[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 150 (Friday, August 4, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39895-39896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19122]



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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

18 CFR Part 284

[Docket No. RM93-4-000]


Standards for Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under Part 284 
of the Commission's Regulations

Issued July 28, 1995.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Proposed rule; Notice of public conference.

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SUMMARY: The Commission has required interstate natural gas pipelines 
to provide certain information about capacity, including information 
about released capacity, on Electronic Bulletin Boards. In the final 
rule in this proceeding, the Commission adopted the recommendation of 
Working Groups to require downloads of capacity release information 
through files conforming to standards for Electronic Data Interchange. 
The Commission is now convening a public conference to consider the 
current state, and future development, of electronic communication in 
the natural gas industry.

DATES: Public conference: September 21, 1995; requests to participate: 
September 1, 1995.

ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol 
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Goldenberg, Office of the 
General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North 
Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-2294.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In addition to publishing the full text of 
this document in the Federal Register, the Commission also provides all 
interested persons an opportunity to inspect or copy the contents of 
this document during normal business hours in Room 3104, 941 North 
Capitol Street NE., Washington DC 20426.
    The Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS), an electronic 
bulletin board service, provides access to the texts of formal 
documents issued by the Commission. CIPS is available at no charge to 
the user and may be accessed using a personal computer with a modem by 
dialing (202) 208-1397. To access CIPS, set your communications 
software to use 19200, 14400, 12000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400, or 1200 
bps, full duplex, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. The full text 
of this document will be available on CIPS in ASCII and WordPerfect 5.1 
format. The complete text on diskette in WordPerfect format may also be 
purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, La Dorn Systems 
Corporation, also located in Room 3104, 941 North Capitol Street, NE., 
Washington DC 20426.
Notice of Public Conference

July 28, 1995.
    Take notice that a public conference in this proceeding will be 
held on September 21, 1995, in the Commission Meeting Room, 825 North 
Capitol Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. The conference is to consider 
the current state, and future development, of electronic communication 
in the natural gas industry.
    In Order No. 636, the Commission required interstate natural gas 
pipelines to provide certain information about capacity, including 
information about released capacity, on Electronic Bulletin Boards 
(EBBs).1 The Commission subsequently instituted a process to 
develop standardized procedures for capacity release information. The 
standards were developed by Working Groups consisting of 
representatives from all facets of the natural gas industry and other 
interested parties such as third-party bulletin board operators and 
computer and software firms. In Order No. 563, the Commission adopted 
the recommendation of the Working Groups to require downloads of 
capacity release information through files conforming to standards for 
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).2

    \1\ Pipeline Service Obligations and Revisions to Regulations 
Governing Self-Implementing Transportation; and Regulation of 
Natural Gas Pipelines After Partial Wellhead Decontrol, Order No. 
636, 57 FR 13267 (Apr. 16, 1992), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles 
para. 30,939 (Apr. 8, 1992), appeal re-docketed sub nom., United 
Distribution Companies, et al. v. FERC, No. 92-1485 (D.C. Cir. Feb. 
8, 1995).
    \2\ Standards For Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under Part 
284 of the Commission's Regulations, Order No. 563, 59 FR 516 (Jan. 
5, 1994), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles para. 30,988 (Dec. 23, 
1993), order on reh'g, Order No. 563-A, 59 FR 23624 (May 6, 1994), 
III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles para. 30,994 (May 2, 1994), reh'g 
denied, Order No. 563-B, 68 FERC para. 61,002 (1994).
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    The Working Group 3 has continued to further refine the 
capacity release download files. The Working Group also has begun to 
develop electronic communication standards in other areas. The Working 
Group's nine highest priority data requirements, in order of priority, 
are nominations, allocated gas flows, imbalances, gas flow at metered 
points, transportation invoices, pre-determined allocation 
methodologies, gas payment remittance statements and gas sales 
invoices, and uploads of capacity release prearranged deals. Members of 
the natural gas industry also have formed a Gas Industry Standards 
Board (GISB), whose purpose is to develop standards for electronic 
information exchange. The Working Group has transferred ongoing 
maintenance of the capacity release EDI data sets to GISB.

    \3\ The five initial Working Groups eventually consolidated into 
one.
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    Members of the Commission intend to participate in the public 
conference. The Commission is interested in hearing industry views 
about: the current state of EBB operation and the capacity release 
downloads, including any third-party services being provided to 
supplement the pipeline EBBs; whether standards should be developed for 
EBBs (as opposed to file downloads and uploads); the progress being 
made in standardizing non-capacity release information, including the 
time-table for completion of standards; whether 

[[Page 39896]]
additional standardization is necessary to facilitate more robust 
capacity trading; whether the Working Group priorities are acceptable; 
and how the Commission should be involved in this process. The 
Commission also is interested in receiving comment on GISB's current 
and future role in developing standards and on the structure of the 
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relationship between GISB and the Commission.

    Any person who wishes to make a formal presentation to the 
Commission should submit a request to the Secretary of the Commission 
no later than September 1, 1995. Each request should include the time 
anticipated for the presentation and any special equipment 
requirements. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests to make 
presentations, but, depending on the number of requests received, the 
Commission may have to limit participation. To provide a more 
productive conference, the Commission encourages interested parties to 
coordinate their efforts and choose one spokesperson to make a 
statement on behalf of the group. After reviewing the presentation 
requests, a subsequent notice of the conference presentation schedule 
will be issued.

    If sufficient interest is shown, the Commission will attempt to 
arrange for broadcast of the conference in the Washington, DC 
metropolitan area or nationally. Those interested in the local or 
national television broadcast should call The Capitol Connection at 
(703) 993-3100 no later than September 7, 1995. Requests from viewers 
outside of Washington, DC, should be directed to Julia Morelli or 
Shirley Al-Jarani.

    All questions concerning the format of the conference should be 
directed to: Michael Goldenberg, Office of the General Counsel, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Room 4120-B, 825 North Capitol Street 
NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-2294.

    By direction of the Commission.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,

Acting Secretary.

[FR Doc. 95-19122 Filed 8-3-95; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P