Enbridge outlines progress, costs and scheduling risks for Utah pipeline replacement tracker

Enbridge Gas told the Utah Public Service Commission at a technical conference in docket 23-080-5718 that the company has replaced about 45% of the feeder-line footage listed on its tracker and has roughly 308 miles remaining, and described project timing, material choices and cost drivers for the 2024 annual plan.

The disclosure matters because the tracker — known in the testimony as the IRA or tracker — is the cost-recovery mechanism that moves specific capital investment between general rate cases into a surcharge on customer bills and because ongoing replacements affect safety, city coordination and environmental handling. "The IRA for short, or we oftentimes call it a tracker, is a cost recovery mechanism and attracts specific capital costs, from rate case to rate case," said Jordan Stevenson, with Enbridge Gas's regulatory group.

Enbridge representatives summarized program history and reporting requirements and gave project-level updates. Company witnesses said the tracker was approved by the commission in 2010 and later expanded in the 2013 general rate case to include belt-line replacement. The company said it files an annual budget and quarterly cost reports under the tracker and that, when investments roll into a general…