Expert Hired to Recover Gas Fees
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An expert in utility audits was hired by the Redondo Beach City Council this week to try to recover millions of dollars in unpaid fees for natural gas transported into the city.
City officials recently discovered that Texas-based Transwestern Pipeline Co. has been transporting gas, without paying any fees, to the Southern California Edison plant in Redondo Beach. The gas was sent along a pipeline operated by Southern California Gas Co., which has an agreement to pay the city a 2% fee on its own gas shipped into Redondo Beach.
Because the city had no similar franchise agreement with Transwestern or other gas shippers, some city officials are skeptical that they can recover the unpaid fees.
Nonetheless, the council voted Tuesday to hire attorney Donald Maynor, who has been involved in similar negotiations in Pasadena and Huntington Beach, to recover the money. He will be paid 35% of whatever he recovers.
Maynor, who is based in Northern California, will also renegotiate the city’s franchise agreement with Southern California Gas Co.
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