TransCanada Mainline Interim Tolls Approved by National Energy Board

CALGARY, ALBERTA--(Marketwire - Feb. 28, 2011) - TransCanada Corporation (TSX:TRP) (NYSE:TRP) (TransCanada) announced it has received approval from the National Energy Board (NEB) for revised interim tolls for its Canadian Mainline natural gas transmission system effective March 1, 2011.

"We are pleased with the National Energy Board's decision," said Russ Girling, TransCanada's president and chief executive officer. "The Mainline continues to be a critical piece of North American natural gas transmission infrastructure that will be needed for years to come.

"The interim tolls will allow for collection of revenues that will more closely reflect TransCanada's costs and forecast throughput in 2011," added Girling. "TransCanada will continue to work with its stakeholders on an arrangement that improves the competiveness of the Canadian Mainline and the Western Canadian Sedimentary Basin."

Under the approved interim tolls, long haul service from Empress, Alberta to Dawn, Ontario will be $1.89 per gigajoule (GJ). Two adjustments will be 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.

Without these adjustments, the toll for long haul service from Empress, Alberta to Dawn, Ontario would otherwise have been $2.35 per GJ under the existing Mainline settlement.

As part of its approval, the NEB stated in its letter it expects TransCanada to file an application for final Mainline tolls by noon on May 2, 2011.

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

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