⚖ Oral Arguments, with Context

The D.C. Circuit hears Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Company v. FERC. Panhandle transports natural gas for customers called shippers. Its charges included tax costs collected before the matching taxes were due—accumulated deferred income taxes, or ADIT. The 2017 federal tax law reduced corporate taxes, leaving part of those balances unnecessary. FERC investigated Panhandle's rates. In 2019, the pipeline became part of a master limited partnership and proposed rates without an income-tax allowance. It also moved the old tax balances into retained earnings. After an administrative hearing, FERC required the tax-cut surplus to flow back to customers through future rates and excluded deferred-tax balances from the equity used to calculate Panhandle's return. Panhandle challenges those decisions here. It also disputes the return allowed on construction financing and how refunds should be calculated for customers who paid its proposed rates during the proceedings. Section four of the Natural Gas Act allows refunds, with interest, of unjustified rate increases that take effect during agency review. The refund dispute is whether to compare individual charges or the total bill for a shipment.

Panhandle Eastern Pipe Line Co v. FERC (No. 20-1419) — U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, argued September 24, 2026.