[Federal Register Volume 61, Number 216 (Wednesday, November 6, 1996)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57410-57411]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 96-28475]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
[Docket No. RM95-4-000]


Revisions to Uniform System of Accounts, Forms, Statements, and 
Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Companies; Notice of Revised 
Electronic Filing Specifications for FERC Form Nos. 2 and 2-A

October 31, 1996.
    On September 28, 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) issued Order No. 581, amending its Uniform System of 
Accounts, forms, and reports and statements for natural gas companies. 
\1\ The changes made by the rule include modifications to the 
Commission's electronic filing requirements.
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    \1\ Revisions to Uniform System of Accounts, Forms, Statements, 
and Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Companies, 60 FR 53019 
(October 11, 1995).
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    Although Order No. 581 imposed new and revised electronic filing 
requirements, it did not include the final electronic filing 
specifications. On April 2, 1996,\2\ the Commission authorized the 
Commission staff to issue, in the future, further electronic and paper 
filing specifications related to the forms that were modified by Order 
Nos. 581 and 582.\3\ In compliance with the Commission's directive, 
staff is issuing the instruction manual for filing the Form Nos. 2 and 
2-A electronically. Staff is also modifying the paper filing 
requirements for Form Nos. 2 and 2-A to ensure consistency between the 
electronic filing requirements and the paper filing requirements.
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    \2\ Order on Electronic and Paper Filing Specifications for Form 
No. 11, 75 FERC para. 61,009 (1996).
    \3\ Filing Requirements for Interstate National Gas Company Rate 
Schedules and Tariffs, 60 FR 52,960 (October 11, 1995). Order No. 
582 is a companion order to Order No. 581, which revised the 
regulations governing the form and composition of interstate natural 
gas pipeline tariffs and filing requirements. Order No. 582 required 
that changes be made to the electronic specifications for filings 
under subpart D of Part 154. Work on these filing specifications 
will be completed by the working group established for that purpose.
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    As has been the case with other electronic filing requirements 
established by Order No. 581, staff worked with industry 
representatives to complete the electronic filing instructions. The 
specifications for Form Nos. 2 and 2-A were discussed at working group 
meetings held on March 20 and October 9, 1996. As a result of those 
discussions, staff has finalized the electronic filing specifications. 
A single set of electronic filing instructions for both forms is 
attached at Attachment A, the Instruction Manual for Electronic Filing 
of Form No. 2 and Form No. 2-A. The revised paper copy filing 
instructions for Form No. 2 and 2-A are included as Attachments B and 
C, respectively.\4\
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    \4\ These Attachments are not being published in the Federal 
Register. These filing formats can be obtained by writing to the 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference and Files 
Maintenance Branch, Division of Information Services, Washington, 
D.C. These attachments are also available in electronic format on 
the Gas Pipeline Data portion of the Commission's bulletin board 
system.
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Electronic Filing Specifications for Form Nos. 2 and 2-A

    Order No. 581 changed Form No. 2-A into a subset of Form No. 2. 
Since the schedule-pages in Form No. 2-A are now identical to those in 
Form No. 2, the electronic filing instructions for the two forms have 
been consolidated into a single document. The instructions make clear 
which of the electronic schedules apply to the Form No. 2-A 
respondents.
    As a result of the discussions at the working group meetings, the 
electronic data layouts for the forms have been modified as little as 
possible from those in effect prior to the issuance of Order No. 581. 
To make the data more compatible with common personal computer 
software, however, the data will be submitted in a tab-delimited 
format. Changes to the data layouts were limited to incorporating the 
changes made by Order No. 581, ensuring all data on the paper form is 
captured electronically, and adding improvements which will make 
completing the form easier.
    Fifty-three record types were eliminated, fifteen were added. In 
addition to modifications made to recognize changes to the paper forms, 
all dates were changed to incorporate a four digit year. Records which 
capture only text were modified to eliminate the requirement that a 
schedule ID, record ID, and sequence number appear on every line. The 
footnote ID now consists of the page number, line or item number, 
column number and footnote number, making it consistent with the paper 
form. On many records the sequence number has been supplanted by the 
line number appearing on the paper form. This change will align the 
electronic data more closely with the data reported on the paper form. 
Where the respondent is asked to enter an asterisk to designate a data 
element having a specific defined property, a separate field has been 
created to report the asterisk.

Modifications to the Paper Form Nos. 2 and 2-A

    Minor modifications to the paper version of Form Nos. 2 and 2-A, 
and to the paper filing instructions included in the forms, were made 
to ensure conformity between the electronic and paper versions of the 
form.
    In the process of developing the electronic filing specifications 
for Form Nos. 2 and 2-A, it became apparent that not all of the paper 
copy instructions would translate into electronic filing 
specifications. In order to accurately capture the data reported on the 
forms electronically, certain modifications to the paper form were 
necessary. The modified Form No. 2 is attached as Attachment B. The 
modified Form No. 2-A is attached as Attachment C.
    Minor typographical errors have been corrected. On page iii, Item 
XI is revised to read MMBtu instead of Btu. The word Debt is added to 
instruction 8 on page 257 to correct the name of Account 427.

[[Page 57411]]

On page 278, in instruction 1, the word reporting is changed to report. 
On page 301 the reference to page 104 in instruction 5 is changed to 
108. Portions of the index were modified to correct page references and 
add some new references.
    On pages 1, 230, and 254, items or lines were renumbered to ensure 
every item or line number has a unique reference. A unique reference is 
necessary for footnotes. For the same reason, line numbers were added 
to pages 2, 3, 102, and 103.
    Unnecessary lines were removed from pages 220 and 336. On pages 253 
and 340, the instruction to add additional columns if deemed 
appropriate with respect to any account is eliminated.
    Several pages require the respondent to report data which will 
require an unknown number of rows. The number of rows necessary to 
report the data will depend on the respondent's business. In Form No. 
11, the issue of variable numbers of rows was solved by allowing the 
respondent to insert rows. Where a row is inserted between line number 
3 and line number 4, the row is numbered 3.01. Subsequent inserted 
lines are numbered 3.02, 3.03, etc. This solution is adopted for Form 
Nos. 2 and 2-A. Pages 118, 119, 120, 121, 219, 234, 235, 274, 275, 276, 
277, 338, 355, 518, and 520 are modified to permit variable numbers of 
rows to be inserted.
    Several pages have space at the bottom of the page to enter notes. 
The pre-existing electronic filing instructions required all notes to 
be entered as footnotes. Based on deliberations with the working group 
participants, the space for notes on pages 234, 235, 255, 274, 275, 
276, 277, and 338 is eliminated. In some cases the added flexibility 
granted by variable rows made the space for notes unnecessary. In other 
cases, the notes could be handled as footnotes. On page 255, the entire 
response is text therefore the word notes at the top of the page is 
misleading.
    In some cases, the respondent is asked to enter an asterisk to mark 
data meeting a specified condition, such as, marking an associated 
company. To conform the paper form to the electronic form, the asterisk 
will be entered in a separate column. Pages 212, 213, 222, 223, 252, 
332, 357, and 514 are modified to add a column to report an asterisk 
where applicable.
    The footnote page is split in two. Previously the footnote page 
consisted of a report of the page number, the line number, the column 
letter, and the footnote text. This configuration did not permit the 
respondent to enter footnote text once and refer to it many times. To 
add this capability, the first footnote page, page 551, consists of the 
page number, line or item number, the column letter, and the footnote 
number. The second footnote page, page 552, consists of the footnote 
number and the footnote text. Page 551 will be sorted by page number. 
Page 552 will be sorted by footnote number. A general instruction is 
added to page iii explaining this change. Permitting the respondent to 
enter a footnote once which can be referred to more than once saves 
processing time and paper.
    All of the changes outlined above apply to the Form No. 2 and also 
to Form No. 2-A if the referenced page is part of Form No. 2-A. The 
modified instructions in the attachments are effective for the 1996 
report year to be filed in 1997.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 96-28475 Filed 11-5-96; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M