§303. Powers of the commission; limitations

The provisions of this Part shall not apply to the production and gathering of natural gas or its conservation.

Nor shall those provisions apply to any public utilities, the title to which is in the state or any of its political subdivisions or municipalities; or any public utility already subject to regulations by any municipality under the laws of Louisiana, except as to operation by the utility beyond the corporate limits of such municipality.

Whenever the commission is required in administering the provisions of this Part to find the value of gas in the field where produced, that value shall be determined at the amount paid therefor by the pipe line company in the field pursuant to arm's-length contract; and in the absence of such arm's-length contracts, the fair market value of the gas as a commodity in the field.

The commission has no jurisdiction over direct industrial sales by such public utilities unless after investigation the commission shall find that any particular direct industrial sale is prima facie prejudicial to the rates charged for natural gas sold to local distributing systems for resale, in which event the commission has authority after a hearing on the matter to order such adjustment in the rates charged for gas sold to local distributing systems for resale, as may be necessary to remove the prejudicial effect of such rate of such direct industrial sale.

The power and authority conferred by this Section shall not apply to the transportation or sale of natural gas to direct industrial consumers by such utilities but shall, in respect of such transportation or sale, be restricted to the determination by the commission of the cost of service properly allocable to such transportation or sale and to the allocation of the cost to that service.