.

Load factor

A ratio of the average load over a designated period of time, to the peak load occurring in that time period.

Load profile

How natural gas is used throughout the year.

Nomination

The amount of natural gas you request and commit to shipping.