For purposes of the State Natural Gas Regulation Act:

(1) Agricultural ratepayer means a ratepayer whose usage of natural gas does not qualify the ratepayer as a high-volume ratepayer and (a) whose principal use of natural gas is for agricultural crop or livestock production, irrigation pumping, crop drying, or animal feed or food production or (b) whose service is provided on an interruptible basis;

(2) Appropriate pretax revenue means the revenue necessary to produce net operating income equal to:

(a) The jurisdictional utility's weighted cost of capital multiplied by the net original cost of eligible infrastructure system replacements, including recognition of accumulated deferred income taxes and accumulated depreciation associated with eligible infrastructure system replacements which are included in an infrastructure system replacement cost recovery charge;

(b) Recovery of state, federal, and local income or excise taxes applicable to such income; and

(c) Recovery of depreciation expenses;

(3) BTU means the amount of energy necessary to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit;

(4) City means any city or village in the State of Nebraska;

(5) Commission means the Public Service Commission;

(6) Eligible infrastructure system replacement means jurisdictional utility plant projects that:

(a) Do not increase revenue by directly connecting the infrastructure system replacement to new customers;

(b) Are in service and used and required to be used;

(c) Were not included in the jurisdictional utility's rate base in its most recent general rate proceeding; and

(d) May enhance the capacity of the system but are only eligible for infrastructure system replacement cost recovery to the extent the jurisdictional utility plant project constitutes a replacement of existing infrastructure;

(7) Gas gathering system means a natural gas pipeline system used primarily for transporting natural gas from a wellhead, or from a metering point for natural gas produced by one or more wells, to a point of entry into a main transmission line;

(8) General rate filing means any filing which requests changes in overall revenue requirements for a jurisdictional utility but does not include a filing for an infrastructure system replacement cost recovery charge;

(9) High-volume ratepayer means a ratepayer whose natural gas requirements equal or exceed five hundred therms per day as determined by average daily consumption;

(10) Infrastructure system replacement cost recovery charge revenue means revenue produced through an infrastructure system replacement cost recovery charge exclusive of revenue from all other rates and charges;

(11) Interstate pipeline means any corporation, company, individual, or association of persons or their trustees, lessees, or receivers engaged in natural gas transportation subject to the jurisdiction of the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission under the federal Natural Gas Act, 15 U.S.C. 717 et seq., as such act existed on January 1, 2003;

(12) Intrastate natural gas utility business means all of that portion of the business of a natural gas public utility over which the commission has jurisdiction under the State Natural Gas Regulation Act;

(13) Jurisdictional utility means a natural gas public utility subject to the jurisdiction of the commission. Jurisdictional utility does not mean a natural gas public utility which is not subject to the jurisdiction of the commission pursuant to section 66-1803;

(14) Jurisdictional utility plant projects means only the following:

(a) Mains, valves, service lines, regulator stations, vaults, and other pipeline system components installed to comply with state or federal safety requirements as replacements for existing facilities;

(b) Main relining projects, service line insertion projects, joint encapsulation projects, and other similar projects extending the useful life or enhancing the integrity of pipeline system components undertaken to comply with state or federal safety requirements; and

(c) Facility relocations required due to construction or improvement of a highway, road, street, public way, or other public work by or on behalf of the United States, this state, a political subdivision of this state, or another entity having the power of eminent domain, if the costs related to such relocations have not been reimbursed to the jurisdictional utility;

(15) Natural gas public utility means any corporation, company, individual, or association of persons or their trustees, lessees, or receivers that owns, controls, operates, or manages, except for private use, any equipment, plant, or machinery, or any part thereof, for the conveyance of natural gas through pipelines in or through any part of this state. Natural gas public utility does not mean a natural gas utility owned or operated by a city or a metropolitan utilities district. Natural gas public utility does not include any activity of an otherwise jurisdictional corporation, company, individual, or association of persons or their trustees, lessees, or receivers as to the marketing or sale of compressed natural gas for end use as motor vehicle fuel. Natural gas public utility does not include any gas gathering system or interstate pipeline;

(16) Rate means every compensation, charge, fare, toll, tariff, rental, and classification, or any of them, demanded, observed, charged, or collected by any jurisdictional utility for any service;

(17) Rate area means the geographic area within the state served by a single natural gas public utility through a common pipeline system from the same natural gas supply source within the common system for which the utility has similar costs for serving ratepayers of the same class; and

(18) Therm is equivalent to one hundred thousand BTUs.