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Audit of Lone Star Gas Invoices and Billing Procedures, Task #3
Abstract
At the request of the TAMU Power Plant, the ESL staff audited the 1995 Lone Star Gas
Company invoices. Gas consumption is measured and the measured volume is converted to standard
volume (at T=60 °F, P= 14.65 psia) to determine the energy content and cost. This audit was performed to
determine if the bills from Lone Star Gas Company had correctly converted the measured volumes to
standard volumes, and had charged the proper amounts.
Description
Lone Star Gas Company uses standard methods to convert measured gas volumes to standard volumes by assuming constant gas CO2 content (2.8%), N2 content (0.79%) and gas specific gravity value (0.647). In 1995, the gravity value measured varied from 0.601 to 0.627, which is lower than the assumed value. Hence, Lone Star Gas Company overcharged TAMU Power Plant by 0.17% to 0.39% depending on the actual specific gravity values (see the chart below). The impact of assuming constant CO2 and N2 levels on the bills is negligible. After a joint meeting with ESL and TAMU Physical Plant personnel, Lone Star Gas Company agreed to update the gas specific gravity value every four months in the future and to reconcile gas bills back to 1994 with measured specific gravity values. This reconciliation will result in a credit to Texas A&M University of approximately $20,000 for 1995. Results of the reconciliation for other years will depend on the measured specific gravity values.Collections
Citation
Turner, W. D.; Liu, M. (1997). Audit of Lone Star Gas Invoices and Billing Procedures, Task #3. Energy Systems Laboratory (http://esl.tamu.edu), Texas A&M University. Available electronically from https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /2172.