TransCanada Files for Revised 2011 Mainline Interim Tolls

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Jan. 25, 2011) - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) today filed an application with the National Energy Board (NEB) for approval of revised interim tolls for its Canadian Mainline effective March 1, 2011. 

In December 2010, the National Energy Board denied TransCanada's initial interim toll application which was based on a three year agreement with the Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers (CAPP) and supported by CAPP and certain other stakeholders. In its decision, the NEB concluded that it was not prepared to implement significant changes to the established mainline toll design and method of allocating costs in an interim basis. As a result, TransCanada has filed for revised interim tolls based on the existing 2007-2011 settlement with customers. The proposed toll for long haul service from Empress, Alberta to Dawn, Ontario is $1.89 per gigajoule (GJ). 

"The revised interim tolls strike a balance between the issues created by under-recovery when the final tolls are later established and the desire to keep tolls as low as possible," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "As we work to develop a longer term plan to ensure competitive tolls we will continue our dialogue with shippers and other stakeholders." 

The revised interim tolls will allow for collection of revenues that will more closely reflect TransCanada's costs and forecast throughput in 2011 than the existing interim tolls. Two adjustments have been made to the existing 2007-2011 settlement resulting in a lower revenue requirement and therefore lower interim tolls: 

• Deferring the recovery of approximately $237 million of under-collected 2010 Mainline revenues.
• A $31 million reduction that represents the shippers' share of forecast operations and maintenance savings in 2011.

Excluding these adjustments, the toll for long haul service from Empress, Alberta to Dawn, Ontario would be $2.35 per GJ under the existing Mainline settlement.

With more than 50 years' experience, TransCanada is a leader in the responsible development and reliable operation of North American energy infrastructure including natural gas and oil pipelines, power generation and gas storage facilities. TransCanada's network of wholly owned natural gas pipelines extends more than 60,000 kilometres (37,000 miles), tapping into virtually all major gas supply basins in North America. TransCanada is one of the continent's largest providers of gas storage and related services with approximately 380 billion cubic feet of storage capacity. A growing independent power producer, TransCanada owns, or has interests in, over 10,800 megawatts of power generation in Canada and the United States. TransCanada is developing one of North America's largest oil delivery systems. TransCanada's common shares trade on the Toronto and New York stock exchanges under the symbol TRP. For more information visit: www.transcanada.com

Forward-Looking Information

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