On March 27, 2013 the National Energy Board (the
"Board") provided their ruling on
TransCanada's application to revise the toll structure for
TransCanada's mainline pipeline (the
"Mainline"). According to the
Board's decision, the new "multi-year fixed tolls are
competitive and provide TransCanada with a reasonable opportunity
to recover its mainline costs, given the increase in mainline
throughput that is forecast". In the short term, the
Board's decision has the effect of significantly decreasing the
transportation toll from Empress, Alberta, to Dawn, Ontario, to
$1.42 per gigajoule as opposed to $2.58 per gigajoule for 2013 had
the Board not made changes to the tolling structure. The tolls are
expected to remain in effect through 2017. In their decision, the
Board noted that the Mainline faces challenges but "tolls
cannot continue to increase each year in response to throughput
decline". The Board did approve some elements of
TransCanada's proposal giving
