[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 93 (Monday, May 14, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 24353-24355]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-12175]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC01-719B-000; FERC-719B]


Proposed Information Collection and Request for Comments

May 10, 2001.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Request for Office of Management and Budget Emergency 
Processing of proposed information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is 
providing notice of a request to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for emergency processing of a proposed collection of information 
in connection with the California electricity markets, and is 
soliciting public comment on that information collection.

DATES: Comments are requested on or before May 14, 2001.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to: (1) Michael Miller, Office of the Chief 
Information Officer, CI-1, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. Mr. Miller may be reached by 
telephone at (202) 208-1415 and by e-mail at [email protected]; 
and (2) Amy Farrell, FERC Desk Officer, Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Room 10202 NEOB, 
725 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503. Ms. Farrell may be reached 
by telephone at (202) 395-7318 or by fax at (202) 395-7285.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Stuart Fischer, Office of the General 
Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, (202) 208-2103.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Power Act directs the Commission 
to ensure just and

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reasonable rates for transmission and wholesale sales of electricity in 
interstate commerce. See 16 U.S.C. 824e(a). To enable the Commission to 
fulfill this duty, the Federal Power Act also authorizes the Commission 
to conduct investigations of, and collect information from, public 
utilities. See 16 U.S.C. 825, 825c, 825f, and 825j. Commission staff 
has been investigating the California electricity market, which is in a 
state of emergency with prices at extremely high levels and, on some 
days, rotating blackouts.
    One of the likely reasons for the high prices is forced and 
scheduled outages by electric generators in California. Each day, for 
the past few months, the California Independent System Operator (ISO) 
has reported outages of well over 10,000 megawatts for generating 
plants in California. In addition to causing higher prices, the outages 
limit the availability of electric power in California, leading the ISO 
to order rotating blackouts in the state to preserve the transmission 
system. The ISO ordered rotating blackouts on May 7 and 8, 2001, and 
many more such blackouts are anticipated over the next few months if 
increased summer demand is not matched by generation supply. Further, 
in 2000 electricity prices continued to be high even after the summer 
cooling season, and the same pattern may recur this year.
    Commission staff believes that it is in the public interest to 
monitor generation outages in California to assess their causes, 
particularly during the summer cooling season when electricity demand 
is at its highest. Commission staff proposes to do so by requesting 
that selected generators in the state of California electronically 
provide to the Commission information on total or partial generation 
unit outages within 24 hours of their occurrence, whether scheduled, 
forced or otherwise.
    Specifically, Commission staff will be requesting information only 
from generators that own, operate or control in California an 
individual generation unit with a generating capacity of 30 MW or more 
or generation units aggregating capacity of 50 MW or more. Commission 
staff will not request information concerning generation units owned by 
the independent transmission utilities in California (Pacific Gas and 
Electric Company, San Diego Gas & Electric Company and Southern 
California Edison Company). For the purposes of this data collection, 
Commission staff considers an outage partial if it reduces the 
available output of a generation unit below its nameplate rated 
capacity or below the reliable capacity of the unit as determined by 
contract with the California ISO. The Commission staff will treat 
information provided by the generators as non-public pursuant to the 
provisions of 18 CFR 1b.9.
    Commission staff will be requesting that the information be 
provided through a template that will be mailed to the generators and 
that can be requested from Commission staff at the E-Mail address 
[email protected]. That electronic address is also the address to 
which Commission staff is requesting that the generators send the 
outage information. To further assist monitoring efforts, Commission 
staff will be requesting that generators provide the information on the 
template for all outages that are current as of the date they receive 
the letter containing the template. Although Commission staff will be 
requesting information from municipalities concerning their generation 
units in California, Commission staff is requesting such data on a 
voluntary basis and is not questioning the jurisdictional status of 
those entities.
    Because Commission staff is requesting information from a large 
number of generators (over 100) concerning future outages, the data 
collection may be subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act, which 
requires OMB to review certain federal reporting requirements. 44 
U.S.C. 3507. In light of the critical condition of the California 
electricity markets, particularly during the summer heating season, 
Commission staff will be requesting emergency processing of this 
proposed information collection. If the Commission followed the regular 
provisions of the Paperwork Reduction Act, Commission staff would be 
unable to collect this information until most of the summer cooling 
season was over.
    The electronic template asks for the following data: Date of 
Report; Outage Report Type (Beginning or Ending); Company Name; Name of 
the Contact Person and Telephone Number; Unit Name; Year Unit Was 
Built; Unit Type; Is the Unit RMR (Reliability-Must-Run) or Non-RMR; 
Fuel Type; Nameplate Capacity; Re-Rated Capacity; Output Before Outage; 
Outage Type (Forced or Scheduled); Complete or Partial Outage; 
Megawatts Out; Date Outage Began; Time Outage Began; Date Outage Ended 
or Expected to End; Time Outage Ended or Expected to End; Reason for 
Outage; and whether a post-outage report was created. Most of the 
information asked for on the template, such as the identification and 
operating characteristics of a generation unit, would remain constant 
and would not require additional time to compile after the first 
report. The only new data in later reports would be in those fields 
asking for information about an outage.
    Commission staff estimates that between 100 and 125 entities owning 
generation could be subject to this reporting request, and that during 
any given week, only 15-25 of those entities would likely have an 
outage to report. However, many entities own several generation units, 
so that actual number of reports submitted by each entity would vary. 
Based on information compiled by the California ISO, for the seven day 
period between May 2 and May 8, 2001, there were 157 instances in which 
a report would have been submitted pursuant to the proposed information 
collection. Therefore, for the 180 days the reporting request would be 
in place, Commission staff anticipates that a maximum of approximately 
4,082 reports would be filed.
    Because Commission staff has created a pre-existing template, 
generators need not take any time to develop a reporting format. 
Commission staff estimates that it would take each generator 
approximately one hour to fill out an initial report for a generation 
unit, but, as most of the unit information will remain constant (such 
as its name, fuel type and megawatt rating), it should take 20 minutes 
or less to fill out and send each subsequent report.
    The outage reports are to be submitted electronically within 24 
hours of when a total or partial unit outage begins or ends. As stated 
above, based on information compiled by the California ISO, for the 
seven day period between May 2 and May 8, 2001, there were 157 
instances in which a report would have been submitted. Assuming the 
same number of instances for the 180 days for which this information 
collection is requested, the total number of hours it would take to 
comply with the reporting requirement would be approximately 1,465 
hours (157 hours for initial submission and 1,308 hours for subsequent 
submissions, assuming 20 minutes per submission). Commission staff 
estimates a cost of $50 per hour for complying with the reporting 
requirement, based on salaries for professional and clerical staff, as 
well as direct and indirect overhead costs. Therefore, the total 
estimated cost of compliance would be $73,250.
    Commission staff will submit this reporting requirement to OMB for 
approval. OMB's regulations describe the process that federal agencies 
must follow in order to obtain OMB approval of reporting requirements. 
See 5 CFR Part 1320. The standards for emergency

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processing of information collections appear at 5 CFR 1320.13. If OMB 
approves a reporting requirement, it will assign an information 
collection control number to that requirement. If a request for 
information subject to OMB review does not display a valid control 
number, or if the agency has not provided a justification as to why the 
control number cannot be displayed, then the recipient is not required 
to respond.
    OMB requires federal agencies seeking approval of reporting 
requirements to allow the public an opportunity to comment on the 
proposed reporting requirement. 5 CFR 1320.5(a)(1)(iv). Therefore, 
comments are being solicited on:
    (1) Whether the collection of the information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the Commission's functions, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of Commission staff's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of this information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) The quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and
    (4) How to minimize the burden of the collection of this 
information on respondents, including the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology.

David P. Boergers,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-12175 Filed 5-11-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M