Case No. RB272-00103

February 25, 1997

DECISION AND ORDER

OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Supplemental Order

Name of Case: Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution

Date of Filing:February 19, 1997

Case Number: RB272-00103

Since 1987, the Office of Hearings and Appeals (OHA) has conducted the crude oil overcharge refund proceeding. In this proceeding, we have granted refunds from crude oil overcharge funds under the jurisdiction of the Department of Energy. The proceeding is explained in Statement of Modified Restitutionary Policy, 51 Fed. Reg. 27899 (August 4, 1986), and the regulations governing it are codified at 10 C.F.R. Part 205, Subpart V.

In crude oil refund cases, an applicant can receive a refund equal to the number of gallons of eligible refined petroleum products it purchased during the crude oil price control period, multiplied by a volumetric factor.(1) The size of the volumetric factor depends on the amount of crude oil overcharge funds that the DOE has collected. Initially, we set the volumetric factor at $.0002 per gallon. In April 1989, we raised the volumetric factor to $.0008 per gallon. Any applicant who had received a refund at $.0002 per gallon has also received a supplemental refund of an additional $0.0006 per gallon, so that the total volumetric factor until now for all applicants in this Decision and Order was $.0008. Crude Oil Supplemental Refund Distribution, 18 DOE ¶ 85,878 (1989).

Additional crude oil overcharge funds are now available for disbursement, so we can now issue supplemental refund checks. Applicants who previously received a refund at the volumetric factor of $.0008 will receive a supplemental refund for an additional $0.0008 per gallon.(2) Thus, the amount of the supplemental refund will be equal to the refund already received.

As with all our refunds, the supplemental refunds are rounded to the nearest dollar.

We require applicants for supplemental refunds to verify (directly or through their representatives) their name and address contained in our records, to correct any information that is not accurate, and to indicate whether there has been any change in circumstances affecting the payment of the refund. We will issue a series of Decision and Orders approving supplemental refunds as we receive completed verification forms from applicants or certifications from representatives.

The Appendix to this Decision and Order contains the names of a group of applicants receiving these supplemental refunds. Each applicant in this group was represented in the crude oil refund proceeding by the firm of Federal Action, Inc. In accordance with the applicants' instructions, we will direct the refunds to Federal Action. The Appendix also indicates the original case numbers of these applicants and the dollar amount of the supplemental refund for each applicant. We have approved a total amount of $4,222 in additional refunds in this Decision and Order for the benefit of seven applicants.

It Is Therefore Ordered That:

(1) The Director of Special Accounts and Payroll, Office of Departmental Accounting and Financial Systems Development, Office of the Controller of the Department of Energy shall take appropriate action to disburse an amount equal to the total of the supplemental refunds for the applicants set forth in the Appendix to this Decision and Order.

(2) The funds shall be disbursed from the escrow fund denominated Crude Tracking-Claimants IV, Account No. 999DOE010Z, maintained at the Department of the Treasury.

(3) Because all of the applicants listed in the Appendix to this Decision and Order applied through Federal Action and requested that their refunds be sent to them, one check for the total refund amount of $4,222 shall be sent to “Federal Action, Inc., 1825 I Street, NW, Suite 400, Washington, DC, 20006.”

(4) Any conditions imposed upon an applicant's receipt of the initial crude oil refund shall also apply to that applicant's receipt of this supplemental refund.

(5) This is a final Order of the Department of Energy.

George B. Breznay

Director

Office of Hearings and Appeals

Date: February 25, 1997

(1)The crude oil price control period extended from August 19, 1973 through January 27, 1981.

(2)We are now paying first-time crude oil refund recipients at the volumetric rate of $0.0016 per gallon.


APPENDIX RB272-00103      
CASE NO. APPLICANT FILING SERVICE VOLUME REFUND
RF272-50033 BARRETT LUMBER CO. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 712,394 $570
RF272-53845 MILLER CHEMICAL/FERTILIZER OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 963,876 $771
RF272-54343 JOHN HASSALL, INC. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 845,082 $676
RF272-57014 4-COUNTY ELECTRIC POWER ASSOC. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 644,811 $516
RF272-60093 EAST JORDAN IRON WORKS, INC. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 616,483 $493
RF272-66454 FRANK TRUCKING INC. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 716,861 $573
RF272-66521 CALUMET CONSTRUCTION CORP. OR FEDERAL ACTION, INC. 778,150 $623
Totals: 7 RB272-00103 5,277,657 $4,222


Last Updated on 8/14/97
By OHA