[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 151 (Monday, August 6, 2001)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 40929-40942]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-19397]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

18 CFR Parts 2, 35, and 37

[Docket No. RM01-8-000]


Revised Public Utility Filing Requirements

July 26, 2001.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) 
recognizes that the filing of individual service agreements and paper 
copies of quarterly market-based sales of electric energy is no longer 
the most effective means of meeting the requirements of the Federal 
Power Act (FPA). Instead, this data must be collected and made publicly 
available in a manner which is both easily accessible and useful to the 
public. To this end, the Commission proposes that each public utility 
under the FPA (public utility) would no longer file: short-term or 
long-term service agreements for market-based sales of electric energy; 
service agreements for those generally applicable services, such as 
point-to-point transmission service, for which the public utility has a 
standard form of agreement under its tariff; and Quarterly Transaction 
Reports summarizing its short-term sales and purchases of power at 
market-based rates. In lieu of the above listed filings, each public 
utility would file electronically with the Commission and post on its 
website an Index of Customers that contains a summary of the 
contractual terms and conditions in its service agreements for all 
jurisdictional services (market-based power sales, cost-based power 
sales, and transmission service); and transaction information for its 
short-term and long-term market-based power sales and cost-based power 
sales during the most recent calendar quarter. Under the proposals in 
this NOPR, to the extent a public utility wishes to avoid filing 
service agreements for generally applicable services such as cost-based 
power sales or interconnection agreements, it would revise its tariff 
to include standard forms of service agreements for those services. The 
NOPR also proposes to delete 18 CFR 2.8, concerning the simplification 
of public utility rate schedule filings, as no longer necessary.
    These actions will provide the Commission with adequate information 
to fulfill the FPA section 205 requirement that rates for service are 
on file and available for public inspection, ensure that such rates are 
available in a standardized, user friendly format, and meet the 
Commission's electronic filing option obligation. These actions also 
will allow the public to better participate in and obtain the full 
benefits of wholesale electric power markets while minimizing the 
reporting burden on public utilities. By freeing the Commission and its 
staff from the administrative burden of processing the numerous, 
routine public utility service agreements currently filed with the 
Commission (when these agreements conform to standard forms of service 
agreements), the Commission will be able to devote greater resources to 
the complex and important issues that arise in competitive markets.
    While the actions proposed in this NOPR would improve the quality 
of information reported to the Commission by prescribing that public 
utilities report information in a consistent, accessible format, the 
NOPR is not intended as a comprehensive review of the Commission's 
market monitoring efforts. We intend to address those concerns in a 
separate proceeding.

DATES: Comments are due on or before October 5, 2001.

ADDRESSES: File written comments on the proposed rulemaking with the 
Office of the Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426. Comments should reference 
Docket No. RM01-8-000. Comments may be filed electronically or by paper 
(an original and 16 copies, with an accompanying computer diskette in 
the prescribed format requested).

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

H. Keith Pierce (Technical Information), Office of Markets, Tariffs, 
and Rates, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, 
N.E., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-0525
Gary D. Cohen (Legal Information), Office of the General Counsel, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N.E., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-0321
Barbara D. Bourque (Information Technology Information), Office of 
Markets, Tariffs, and Rates, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 
First Street, N.E., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-2338

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:  
    Before Commissioners: Curt Hebert, Jr., Chairman; William L. 
Massey, Linda Breathitt, Pat Wood, III and Nora Mead Brownell.

Table of Contents

I. Introduction
II. Background
    1. Recent Changes in Electric Markets
    2. The Commission's Current Filing Requirements for Public 
Utilities
    3. The Commission's Experience with Revised Filing Requirements 
for Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines
    4. Changing Electric Markets Have Resulted in an Increase in 
Electric Rate Filings and Demonstrate the Need for More Efficient 
Filing Regulations
III. Discussion
    A. Overview
    B. Why the Proposals Advanced in this NOPR Are Needed
    1. Changes in the Market

[[Page 40930]]

    2. Improving the Current System
    3. Changing Administrative Requirements
    C. Proposed Revisions to 18 CFR Part 35
    D. Information to Be Included in Index of Customers Reports
    1. Identification Requirements for the Electronic Filing
    2. Contractual Information
    3. Transaction-Specific Information
    E. Implementation Procedures
IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act Statement
V. Environmental Impact Statement
VI. Statement of Information Collection and Public Reporting Burden
VII. Public Comment Procedure
VIII. Document Availability
Regulatory Text

I. Introduction

    Despite dramatic changes that have occurred in the electric power 
industry since 1995, and a resulting increase in the number of rate 
filings made to the Commission, the Commission has not revised its 
long-standing filing requirements for public utilities to keep pace 
with these industry changes. Public utilities generally continue to 
satisfy the requirement to file with the Commission all contracts that 
affect their rates, as required by section 205 of the Federal Power 
Act, 16 U.S.C. 824d (FPA), by filing individual, bilateral, or 
multilateral agreements with the Commission prior to the commencement 
of service. Although many of these filings are routine, it has been 
necessary for the Commission to process each of these filings on an 
individual basis, due to the variation that exists from agreement to 
agreement.
    In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), the Commission 
proposes revisions to its filing requirements under 18 CFR part 35 to 
keep pace with the significant changes that are occurring in the 
electric industry. The NOPR's aim is to ensure that adequate 
information about public utility service agreements and rates being 
charged are on file and publicly available while allowing public 
utilities to better respond to a rapidly changing marketplace in a 
timely manner and provide customers in a dynamic marketplace with 
needed services. The proposals in this NOPR would free the Commission 
and its staff from the administrative burden of processing the 
numerous, routine public utility service agreements currently filed 
with the Commission (when these agreements conform to standard forms of 
service agreements), thus allowing the Commission and its staff to 
devote greater resources to the complex and important issues that arise 
in competitive markets.
    The filing of individual service agreements and paper copies of 
quarterly market-based sales of electric energy is no longer the most 
effective means of meeting the Commission's statutory responsibilities 
under section 205 of the FPA. Moreover, the present filing system can 
be improved to better respond to the current and evolving electric 
marketplace. To meet these goals, data about public utility service 
agreements and power sales must be collected and made publicly 
available in a manner that ensures that the data are pertinent, useful 
to market participants, and easily accessible by the public. To this 
end, we propose that each public utility, as defined in section 201(e) 
of the FPA (public utility), would:
     No longer file short-term or long-term service agreements 
for market-based power sales;
     No longer file service agreements for those generally 
applicable services, such as point-to-point transmission service, for 
which the public utility has a standard form of service agreement under 
its tariff;
     No longer file Quarterly Transaction Reports summarizing 
its short-term sales and purchases of power at market-based rates; \1\
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    \1\ In Citizens Energy Corporation, 35 FERC para. 61,198 at 
61,453 (1986) (Citizens), we held that the sale for resale 
activities of wholesale power marketers makes them public utilities 
under the FPA.
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     File electronically with the Commission and post on a 
website \2\ an Index of Customers that contains a summary of the 
contractual terms and conditions in its service agreements along with 
transaction information for its open access transmission services, 
short-term and long-term market-based power sales, and cost-based power 
sales during the most recent calendar quarter.\3\
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    \2\ In the case of a public utility with an OASIS website, the 
Index of Customers should be posted in the portion of its OASIS site 
that can be accessed by the public without registration or fee.
    \3\ As discussed later in this NOPR, the software for making 
Index of Customers filings and a data requirement manual 
(instruction manual) that will define the content and data elements 
to be included in Index of Customers filings will be separately 
developed and issued later in this rulemaking process.

    To the extent a public utility wishes to no longer file service 
agreements for generally applicable services such as cost-based power 
sales or interconnection agreements, it should revise its tariff to 
include standard forms of service agreements for those services. The 
NOPR also proposes to delete as no longer necessary 18 CFR 2.8 
concerning the simplification of public utility rate schedule filings.
    Although the actions proposed in this NOPR would improve the 
quality of information public utilities report to the Commission and 
the public by clarifying the information that needs to be provided and 
making that information available electronically in a uniform, 
accessible format, we caution that the NOPR is not intended as a 
comprehensive review of the Commission's market monitoring efforts. 
While we plan to engage in a comprehensive assessment of the 
Commission's market monitoring efforts in the near future, such an 
assessment is beyond the scope of the present proceeding.

II. Background

1. Recent Changes in Electric Markets

    In recent years, wholesale electricity markets have become much 
more dynamic. The Commission has moved to foster competition by 
requiring open access transmission, by requiring comparability between 
the treatment transmission providers extend to customers and their own 
use of their transmission systems, by requiring traditional, vertically 
integrated public utilities (i.e., public utilities that own both 
generation and transmission) to functionally separate their wholesale 
power marketing functions from their transmission system operating 
functions, and by requiring each public utility's wholesale merchant 
function to acquire transmission service on a comparable basis with 
other customers.\4\ The Commission has strongly encouraged the 
structural separation of the generation and transmission functions 
through the creation of regional transmission organizations, or 
RTOs.\5\ Other market changes have included the growth and 
establishment of power marketers and merchant generators that the 
Commission has

[[Page 40931]]

authorized to make wholesale power sales at market-based rates, 
provided they demonstrate that they lack market power. Virtually all 
traditional public utilities and their affiliates have also been 
authorized to sell power at market-based rates, provided that they lack 
market power or have taken adequate steps to mitigate that market 
power. In short, the Commission's actions have promoted the development 
of more competitive commodity markets for electric power by 
restructuring the functional ties between the sale of energy 
commodities and the provision of transmission and distribution. This 
separation of functions was accompanied by the unbundling of services 
that previously were offered on a consolidated basis.
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    \4\ See Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-
Discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities; Recovery 
of Stranded Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities, 
Order No. 888, 61 FR 21540 (May 10, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 
31,036, order on reh'g, Order No. 888-A, 62 FR 12274 (March 14, 
1997), FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 31,048 (1997), order on reh'g, 
Order No. 888-B, 81 FERC para. 61,248 (1997), order on reh'g, Order 
No. 888-C, 82 FERC para. 61,046 (1998); Open Access Same-Time 
Information System and Standards of Conduct, Order No. 889, 61 FR 
21737 (May 10, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 31,035 (April 24, 
1996), order on reh'g, Order No. 889-A, 62 FR 12484 (March 14, 
1997), FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 31,049 (March 4, 1997), order on 
reh'g, Order No. 889-B, 81 FERC para. 61,253 (1997), order on reh'g, 
Order No. 889-C, 82 FERC para. 61,046 (1998), aff'd in relevant part 
sub nom. Transmission Access Study Group, et al. v. Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, No. 97-1715 (D.C. Cir. June 30, 2000).
    \5\ Regional Transmission Organizations, Order No. 2000, final 
rule, 65 FR 809 (January 6, 2000), FERC Stats. & Regs. 31,089 
(1999), order on reh'g, Order No. 2000-A, 65 FR 12088 (March 8, 
2000), FERC Stats. & Regs. 31,092 (2000).
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    As we stated in our report, State of the Markets 2000; Measuring 
Performance In Energy Market Regulation (Markets 2000 Report),\6\ the 
Commission's shift away from the cost of service regulatory structure 
for power sales has resulted in many more choices for traditional 
wholesale requirements customers. Under the cost-of-service regulatory 
structure, a vertically integrated public utility was required to 
provide service to municipal utilities and other captive customers 
located within the public utility's exclusive service franchise 
territory. These wholesale requirements customers received service 
under terms and conditions that did not contemplate that they be 
afforded access to their supplier's transmission grid so that they 
could purchase power from alternative suppliers. This all changed when 
the electric power industry underwent functional unbundling as a result 
of the Commission's open access initiatives. Formerly captive wholesale 
customers now have additional supply options through open access to the 
transmission grid, based on the principle of comparable transmission 
access. If an independent generator or another franchise public utility 
has generating capability available, or a power marketer has 
contractual power available, wholesale customers can now negotiate 
power supply contracts that bypass the local public utility even though 
the local public utility's transmission grid and low voltage facilities 
are needed to deliver the power to the customer.\7\
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    \6\ This report is available for review or download on the 
Commission's Internet webpage at www.ferc.gov.
    \7\ Markets 2000 Report at 10.
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2. The Commission's Current Filing Requirements for Public Utilities

    With respect to the rates, terms and conditions of sales for resale 
of electric energy in interstate commerce, the Commission's regulations 
at 18 CFR Sec. 35.1 require public utilities to file:

all contracts that in any manner affect or relate to such rates, 
charges, classifications, services, rules, regulations or practices, 
as required by section 205(c) of the Federal Power Act.

Public utilities generally satisfy this requirement for cost-based 
power sales, transmission and other services by filing individual, 
bilateral or multilateral agreements with the Commission prior to the 
commencement of service,\8\ or, in the case in which a public utility 
has an approved tariff agreement and associated standard forms of 
agreement on file with the Commission, it may file the individual 
service agreement within thirty days after service to that customer 
commences.\9\
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    \8\ See Central Hudson Gas & Electric Corporation, et al., 60 
FERC para. 61,106, reh'g denied, 61 FERC para. 61,089 (1992).
    \9\ See Prior Notice and Filing Requirements Under Part II of 
the Federal Power Act, 64 FERC para. 61,139, clarified, 65 FERC 
para. 61,081 (1993) (Prior Notice Order).
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    For short-term power sales transactions (of one year or less) that 
are made pursuant to Commission approved market-based rate tariffs, we 
have routinely required non-marketer public utilities \10\ to submit an 
umbrella service agreement for each customer and quarterly reports 
summarizing numerous transactions under those agreements (i.e., the 
Quarterly Transaction Reports) in lieu of requiring the filing of 
individual service agreements for each transaction.\11\ Although 
affiliated and unaffiliated power marketers fall within the definition 
of ``public utility'' by virtue of their wholesale sales 
activities,\12\ the Commission currently has one set of requirements 
applicable to the filing of service agreements concerning sales at 
market-based rates by non-marketer public utilities, and another set of 
rules applicable to filings required by power marketers.\13\ Rather 
than filing any service agreements (short or long-term), power 
marketers file only Quarterly Transaction Reports that cover both their 
short-term and long-term sales at market-based rates.
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    \10\ For purposes of this NOPR, a ``non-marketer public 
utility'' means a public utility that owns, operates, or controls 
generation or transmission facilities. This includes traditional 
public utilities that own both generation and transmission, as well 
as non-traditional public utilities that own or control only 
generation facilities (e.g. merchant generators) or only 
transmission facilities. The term excludes power marketers who 
engage in sales for resale of electric energy but do not own any 
physical generation or transmission facilities.
    \11\ For long-term transactions (i.e., those lasting more than 
one year) that are made pursuant to previously approved market-based 
rate tariffs, however, public utilities must file the individual 
executed service agreements they enter under such tariffs within 30 
days after commencement of service. See Prior Notice Order, 65 FERC 
at 61,984. Short-term transactions are treated differently because 
they frequently are not the subject of separate written agreements 
and may be negotiated orally and documented only by log entries. See 
Southern Company Services, Inc., et al., 87 FERC para. 61,214 at 
61,847 (1999) (Southern, et al.).
    \12\ See Citizens, 35 FERC at 61,452.
    \13\ For purposes of this NOPR, ``power marketers'' means public 
utilities who do not own generation or transmission facilities, 
i.e., independent power marketers and affiliated power marketers.
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    There is no similar reporting requirement for power sales 
transactions under cost-based power sales tariffs, even though many of 
those tariffs have ceiling rates and transactions take place at rates 
at or below those ceiling rates. Service agreements associated with 
tariffs other than those for market-based sales (e.g. cost-based power 
sales, transmission and ancillary services) are currently treated as 
part of the tariff, and public utilities must file properly designated 
contracts in hard copy with the Commission pursuant to Sec. 35.12 (if 
filed for the first time), Sec. 35.13 (if subject to a rate change 
proposal), or Sec. 35.15 (if proposing a rate cancellation). The same 
filing requirements are applicable to the filing of new service 
agreements and amendments thereto, agreements establishing business 
rules, or underlying contracts offered to justify initial rates or 
changes in rate levels. The public utility offering a generally 
applicable service under one of its tariffs currently is required to 
file with the Commission a service agreement for each new customer.
    Table 1 below summarizes the Commission's current filing 
requirements:

[[Page 40932]]



  Table 1.--Summary of Current Filing Requirements Under Open Access and Cost Based Tariffs, and Under Market-
                                              Based Rate Authority
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                                                                  Long-term        Short-term       Quarterly
   Type of tariff or rate schedule          Filing party           service          service        transaction
                                                                  agreements       agreements        reports
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Open Access Transmission Tariff.....  Non-marketer Public                   X                X   ...............
                                       Utility.
Cost-Based Power Sales Tariff.......  Non-marketer Public                   X                X   ...............
                                       Utility.
Market-Based Power Sales Tariff.....  Non-marketer Public                   X                X                X
                                       Utility.
Market-Based Power Sales Tariff or    Affiliated or                    0 \14\   ...............               X
 Rate Schedule.                        Unaffiliated Power
                                       Marketer.
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Legend: ``x'' means agreement or report is required to be filed, ``o'' means requirement to file is in abeyance.

    Section  2.8 of the Commission's regulations encourages, but does 
not require, any public utility filing a rate change pursuant to 
Sec. 35.13 to refile its service agreements using a simplified model. 
In practice, however, few public utilities have chosen to do so. As the 
requirements of Sec. 2.8 have, to some extent, become outmoded, as a 
result of the Commission's revisions in Order No. 614 \15\ to our 
regulations at Sec. 35.9 (regarding the designation of tariffs and rate 
schedules), and as the proposals in this NOPR will result in non-
standard service agreements being phased out as they expire and being 
replaced by the use of standard forms of service agreements and the 
filing of the Index of Customers, we propose to delete Sec. 2.8 of our 
regulations.
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    \14\ Southern, et al., 87 FERC at 61,849, rescinded on a 
prospective basis previously-granted waivers of the requirement for 
power marketers to file long-term service agreements, effective 
thirty days after the issuance of a final order in that proceeding. 
Thus, at this time, this filing requirement is not in effect.
    \15\ Designation of Electric Rate Schedule Sheets, Order No. 
614, final rule, 65 FR 18221(April 7, 2000), FERC Stats. & Regs., 
Regulations Preambles 1996-2000 para. 31,096 (2000).
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3. The Commission's Experience With Revised Filing Requirements for 
Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines

    In evaluating appropriate future filing requirements for public 
utilities, the Commission has taken into account not only changes in 
the electric industry in recent years, but also our experience with 
different filing requirements in the natural gas industry. While the 
two industries differ, they have similar statutory filing requirements 
as well as similar informational needs given the competitive nature of 
the markets in each industry.
    Prior to the issuance of Order No. 436,\16\ the Commission's 
requirements for filings by interstate natural gas pipelines and public 
utilities were essentially the same. Each contract relating to rates 
and services had to be filed in complete hard copy tariff format, even 
if the contract followed the contract form on file with the Commission 
as part of a generally applicable Rate Schedule. In Order No. 516,\17\ 
however, the Commission eliminated the requirement for interstate 
natural gas pipelines to file actual service agreements \18\ in 
instances when the contract conformed to the standard form of agreement 
in the interstate natural gas pipeline's tariff, because we found that, 
through tariff filings or other periodic filings, the pipelines already 
submitted to the Commission and the public all of the information 
required by section 4 of the NGA. Thus, service agreements that did not 
conform with the standard forms of service agreements had to be filed 
with the Commission under Sec. 154.1(d), while service agreements that 
did conform with the standard forms of service agreements that are part 
of an interstate natural gas pipeline's tariff under Sec. 154.110 did 
not need to be filed. The Commission deemed such filings unnecessary in 
light of the fact that the agreements conformed with Commission-
approved standard agreements and the after-the-fact filings under Part 
284. Order No. 516 provided that the after-the-fact reports under Part 
284 must contain an index of firm customers identifying the services 
contracted, the applicable rate under each agreement (by reference to a 
rate summary sheet), contract dates and terms, and contract quantities.
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    \16\ Regulation of Natural Gas Pipelines After Partial Wellhead 
Decontrol, Order No. 436, 50 FR 42408 (October 18, 1985), FERC 
Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles 1982-1985 para. 30,665 (1985). 
Order No. 436 was modified and revised in a series of orders not at 
issue here. See Regulation of Natural Gas Pipelines After Partial 
Wellhead Decontrol, Order No. 500, 52 FR 30334 (August 14, 1987), 
FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles 1986-1990 para. 30,761 at 
30,775-76 & n.2 (1987).
    \17\ Final Regulations Clarifying the Filing Obligations for 
Part 284 Transportation and Sale of Natural Gas, Order No. 516, 54 
FR 47758 (November 17, 1989), FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations 
Preambles 1986-1990 para. 30,864 (1989).
    \18\ Order No. 516 only modified Sec. 154.1 of the Commission's 
regulations. While contracts that conformed with the standard forms 
of service agreements did not have to be filed, Order No. 516 
maintained the requirement that pipelines had to file with the 
Commission contracts for open access service and special services 
contracts that did not conform with the standard forms of service 
agreements.
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    In Order No. 581, the Commission expanded the Index of Customers to 
include all firm services, not just firm open access services. In Order 
No. 581, the Commission emphasized the need to acquire key contract 
information in an electronic format. The order also gave pipelines the 
option of placing key contract information on their websites, combined 
with an electronic filing of the same information with the Commission, 
in lieu of individually filing contracts (in traditional hard copy) 
with the Commission.\19\ As a measure of how well the proposal was 
received by the industry, all the major pipelines have opted to file 
electronically.\20\
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    \19\ Revision to Uniform System of Accounts, Forms, Statements, 
and Reporting Requirements for Natural Gas Companies, Order No. 581, 
60 FR 53019 (October 11, 1995), FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulation 
Preambles 1991-1996 para. 31,026 at 31,505-512 (1995). The 
electronic information is available to the public on the 
Commission's website at www.ferc.gov/documents/forms/forms.htm#GAS.
    \20\ We note, however, that some small pipelines have obtained 
waivers of the requirement to file this information.
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    More recently, in Order No. 637,\21\ the Commission modified the 
specific service agreement reporting requirements for interstate 
natural gas pipelines. Information about interruptible contracts and 
actual discounted rates must now be made public on the same basis as it 
is for contracts for firm service, and Order No. 637 has expanded the 
requirement to post information to include points of receipt and 
delivery and other information.\22\
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    \21\ Regulation of Short-Term Natural Gas Transportation 
Services and Regulation of Interstate Natural Gas Transportation 
Services, Order No. 637, 65 FR 10156 (February 25, 2000), FERC 
Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles 1996-2000 para. 31,091, order 
on reh'g, Order No. 637-A, 65 FR 35705 (June 5, 2000), FERC Stats. & 
Regs., Regulations Preambles 1996-2000 para. 31,099, reh'g denied, 
Order No. 637-B, 92 FERC para. 1,062 (2000).
    \22\ Order No. 637, FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 31,091 at 31,319-
20; and the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 284.13(b).

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[[Page 40933]]

    For the gas industry, the transition from service agreement filings 
to index of customers filings has both drastically reduced the 
industry's filing burden (approximately 6,000 service agreement filings 
per year were eliminated) while providing industry participants with 
greater access to transaction data. The electric industry is now also 
at the point where information currently provided through service 
agreements can be made more useful to the public through periodic Index 
of Customers filings.

4. Changing Electric Markets Have Resulted in an Increase in Electric 
Rate Filings and Demonstrate the Need for More Efficient Filing 
Regulations

    Section 205(c) of the FPA requires that every public utility have 
all of its jurisdictional rates and tariffs on file with the Commission 
and make them available for public inspection, within such time and in 
such form as the Commission may designate. Section 205(d) of the FPA 
requires that every public utility must provide notice to the 
Commission and the public of any changes to its jurisdictional rates 
and tariffs, file such changes with the Commission, and make them 
available for public inspection, in such manner as directed by the 
Commission.\23\
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    \23\ See Southern Company Energy Marketing, L.P., et al., 84 
FERC para. 61,199, order on reh'g, 86 FERC para. 61,131 (1999), 
affd. sub nom., The Power Company of America, L.P. v. FERC, 245 F.3d 
839 (D.C. Cir. 2001) (PCA). In PCA, the court found, 245 F.3d at 
846, that the Commission may alter its view of what information is 
required to be on file under section 205(c) of the FPA and 
Sec. 35.15 of the Commission's regulations.
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    Prior to the Commission's open access initiatives in Order Nos. 888 
and 889,\24\ public utilities made numerous rate filings covering 
individual power supply and/or transmission contracts tailored to meet 
the needs of individual customers. Although the filings were numerous, 
the number of regulated public utilities making these filings tended to 
be relatively stable, and the Commission managed to analyze and process 
these filings and address the substantive issues presented therein.
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    \24\ Order No. 889, FERC Stats. & Regs. para. 31,035 at 31,586.
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    However, since the issuance of Order Nos. 888 and 889, the number 
of regulated entities and the services they provide have increased 
significantly. Electric power markets have increasingly become more 
competitive and dynamic and the Commission has been confronted by a 
marked increase in the number and types of transactions being conducted 
in response to customer needs. As a result, an increasing number of 
public utility power supply and transmission service arrangements in 
the form of universal tariffs of general applicability (umbrella 
agreements) were filed with the Commission,\25\ with standardized forms 
of service agreements for customers to execute as they sign up for 
tariff services. Largely as a result of the review of service agreement 
filings associated with tariffs previously approved by the Commission, 
service agreement filings now constitute approximately 2,500 docketed 
work load filings a year, a 2\1/2\-fold increase over past peak levels 
of all FPA section 205 filings.
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    \25\ See Prior Notice Order, 64 FERC at 61,982-84.
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    Under the Commission's current filing requirements in 18 CFR Part 
35, individual service agreement filings associated with approved 
tariffs require a significant amount of time, effort, and expense on 
the part of public utilities to prepare and serve on their customers 
and the Commission. These individual filings also require a significant 
amount of Commission staff time and effort associated with docketing, 
noticing, loading the information onto RIMS, and other processing 
tasks. Further, the information contained in such filings that is most 
relevant to customers and the Commission could be provided in an 
alternative, streamlined form, thus continuing to satisfy the 
requirements of FPA section 205(c), but in a more efficient manner. 
Accordingly, we propose to replace the filing of individual service 
agreements and Quarterly Transaction Reports with the filing of an 
electronic Index of Customers. This format will greatly increase the 
accessibility and usefulness of the relevant data, which will confer 
greater benefits to the public.
    We expect that the filing of the Index of Customers in place of the 
filing of individual service agreements related to approved tariffs and 
the filing of Quarterly Transaction Reports will result in a net 
decrease in the filing burden on public utilities while allowing the 
Commission to better use its limited resources, and at the same time 
provide the public and the Commission with better information pursuant 
to FPA section 205(c).

III. Discussion

A. Overview

    Through these proposed regulations, the Commission intends to 
improve public access to pertinent information on public utility rates 
and services, streamline and simplify the manner in which public 
utilities must comply with the filing requirements of the FPA, reduce 
the regulatory and administrative burden associated with processing 
public utilities' service agreement filings, and keep pace with 
changing market conditions. The NOPR proposes to accomplish these goals 
by no longer requiring public utilities with market-based rate 
authority to file either long-term or short-term service agreements, 
consistent with what has generally been the case for power marketers.
    Instead, all public utilities, both marketers and non-marketers, 
that charge market-based rates will meet the FPA section 205(c) 
requirements through the filing of an Index of Customers. In so doing, 
we will require that transaction data not only be filed electronically 
with the Commission, but also posted and archived on each public 
utility's web site. This will greatly improve public access to the 
data, which will no longer be scattered over numerous service agreement 
filings, but instead will be centrally stored in a single database for 
each seller. We find it appropriate to transition from the market-based 
service agreements to an Index of Customers in part because market-
based authority for power sales extends to both rates and to terms and 
conditions. Therefore, there is no need for the filing of a standard 
form of service agreement under market-based sales tariffs or rate 
schedules. Moreover, to the extent that transactional data required by 
the Index of Customers subsumes the relevant information contained in 
the umbrella short-term agreements, long-term agreements, and the 
currently filed quarterly reports, there is no need for filing both the 
service agreements and the Index of Customers. In short, we find that 
there is no need to continue to differentiate between long and short-
term power sales agreements so long as the relevant data are collected 
through the Index of Customers to meet the section 205(c) requirements.
    While we find no need to require standard forms of service 
agreements to be filed for market-based rates, we encourage public 
utilities to develop standard forms of service agreements for inclusion 
in tariffs other than those for market-based sales (e.g. tariffs for 
cost-based power sales and network transmission and ancillary 
services), similar to what is already in place for point-to-point open 
access transmission service. These standard forms of service agreements 
are necessary for a public utility to no longer file conforming service 
agreements since the terms and conditions of cost-based services are 
not negotiated and, therefore, must be on file to meet the requirements 
of FPA section 205(c).

[[Page 40934]]

    In total, the use of standard forms of service agreements, in 
conjunction with the Index of Customers filings and the filing of 
service agreements that do not conform with the standard forms of 
service agreements in the public utility's non-market-based rate 
tariffs, will provide the public and the Commission with sufficient 
information with respect to non-market-based rates and, therefore, will 
meet the section 205(c) requirements.
    We note that we are including cost-based sales in the Index of 
Customers' reporting requirements regarding transactional data to 
better meet the section 205(c) requirements. The majority of the cost-
based tariffs contain ceiling rates and, due to ever increasing 
competition, the actual rate charged for a particular sale is less than 
the tariff rate. Including the reporting of cost-based power sales 
under the Index of Customers will ensure that the public utility has on 
file the actual price charged for the transaction, as required by FPA 
section 205(c). As noted above, once the public utility files a 
standard form of service agreement, it would no longer have to file 
conforming individual service agreements under that tariff.

B. Why the Proposals Advanced in This NOPR Are Needed

1. Changes in the Market
    Notwithstanding the dramatic changes that have occurred in electric 
power markets, the Commission has not changed the manner in which it 
receives and makes available information through public utility service 
agreements, rate filings, and the Quarterly Transaction Reports imposed 
as a condition in market-based rate cases. The profound changes that 
have occurred in wholesale electric markets have prompted the 
Commission to consider whether the information currently being filed by 
public utilities continues to meet the evolving needs of the public, 
the electric power industry, and the Commission. We conclude that it 
does not and that we need to improve the format in which we currently 
receive information because some entities are filing the data in 
different formats, and in different levels of detail, and some entities 
(non-marketer public utilities) are filing service agreements, while 
others (power marketers) are not. Moreover, these data are not 
available in an electronic format, making it difficult for the public 
to obtain and analyze. Accordingly, in this NOPR, we propose to revise 
our filing requirements to make the information standard, complete, and 
easy to access.
2. Improving the Current System
    This NOPR proposes to replace the current information reporting and 
processing system with a new electronic approach that gives accurate, 
pertinent, and accessible data to the public and the Commission. Our 
experience with the regulation of interstate natural gas pipelines 
leads us to expect that these proposed revisions are feasible and that 
they will reduce the public utilities' reporting burden and the 
Commission's administrative burden in processing filings, while at the 
same time providing better and more accessible information to the 
public and the Commission.
3. Changing Administrative Requirements
    The proposed regulations are part of a change the Commission is 
undertaking with regard to its requirements for filing tariff sheets. 
In Order No. 614, the Commission stated that it was initiating a 
process ``necessary to accommodate the movement toward an integrated 
energy industry and to facilitate the development of common standards 
for the electronic filing of all electric, gas, and oil rate schedule 
sheets.'' \26\ Order No. 614 required public utilities to take 
responsibility for the designation of their tariffs, rate schedules and 
service agreements, and pagination of their tariff sheets along the 
lines of the natural gas pipeline program. Order No. 614 also stated 
that the Commission intended move to a common standard for the filing 
of all electric, gas, and oil rate schedule sheets.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \26\ Order No. 614, FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles 
1996-2000 para. 31,096 at 31,501.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Commission has since issued a Notice of Inquiry to consider 
establishing an electronic format for all tariffs filed with the 
Commission.\27\ A number of the changes proposed in this NOPR are part 
of that process. The proposed regulations will standardize the 
requirements for filing service agreements by interstate natural gas 
pipelines and public utilities. Further, by eliminating the need to 
file certain types of service agreements, the proposed regulations will 
reduce the number of tariff sheets public utilities will be required to 
file. This minimizes the materials that must be converted from hard 
copy to the new electronic tariff filing requirements, if and when they 
are adopted by the Commission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ Notice of Inquiry and Informational Conference, Electronic 
Tariff Filings, Docket No. RM01-5-000, 94 FERC para. 61,270 (2001).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In order to increase the efficiency with which it carries out its 
program responsibilities, the Commission has been implementing measures 
to use information technology to reduce the amount of paperwork 
required in its proceedings.\28\ The proposed regulations meet that 
goal by replacing the paper format with an electronic format. The 
Commission believes that this will be the most efficient, cost 
effective, and accurate means to obtain the data required for the use 
of the public and the Commission, while minimizing the reporting burden 
on public utilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \28\ See Electronic Filing of Documents, Order No. 619, 65 FR 
57088 (September 21, 2000), FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations 
Preambles 1996-2000 para. 31,107 (2000).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Both the legislative and executive branches of the Federal 
government have set as goals the substitution of electronic means of 
communication and information storage for paper means. For example, the 
Government Paperwork Elimination Act directs agencies to provide for 
the optional use and acceptance of electronic documents and signatures, 
and electronic record-keeping, where practical.\29\ Similarly, the 
Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130 requires agencies 
to use electronic information collection techniques by October 2003, 
where such means will reduce the burden on the public, increase 
efficiency, reduce costs, and help provide better service.\30\ This 
requirement applies to all filings, including service agreement 
filings. The proposals in this NOPR are intended to satisfy this 
requirement for the Commission's electric program by replacing the 
paper filing of service agreements and the filing of Quarterly 
Transaction Reports with electronic filings.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \29\ Pub. L. 105-277, Sections 1702-1704.
    \30\ Circular A-130, Para. 8.a.1(k).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

C. Proposed Revisions to 18 CFR Part 35

    The proposals in this NOPR would be applicable to every public 
utility that provides transmission, ancillary services, wholesale power 
sales, or other jurisdictional services in accordance with Part 35 of 
the Commission's regulations. The NOPR proposes to revise the 
Commission's current filing requirements under 18 CFR Part 35 to 
encourage each public utility to develop, for inclusion in its non-
market-based power sales tariffs, a standard form of service agreement 
for each generally applicable service it offers under its tariffs. In 
addition, every calendar quarter, each public utility that provides 
transmission, ancillary services, wholesale power sales, or other 
jurisdictional services under Part 35 must file an updated Index of 
Customers. This would include a current list of customers, contracts 
and

[[Page 40935]]

contract terms, and a report of transactional data summarizing power 
sale transactions that occurred during the past calendar quarter. In 
addition,

--Once a service agreement that conforms to the standard form of 
service agreement is on file and approved by the Commission, the public 
utility will no longer file conforming individual customer agreements 
with the Commission.
--In circumstances where there is customer disagreement (e.g. the 
customer has exercised its right pursuant to section 15.3 of the pro 
forma tariff to have the transmission provider file an unexecuted 
service agreement with the Commission) the service agreement must be 
filed.
--Any service agreement that contains services, rates, or charges that 
are not spelled out in the applicable standard form of agreement will 
be considered a non-conforming service agreement and still must be 
timely filed with the Commission (e.g., most interconnection agreements 
and distribution charges).\31\ Public utilities will continue to be 
required to assign rate designations to their filed service agreements 
pursuant to Sec. 35.9 of the Commission's regulations for nonconforming 
service agreements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \31\ The Commission will address interconnection agreements in 
the near future.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Non-marketer public utilities and power marketers will both submit 
quarterly Index of Customers reports describing their currently 
effective service agreements and actual power sales transactions (both 
cost-based and market-based) that occurred during the previous quarter. 
This would replace the Quarterly Transaction Reports they currently 
file regarding their market-based rate transactions.

    Table 2 below summarizes the filing requirements that are proposed 
by the Commission in this NOPR:

                  Table 2.--Summary of Public Utility Filing Requirements Proposed in This NOPR
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                            Conforming     Nonconforming
  Type of tariff or rate schedule       Filing party          service         service        Index of customers
                                                            agreements       agreements
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Open Access Transmission Tariff...  Non-marketer Public   ..............               X   C
                                     Utility.
Cost-Based Power Sales Tariff.....  Non-marketer Public   ..............               X   C, T
                                     Utility.
Other Generally Applicable          Non-marketer Public   ..............               X   C
 Services.                           Utility.
Market-Based Power Sales Tariff...  Non-marketer Public   ..............  ...............  C, T
                                     Utility.
Market-Based Power Sales Tariff or  Affiliated or         ..............  ...............  C, T
 Rate Schedule.                      Unaffiliated Power
                                     Marketer.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Legend: ``X'' means file complete service agreement, ``C'' means file contract data, ``T'' means file
  transaction data.

    We now discuss our proposed revisions on a section by section 
basis. In Sec. 35.10, we propose that each public utility must file an 
updated Index of Customers with the Commission each calendar quarter 
and post that same information on its website. A public utility with an 
OASIS website would post the information in that portion of its OASIS 
website that is accessible to the public without registration or fee. A 
public utility not required to have an OASIS website would post its 
Index of Customers on a website that, likewise, would be accessible to 
the public without registration or fee.
    In this NOPR, the Commission proposes to create two new sections: 
Sec. 35.10a covering forms of service agreements and Sec. 35.10b 
covering Index of Customers filings. The form of service agreements are 
also cross-referenced in Sec. 35.1(g). Thus, we propose to revise the 
title of Part 35 to reflect its expanded subject matter and propose 
revising the caption to Sec. 35.1 to clarify that this section 
addresses both rate schedules \32\ and tariffs.\33\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ Section 35.2 defines Rate Schedule as ``a statement of (1) 
electric service as defined in paragraph (a) of this section, (2) 
rates and charges for or in connection with that service, and (3) 
all classifications, practices, rules, regulations or contracts 
which in any manner affect or relate to the aforementioned service, 
rates, and charges. This statement shall be in writing and may take 
the physical form of a contractual document, purchase or sale 
agreement, lease of facilities, tariff or other writing. Any oral 
agreement or understanding forming a part of such statement shall be 
reduced to writing and made a part thereof.'' Rate schedules and 
service agreements are both contractual documents. However, as used 
in the Commission's regulations, ``rate schedule services,'' 
essentially, are services whose terms are individually negotiated 
between the public utility and the customer(s) and are not generally 
or universally available to other customers.
    \33\ Section 35.2 of the Commission's regulations defines 
``tariff'' as ``a compilation, in book form, of rate schedules of a 
particular public utility, effective under the Federal Power Act, 
and a copy of each form of service agreement. In connection 
herewith, attention is invited to Part 154 of this chapter, i.e., 
the Commission's regulations under the Natural Gas Act, as a guide 
to the form and composition of a tariff.'' Examples of a ``tariff'' 
are public utilities' OATTs, which have ``services'' (the equivalent 
of rate schedules as used in Part 154) with forms of service 
agreements and umbrella agreements. Public utilities taking full 
advantage of this NOPR would develop forms of service agreement to 
be inserted in public utility tariffs for all generally applicable 
services offered by the public utility (other than market-based 
power sales) similar to what is already in place for point-to-point 
service in the pro forma tariff.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In Sec. 35.10a, we propose guidelines for the inclusion of a 
standard form of service agreement in a public utility's tariff. We 
propose that the standard agreement format for each service must 
describe the service to be rendered and must provide spaces for the 
insertion of the customer's name, effective date, expiration date, and 
term. Depending on the type of agreement, spaces for the insertion of 
other information may also be included, as appropriate. For example, 
spaces may be provided for the insertion of receipt and delivery 
points, contract quantity, and other specifics of each transaction. The 
standard agreement formats, other than those already prescribed by 
Order No. 888, may be developed by each public utility in a separately 
filed section 205 filing and will be reviewed by the Commission for 
consistency with the underlying rate schedule(s) or service(s).
    In Sec. 35.10b, we propose that each public utility shall file, in 
an electronic format, an updated Index of Customers with the Commission 
on a quarterly basis. Later in this rulemaking process, we plan to 
conduct further proceedings to develop the instruction manual to be 
used to make Index of Customers filings, which will define the data 
elements to be included in Index of Customers filings.\34\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \34\ We may enlist the assistance of technical industry working 
groups in this effort.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Commission proposes to develop an electronic format for the 
Index of Customers filings that will facilitate filing and allow staff 
and the public one-stop access to the data. The

[[Page 40936]]

Commission intends to develop (and distribute to public utilities for 
their use at no cost) software to be downloaded at the users' sites 
that will allow public utilities to enter data manually (for small data 
sets and to edit corrections) and/or to download spreadsheet data, or 
other properly formatted system output, directly into the application. 
The software will perform edit checks at the utility site to ensure a 
complete filing and a successful upload at the Commission. (The 
software will be similar in concept to that currently being used by 
public utilities filing FERC Form 423.)
    In Sec. 35.10b(a), we propose that the Index of Customers filings 
must be filed to conform with the data elements specified in the data 
requirements manual, which will be comparable to the one already in use 
for interstate natural gas pipelines.\35\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \35\ The interstate natural gas pipeline manual can be viewed 
and downloaded at: http://www.ferc.gov/documents/forms/electronic_filing_requirements/index_new.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In Sec. 35.10b(b), we propose that each public utility with an 
OASIS website post the Index of Customers in the portion of its OASIS 
website that is accessible to the public without registration or fee. 
We propose that each public utility that does not have an OASIS website 
shall post its Index of Customers on a website that also is accessible 
to the public without registration or fee. In the alternative, we are 
also considering allowing the use of a joint website so that data about 
numerous public utilities could be found at one common site.\36\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \36\ Commenters are invited to comment on whether such a joint 
site would be desirable and feasible.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In Sec. 35.10b(c), we propose that each filed Index of Customers 
shall display the website address where that public utility's past and 
current Index of Customers are posted and, in Sec. 35.10b(d), we 
propose that Index of Customers postings shall remain posted for three 
years.
    In Sec. 35.1(g), we propose that all contracts that deviate in a 
material respect from a standard form of service agreement that is part 
of the public utility's tariff must be filed. We believe that, because 
the Commission will review the reasonableness of the terms and 
conditions of the standard agreements, the requirement for public 
utilities to file individual service agreements with the Commission can 
be eliminated so long as those agreements are consistent with the 
standard form of service agreement. We do not believe that this 
proposal, if adopted, would in any way compromise the Commission's 
ability to review substantive issues. We believe that replacing the 
filing of individual service agreements with the filing of the Index of 
Customers, combined with the use of standardized agreements, will ease 
the regulatory burden on filing public utilities and the administrative 
burden on the Commission of processing these filings. We do not view 
this proposal as adversely affecting the public interest or the 
Commission's regulatory oversight of public utilities. Rather, the 
Index of Customers suggested by this NOPR will increase access to the 
information that is currently filed by making it available in an 
electronic and downloadable format. This will enable interested parties 
to quickly and easily download and analyze relevant data such as prices 
and quantities of power sales either from the Commission's or the 
seller's web site. Additionally, public utilities would still be 
required to maintain copies of their executed service agreements and 
make them available for public inspection in appropriate proceedings 
and available to the Commission or any other entity upon request, 
consistent with Part 35 of the regulations.
    Upon implementation of the proposed Index of Customers 
requirements, public utilities will no longer file market-based power 
sales service agreements. Additionally, as unfiled service agreements 
expire in accordance with their own terms, public utilities will not 
have to file tariff sheets canceling them (because they will not be 
included in the public utilities' tariffs). Rather, they simply will 
remove these contracts from their Index of Customers. If parties to an 
unfiled service agreement believe there is an FPA-related dispute 
concerning such an agreement, their ability to have the Commission 
resolve the dispute will not be compromised by not having a hard copy 
of the agreement on file as part of the public utility's tariff. 
Utilities with nonconforming, filed service agreements must continue to 
file tariff sheets to cancel them at the time of expiration (because 
these agreements will be included in the public utilities' tariffs).
    Consistent with our proposal in Sec. 35.10(b)(c), we propose to 
revise Sec. 37.6 to add paragraph (h) that would require OASIS sites to 
include Index of Customers postings that would be available to the 
public without registration or fee. The information would be required 
to be available for online review, copying or download. Index of 
Customers filings would remain posted at the same location for three 
years after they are filed.
    We also propose to delete our regulation at 18 CFR 2.8 because that 
regulation is now superceded by the regulations promulgated by Order 
No. 614.

D. Information To Be Included in Index of Customers Reports

    The proposed Index of Customers will be required for all 
jurisdictional services and will contain three types of information: 
(1) Identification requirements for the electronic filing; (2) 
contractual information; and (3) transaction specific information. For 
market-based and cost-based power sales, all three types of information 
will have to be filed. However, for transmission service and other 
services under an open access tariff, only the identification 
requirements and the contractual information will have to be filed. 
This is the case since all rate discounts must be posted on 
transmission providers' OASIS sites and offered to all customers. The 
following Index of Customers data requirements will enable the 
Commission to have the same information on file that is currently 
received for market-based power sales service through the filing of 
long-term service agreements and quarterly transaction reports.
1. Identification Requirements for the Electronic Filing
    The electronic file will be required to contain a data set that 
identifies the entity submitting the file, file-related information, 
and date information. At a minimum, the Commission would expect the 
file identification requirements to include the following data sets:


--Respondent: Public utilities often use agents to handle their 
regulatory affairs. Thus, the respondent filing the report would be 
identified, as well as the public utility on whose behalf it is 
filed (e.g.: Southern Company Services Inc. files on behalf of five 
affiliated public utilities).
--Contact: The file should contain information on the company 
official to be contacted concerning questions related to the filing.
--Report Information: The file should contain data that identifies 
the date it was prepared, the reporting quarter, and the revision of 
the report in the event the report is corrected and refiled.
--Website Address: The website address where the public utility 
posts its past and current Index of Customers filings.

2. Contractual Information
    The Index of Customers will become the Commission's primary means 
to ensure that the FPA's section 205(c) requirement that rates 
available for public inspection is met. The Index of

[[Page 40937]]

Customers will provide all the pertinent contractual information 
contained in service agreements currently filed with the Commission. 
Similarly, all contractual information currently made available for 
public inspection will continue to be made available, albeit in a 
different format. Once a service agreement has become effective, that 
contract must remain listed on the Index of Customers for each 
subsequent calendar quarter until the contract terminates under its own 
terms or as the result of a Commission order. The Commission will 
require the following information for each executed service agreement:

--Seller's Name: The seller's name should be the public utility 
providing the jurisdictional service. This is the same as the 
definition in the S&CP Document.\37\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \37\ I.e, the OASIS Standards & Communications Protocol 
Document, Version 1.4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Seller's DUNS Number: Companies often have a name similar to 
another company's name; the DUNS number avoids any confusion between 
companies with similar names. This is the same as the definition in 
the S&CP Document.
--Affiliate Flag: Indicate whether the buyer and seller are 
``affiliates'' as defined in 18 CFR Sec. 37.3 (f). To be answered 
with yes or no answer. This is the same as the definition in the 
S&CP Document.\38\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \38\ See ``Affiliate Flag'' S&CP Document's Data Element 
Dictionary, Order No. 638, FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations 
Preambles 1996-2000 para. 31,093 at 31,469. Throughout this NOPR, we 
use the term ``affiliate'' as defined in 18 CFR 37.3(f).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

--Buyer's Name: The buyer's name should be the customer purchasing 
the jurisdictional service. This is the same as the definition in 
the S&CP Document.
--Buyer's DUNS Number: As with sellers, buyers often have similar 
names. This is the same as the definition in the S&CP Document.
--Product Designation: This identifies the product(s) covered by the 
service agreement. The Commission would expect a separate record for 
each service provided under a contract. This is the same as the 
definition in the S&CP Document. We note that the S&CP Document 
allows more than transmission services to be included in the 
definition set. For example, the S&CP Document provides codes for 
the six ancillary services prescribed in Order No. 888: 1. SC--
scheduling, system control and dispatch; 2. RV--reactive supply and 
voltage control; 3. RF--regulation and frequency response; 4. EI--
energy imbalance; 5. SP--spinning reserve; and 6. SU--supplemental 
reserve. All applicable services are reported, including power 
sales.
--Type of Rate: The Commission permits various types of rates (e.g., 
cost based rates, discounted rates, and market-based rates). This 
data field would identify the type of rate charged under the 
executed contract (i.e., the maximum cost based rate, a rate 
discounted from the maximum cost based rate, or a market-based 
rate).
--Service Agreement Designation: Under the current Commission filing 
requirements, public utilities are required to file most service 
agreements with the Commission and supply a designation. Market-
based service agreements and individual executed service agreements 
that conform to a public utility's standard form of agreement will 
no longer be filed with the Commission. If a customer requests that 
the utility proceed with an unexecuted but otherwise conforming 
service agreement so that service can begin while any remaining 
disputes are resolved, the unexecuted agreement must be filed with 
the Commission. In addition, all individual contracts need some 
identifier that distinguishes them from other contracts. While the 
Commission does not propose a separate mandatory designation system 
for the Index of Customers, the public utility must maintain its 
service agreements with a tracking system that will enable the 
Commission and the public to reference whatever system a public 
utility adopts and uses for the purpose of filing this report. Also, 
some standard contracts, such as those in the OATTs, provide the 
ability to contract for multiple services in a single contract. The 
Commission would expect a separate record for each service provided 
under a contract. However, how multiple services under a single 
contract should be reported to the Commission (including the related 
contract and transaction information) is an item that should be 
discussed by any Technical Working Groups that are created to work 
on these matters.
--Contract Effective Date: All service agreements (market-based, 
conforming, and non-conforming) under which service has commenced 
during a particular quarter must be reported to the Commission 
within 30 days of the end of that quarter. The agreement would not 
have to be filed if it conforms with a public utility's applicable 
approved standard form of agreement. The date service commences 
would be the equivalent of the first date to occur under the 
``service start date and time'' data field for the contract in the 
S&CP Document.
--Contract Termination Date: This is the date the contract will 
terminate under its own terms. This date should be the primary term 
of the contract. If the contract has roll-over or evergreen 
provisions, that information should be recorded in a separate field.
--Rate: Rates for services under both market-based and cost-based 
tariffs must be reported.
--Contract Quantity: The maximum contract quantity of service, to 
the extent a maximum quantity is specified in the contract.
--Rate Unit: The units (MWH, MW, etc.) applicable to the rate, 
contract quantity and transactional data.
--Point of Receipt: This is the same as the definition in the S&CP 
Document.
--Point of Delivery: This is the same as the definition in the S&CP 
Document.

    The contractual information that is proposed to be provided in the 
Index of Customers is identical to what public utilities are currently 
required to file pursuant to Part 35 of the Regulations. In this 
regard, we note that this NOPR does not propose to revise the filing 
requirements in Sec. 35.12, regarding information to be included in 
initial rate schedule filings. Nor does the NOPR propose to revise the 
Commission's current rules concerning the information to be included in 
service agreements, rate schedules, and accompanying transmittal 
letters. Simply put, it provides that the data currently filed in 
service agreements are to be filed through the Index of Customers.
3. Transaction-Specific Information
    Currently all entities selling power at market-based rates are 
required to file Quarterly Transaction Reports each calendar quarter 
that describe their purchase and sales transactions for generation and 
transmission.
    In Citizens Power & Light Corporation, 48 FERC para. 61,120 (1989) 
(Citizens Power), the Commission stated that Citizens--a power 
marketer--should provide the following information:

the buyer's and seller's name, a brief description of the service, 
including the degree of firmness; the delivery points for each 
service; the price of each service; the quantities to be served or 
purchased; the contract duration * * *

    Subsequently, Enron Power Marketing, Inc. (Enron) requested that: 
(1) The Commission waive the requirement that a power marketer file 
informational reports detailing purchase and sale transactions 
undertaken in the prior quarter; and (2) it be permitted to report the 
data on an aggregated basis (i.e., without identifying the other 
parties or the terms of the individual transactions) or on a 
confidential basis. The Commission denied Enron's request and stated:

Enron misreads the Commission's purpose in requiring quarterly 
reporting of marketer's transactions * * *. The Commission has 
indicated that information filings are necessary so that the 
marketer's rates will be on file as required by section 205(c) of 
the FPA, * * * \39\

    \39\ Enron Power Marketing, Inc., 65 FERC para. 61,305 at 62,406 
(1993).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We also denied Enron's request for confidential treatment,\40\ 
citing our order in National Electric Association Limited Partnership, 
50 FERC para. 61,378 (1990) and section 205(c) of the FPA, which 
requires all public utilities, including power marketers, to file with 
the Commission for public inspection all rates, charges, 
classifications and practices as well as any contracts that

[[Page 40938]]

affect or relate to such charges, classification and practices.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \40\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    In Heartland Energy Services, Inc., 68 FERC para. 61,223 (1994), 
the Commission held Heartland (an affiliated power marketer of 
Wisconsin Power and Light Company) to the reporting standards in 
Enron.\41\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \41\ See also LG&E Power Marketing, Inc., 68 FERC para. 61,247 
(1994) and Detroit Edison Company, et al., 80 FERC para. 61,348 
(1997).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The Commission established the filing requirements for short and 
long-term transaction agreements for non-marketer public utilities in 
Southern Company Services, Inc., 75 FERC para. 61,130 (1996) 
(Southern). There, Southern--a traditional vertically integrated public 
utility--proposed to file umbrella service agreements for short-term 
transactions (in lieu of filing each individual service agreement) and 
semi-annual summaries that would list the purchaser, the transaction 
period, the rate, the amount of the electricity sold and the total 
charge to the purchaser. The Commission modified Southern's proposal to 
require that the summaries be filed on a quarterly basis. The 
Commission stated that the transaction summaries should be filed 
separately within 30 days after service commences. Further, the 
Commission extended this filing option (filing umbrella service 
agreements and transaction summaries in lieu of filing a service 
agreement for each transaction) to all public utilities making sales at 
market-based rates. However, Southern established different reporting 
requirements for non-marketer public utilities and power marketers.
    Under Southern, non-marketer public utilities are required to file 
individual service agreements for long-term sales at market-based 
rates, while power marketers are only required to file transaction 
summaries of long-term sales. Both methods allowed the seller to meet 
the section 205(c) requirements. Not requiring power marketers to file 
service agreements reflected the fact that, at the time, the Commission 
sought to encourage the emergence of power marketers and did not want 
to stifle that process with the application of our traditional rate 
filing requirements. Now that power marketers are well established, 
however, it is appropriate to level the playing field for other public 
utilities. Since the section 205(c) requirements can be met through the 
Index of Customers, it is appropriate to remove the service agreement 
filing burden from all public utilities. As a result, this NOPR 
proposes that all entities with market-based rate authority can meet 
the section 205(c) requirements for both long-term and short-term power 
sales through the proposed Index of Customers rather than filing 
service agreements.
    Our proposal remains consistent with our prior precedent and meets 
the FPA requirement that all rates and charges be on file for public 
inspection by obtaining the necessary information (consistent with our 
precedent in Citizens, Enron, and Heartland) in a manner that reduces 
the reporting burden on public utilities. In addition, we also propose 
to gather information equivalent to that reported by public utilities 
with market-based rates for transactions under cost-based rate power 
sales tariffs. As noted before, the reason for this is that the 
majority of the cost-based rates are in fact ceiling rates, but the 
rates charged under those tariffs are often discounted below the 
maximum rate. Accordingly, under the current regulations, we do not 
have available for public inspection the actual price charged for the 
power, as required by FPA section 205(c).\42\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \42\ For interstate natural gas pipelines, Sec. 284.13 requires 
the posting of discounts on electronic bulletin boards for 90 days. 
Under Order No. 637, discounts are also reported in the gas 
programs' Index of Customers, similar to what we propose in this 
NOPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Regrettably, in some instances the information previously reported 
by public utilities in their Quarterly Transaction Reports for market-
based rates has been presented in varying formats with varying levels 
of specificity. For example, some reports contain unit prices, others 
average price data, and still others have only total prices. One of the 
goals of this NOPR is to rectify this problem.
    We propose that public utilities' Index of Customers contain the 
following transaction data for all power sales made pursuant to a 
market-based or cost-based tariff: \43\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \43\ By separately describing proposed transaction data and 
contractual data requirements, it appears that some data may be 
reported twice. However, when the actual format for Index of 
Customers is finalized, such occurrences should be eliminated.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Sales Transaction. All public utilities will be required to report 
all sales transactions that occurred pursuant to either a cost-based or 
market-based rate tariff, including book outs and net outs.
    Buyer's Name/Seller's Name. For sales transactions, the buyer's 
name should be the customer purchasing the jurisdictional service and 
the seller's name should be the public utility that provided the 
jurisdictional service. This information is currently being provided in 
the Quarterly Transaction Reports.
    Buyer's/Seller's DUNS Number. Same as explanation in Contractual 
Information section.
    Affiliate Flag. (Yes/No) Currently, information as to whether the 
buyer or seller is an affiliate is provided in the transmittal letters 
that accompany the public utility's service agreement filings. This 
information will now be provided in the quarterly reports.
    Product(s) Offered. Citizens and Southern both require the public 
utility to describe the services offered. The descriptions that are 
currently being given in the quarterly reports vary substantially. For 
consistency, the Commission will now require public utilities to state 
whether the product offered provides:

    (1) Capacity, energy, ancillary services and/or reassignment of 
transmission rights (or some combination of this);
    (2) an hourly, daily, weekly monthly or long-term service;
    (3) peak or off-peak service; and
    (4) firm or nonfirm (see Citizens).

    This information will allow us to differentiate among products.
    Transaction Execution Date. Public utilities must provide the date 
that the transaction was agreed to. This will link prices to the time 
the agreement was executed as opposed to when it was delivered.
    Duration. Both Citizens and Southern require the public utility to 
state the length of the transaction. Here, as in other aspects of the 
quarterly reports, the types of data that are being provided vary from 
very specific to general. Therefore, in order to ensure consistency, 
public utilities must state, for each transaction, the time and date 
the transaction began and the time and date it ended or will end.
    Price. The FPA requires all public utilities to file all rates and 
charges with the Commission for public inspection. In Citizens and 
Southern, the Commission stated that public utilities selling power at 
market-based rates should state the price of each transaction in the 
quarterly reports. In Northeast Utilities Companies, 87 FERC 
para.61,063 (1999), the Commission determined that public utilities 
that owned, controlled or operated transmission facilities used for 
transmission of electric services must separately state in the 
quarterly reports the prices for generation, transmission and ancillary 
services. Even with these directives, prices have been reported in the 
quarterly reports in a number of ways--price/MWH or MW, average prices, 
maximum prices and minimum prices. These variations have made it very 
difficult for the Commission to carry out it responsibilities under the 
FPA. Accordingly, we propose that the following information be 
provided:


[[Page 40939]]


    (1) The price per MW (for capacity sales) or per MWH (for energy 
sales) for each sale for resale, including transactions that were 
netted;
    (2) in instances where the price includes transmission and/or 
ancillary services, entities that own transmission must separately 
state the prices for these services on a dollar/MW or MWh basis; 
\44\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \44\ Entities that do not own transmission must state whether 
their price includes transmission and ancillary services by each 
public utility providing these services.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    (3) for exchanges, the utility should state the basis for the 
exchange.
    The above information should be reported for all transactions 
that were provided pursuant to either a cost-based or market-based 
rate tariff.
    Type of Rate. Public utilities should state whether the prices 
for the services described above are cost-based or market-based.
    Quantity Sold or Purchased. Transactions involving capacity must 
be stated in megawatts (MW) and those involving energy must be 
stated in megawatt hours (MWH). This is consistent with the units of 
measure used in the Contractual Information fields.
    Points of Receipt and Delivery. Citizens requires public 
utilities to provide this information. The data that have been 
provided in this section of the quarterly report also vary. For 
consistency, we will require all public utilities to identify the 
control area and points of delivery and receipt as defined in the 
OASIS.

    We note that the NOPR will not require the filing of any 
transactional information for transmission and ancillary services in 
addition to what is already collected for point-to-point services. 
Rates for these agreements are either the maximum tariff rates or, to 
the extent the rates are discounted, they must be posted on the 
transmission provider's OASIS with the discount made generally 
available to other customers.

E. Implementation Procedures

    If the proposals in this NOPR are adopted, public utilities would 
have to take the following steps to achieve compliance: (1) Establish a 
website location for their Index of Customers filings (public utilities 
with an OASIS site would use their OASIS sites); and (2) file their 
Index of Customers with the Commission and post them on their websites.
    We plan to complete work on developing software and an instruction 
manual for completing Index of Customers filings by the time we issue a 
final rule in this proceeding. Thus, we plan to direct the filing of 
the initial Index of Customer filings in conformance with the 
instruction manual in the final rule and using the software developed 
for this purpose by the Commission. In addition, the requirement to 
file Quarterly Transaction Reports will continue until we issue a final 
rule. Thereafter, these filings will be superseded by the Index of 
Customer filings. We also propose that websites be available for Index 
of Customers postings by that same date. Commenters may suggest an 
alternative startup date for these requirements, along with any reasons 
why the alternative is preferable, in their comments.
    Non-marketer public utilities may submit any necessary standard 
forms of agreement and revised tariffs for tariffs other than market-
based sales at any time in a separately filed section 205 proceeding. 
We note that public utilities will remain obligated to file individual 
service agreements for these services unless those agreements conform 
with standard forms of agreement in their tariffs. The Commission does 
not propose to establish pro forma tariff language or a standard format 
for any new standard agreements, as was done in Order No. 888. Rather, 
public utilities should file their own proposals for Commission 
approval.
    From time to time, public utilities may propose new generally 
applicable services. At such time, the public utility is encouraged to 
include in its proposal a standard form of agreement for the service. 
Further, this NOPR encourages public utilities to convert existing rate 
schedules into tariffs by filing a standard form of agreement. Upon 
acceptance of the standard form of agreement for new or converted 
services, public utilities would not be required to file service 
agreements for these services with the Commission.
    At the time public utilities make their initial Index of Customers 
filings under the Final Rule, they will also be required to identify 
the service agreements in their tariffs currently on file with the 
Commission that conform with the standard forms of service agreements. 
When the public utility files its first Index of Customers, the 
Commission will remove, as redundant, those service agreements from the 
relevant, Commission-maintained tariff. Removal of these agreements 
from the Commission-maintained version of the public utility's tariff 
is simply an administrative function. It does not terminate, cancel or 
in any way change the terms, conditions, rates or effectiveness of 
these agreements. Service agreements that remain in a public utility's 
tariff will continue to be subject to the filing, format, and 
designation requirements of Part 35.
    The Commission intends to develop an instruction manual outlining 
pertinent data requirements for Index of Customers filings and software 
to be used in making these filings. We plan to conduct further 
proceedings and enlist industry support to develop the manual and 
enlist input to ensure that the software operates successfully. Once 
the instruction manual and software are completed, we intend to require 
that public utilities use the software and the manual to prepare their 
Index of Customer filings.

IV. Regulatory Flexibility Act Statement

    The Regulatory Flexibility Act (RFA) \45\ requires the Commission 
to describe the impact a proposed rule would have on small entities or 
to certify that the rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant 
economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The proposed 
rule would be applicable to all public utilities. While we do not 
foresee that, if promulgated, the proposed rule would have a 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities, 
as most entities subject to the rule would not be small entities within 
the meaning of the RFA, we will consider granting waivers in 
appropriate circumstances. In fact, by eliminating the requirement to 
file most service agreements, this NOPR should reduce the economic 
impact on most entities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \45\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    We hereby certify, under section 605(b) of RFA, that this proposed 
rule, if promulgated, will not have a significant economic impact on a 
substantial number of small entities within the meaning of the RFA. 
Accordingly, no regulatory flexibility analysis is required pursuant to 
section 603 of the RFA.

V. Environmental Impact Statement

    Commission regulations require that an environmental assessment or 
an environmental impact statement be prepared for a Commission action 
that may have a significant effect on the human environment.\46\ 
However, in 18 CFR Sec. 380.4(a)(5), we categorically excluded 
information gathering such as that contemplated in this NOPR from the 
requirement to prepare an environmental impact statement. Thus, we find 
that this NOPR does not propose any action that might have a 
significant effect on the human environment and find that no 
environmental impact statement concerning this proposal is required.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \46\ Regulations Implementing National Environmental Policy Act, 
Order No. 486, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987); FERC Stats. & Regs., 
Regulations Preambles 1986-90 para. 30,783 (Dec. 10, 1987) (codified 
at 18 CFR Part 380).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

[[Page 40940]]

VI. Statement of Information Collection and Public Reporting Burden

    In this NOPR, we propose that public utilities would:
     No longer file short-term or long-term service agreements 
for market-based power sales;
     No longer file service agreements for those generally 
applicable services, such as point-to-point transmission service, for 
which the public utility has a standard form of service agreement under 
its tariff;
     No longer file Quarterly Transaction Reports summarizing 
its short-term sales and purchases of power at market-based rates; and
     File electronically with the Commission and post on a 
website an Index of Customers that contains a summary of the 
contractual terms and conditions in its service agreements along with 
transaction information for its open access transmission services, 
short-term and long-term market-based power sales, and cost-based power 
sales during the most recent calendar quarter.
    The NOPR also proposes to delete as no longer necessary 18 CFR 2.8 
concerning the simplification of public utility rate schedule filings. 
Based on these proposals, we offer the following information collection 
statement and burden estimate:
    Information Collection Statement:
    Title: Electric Service Agreement Filing Requirement.
    Action: Proposed Collection.
    OMB Control No: 1902-0096.
    Respondents: public utilities.
    Frequency of Responses: Quarterly.
    Necessity of the information: The Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
solicits public comments on proposed revisions to the procedures by 
which public utility service agreement information is filed with the 
Commission and presented to the public.
    Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this collection is 
estimated as:

                                                          Burden Estimate of the Proposed Rule
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                               Quarterly   Hours per    Service    Hours per     Total
               Line No.                                            Companies    reports     filing    agreements    filing       hours    Net difference
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Current
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.....................................  Utilities...............         210         840           6        2000           3       11040  ..............
2.....................................  Marketers...............         648        2592           6         500           3       17052  ..............
                                                                                                                             ---------------------------
3.....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........       28092  ..............
4.....................................  Average Annual Personnel  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........    $117,041  ..........  ..............
                                         Cost.
5.....................................  Total Annual Personnel    ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  $1,580,729  ..............
                                         Cost.
6.....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
7.....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
8.....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
9.....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        Proposed
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
10....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
11....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..............
12....................................  Utilities...............         210         840           3           0  ..........        2520           -8520
13....................................  Marketers...............         648        2592           3           0  ..........        7776           -9276
                                                                                                                             ---------------------------
14....................................  ........................  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........       10296          -17796
15....................................  Average Annual Personnel  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........    $117,041  ..........  ..............
                                         Cost.
16....................................  Total Annual Personnel    ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........  ..........    $579,353    ($1,001,376)
                                         Cost.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The estimated annual total savings to respondents is approximately 
$1,000,000 on a recurring basis. The Commission also estimates that 
there will be approximately $300,000 in one-time start up costs related 
to the establishment of websites by those entities that do not have one 
already, and for modifying existing websites for the posting and 
archiving of the Index of Customers. The collection of information 
contained in this NOPR has been submitted to OMB for review under 
section 3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 
3507(d). For copies of the OMB submission, contact Michael Miller at 
202-208-1415.

Internal Review

    The Commission has conducted an internal review of the public 
reporting burden associated with this collection of information and has 
assured itself, by means of its internal review, that there is 
specific, objective support for this information burden estimate. 
Moreover, the Commission has reviewed the collection of information 
proposed by this NOPR and has determined that the collection of 
information is necessary and conforms to the Commission's plan, as 
described in this order, for the collection, efficient management, and 
use of the required information.\47\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \47\ See 44 U.S.C. 3506(c).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    OMB regulations \48\ require OMB to approve certain information 
collection requirements imposed by agency rule. The information 
collection requirements in this NOPR will be submitted to OMB for 
review. Persons wishing to comment on the collections of information 
proposed by this NOPR should direct their comments to the Desk Officer 
for FERC, OMB, Room 10202 NEOB, Washington, DC 20503, phone 202-395-
7318, facsimile 202-395-7285. Comments must be filed with OMB within 30 
days of publication of this document in the Federal Register. Three 
copies of any comments filed with the Office of Management and Budget 
also should be sent to the following address:

[[Page 40941]]

Mr. David P. Boergers, Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
Room 1A, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. For further 
information on the reporting requirements, contact Michael Miller at 
(202) 208-1415.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \48\ 5 CFR 1320.11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VII. Public Comment Procedure

    This NOPR gives notice of our intention to revise the filing 
requirements for public utility service agreements and to require the 
filing of quarterly reports (i.e., the Index of Customers) summarizing 
contracts entered and transactions completed during the prior three 
month period. Prior to taking final action on this proposed rulemaking, 
we are inviting comments from interested persons on the proposals 
discussed in this preamble. In addition, the Commission specifically 
invites comments on the usefulness of the data to be reported. Comments 
may also address any related matters or alternative proposals that 
commenters may wish to discuss. Comments are due on or before October 
5, 2001.
    We encourage commenters to file their comments electronically, in 
accordance with the Commission's procedures for electronic filing.\49\ 
Comments filed via the Internet must be prepared in WordPerfect, MS 
Word, Portable Document Format, or ASCII format. To file the document, 
access the Commission's website at www.ferc.gov and click on ``e-
Filing'' and ``Help,'' then follow the instructions for each screen. 
First time users will have to establish a user name and password. The 
Commission will send an automatic acknowledgment to the sender's E-Mail 
address upon receipt of comments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \49\ In Electronic Filing of Documents, 94 FERC para. 61,239 
(2000), the Commission gave notice that it would accept comments on 
proposed rulemakings via the Internet in lieu of paper copies. The 
notice gave instructions for how such documents are to be filed.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    User assistance for electronic filing is available at 202-208-0258 
or by E-Mail to [email protected]. Comments should not be submitted 
to the E-Mail address. All comments will be placed in the Commission's 
public files and will be available for inspection in the Commission's 
Public Reference Room at 888 First Street, NE., Washington DC 20426, 
during regular business hours. Additionally, all comments may be 
viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely via the Internet through FERC's 
Homepage using the RIMS link. User assistance for RIMS is available at 
202-208-2222, or by E-Mail to [email protected]. Questions on 
electronic filing should be directed to Brooks Carter at 202-501-8145, 
E-Mail address [email protected].
    Comments may also be filed by paper copy, in which case an original 
and sixteen copies must be delivered to the Office of the Secretary, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426 by 5 p.m. on the due date for comments and should 
refer to Docket No. RM01-8-000. If comments are filed by paper copy, 
commenters are encouraged to also submit a copy of the comments on 
computer diskette in one of the formats specified above. If comments 
are filed by paper copy with attached diskette, any discrepancies will 
be resolved by reference to the paper copy.

VIII. Document Availability

    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 the Public Reference Room at 888 First Street, 
NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426. Additionally, comments may be 
viewed and printed remotely via the Internet through FERC's Home Page, 
www.ferc.gov, and in FERC's Public Reference Room during normal 
business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time) at 888 First Street, 
NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426.
    The Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS) provides access to 
the texts of formal documents issued by the Commission from November 
14, 1994, to the present. CIPS can be accessed via Internet through 
FERC's Home Page, www.ferc.gov, and using the CIPS link or the Energy 
Information Online icon. Documents will be available on CIPS in ASCII 
and WordPerfect 6.1. User assistance is available at 202-208-0874 or by 
e-mail to [email protected].
    This document is also available through the Commission's Records 
and Information System (RIMS), an electronic storage and retrieval 
system of documents submitted to and issued by the Commission after 
November 16, 1981. Documents from November 1995 to the present can be 
viewed and printed. RIMS is available in the Public Reference Room or 
remotely via Internet through FERC's Home Page using the RIMS link or 
Energy Information Online icon. User assistance is available at 202-
208-2222, or by E-mail to [email protected].
    Finally, the complete text on diskette in WordPerfect format may be 
purchased from the Commission's copy contractor, American Electronic 
Imaging Company, Inc., located in the Public Reference Room at 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.

List of Subjects

18 CFR Part 2

    Administrative practice and procedure, Electric power, Natural gas, 
Pipelines, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

18 CFR Part 35

    Electric power, Electric utilities, Reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements, Securities.

18 CFR Part 37

    Conflicts of interests, Electric power plants, Electric utilities, 
Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    By direction of the Commission.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
    In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission proposes to amend 
Parts 2, 35, and 37 in Chapter I, Title 18, Code of Federal 
Regulations, as follows:

PART 2--GENERAL POLICY AND INTERPRETATIONS

    1. The authority citation for part 2 continues to read as follows:

    Authority. 5 U.S.C. 601; 15 U.S.C. 717-717w, 3301-3432; 16 
U.S.C. 792-825y, 2601-2645; 42 U.S.C. 7101-7352.


Sec. 2.8  [Removed]

    2. Section 2.8 is removed and reserved.

PART 35--FILING OF RATE SCHEDULES AND TARIFFS

    3. The authority citation for part 35 continues to read as follows:

    Authority. 16 U.S.C. 791a-825r, 2601-2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 
U.S.C. 7101-7352.

    4. The heading for part 35 is revised to read as set forth above.
    5. In Sec. 35.1, the heading is revised and paragraph (g) is added 
to read as follows:


Sec. 35.1  Application; obligation to file rate schedules and tariffs.

* * * * *
    (g) For the purposes of paragraph (a) of this section, any contract 
that conforms to the form of service agreement that is part of the 
public utility's approved tariff pursuant to Sec. 35.10a of this 
chapter and any market-based rate contract shall not be filed with the 
Commission. It must, however, be retained and be made available for 
public inspection and copying at the public utility's business office 
during regular business hours and provided to the Commission or members 
of the

[[Page 40942]]

public upon request. Any non-market based rate contract or individual 
executed service agreement that deviates in any material aspect from 
the applicable form of service agreement contained in the public 
utility's tariff and all unexecuted agreements under which service will 
commence at the request of the customer, are subject to the filing 
requirements of this part.
    6. Add Sec. 35.10a to read as follows:


Sec. 35.10a  Forms of service agreements.

    (a) To the extent a public utility adopts a standard form of 
service agreement for tariffs other than those for market-based power 
sales, the public utility shall amend its tariff to include an 
unexecuted standard service agreement approved by the Commission for 
each category of generally applicable service offered by the public 
utility under its tariffs. The standard format for each generally 
applicable service must reference the service to be rendered and the 
applicable service within the tariff. The standard format must provide 
spaces for insertion of the name of the customer, effective date, 
expiration date, and term. Spaces may be provided for the insertion of 
receipt and delivery points, contract quantity, and other specifics of 
each transaction, as appropriate.
    (b) Forms of service agreement submitted under this section shall 
be in the same format prescribed in Sec. 35.10(b) for the filing of 
rate schedules.
    7. Add Sec. 35.10b to read as follows:


Sec. 35.10b  Index of customers.

    (a) Each public utility shall file an updated Index of Customers 
with the Commission covering all services it provides pursuant to this 
Part, for each of the four calendar quarters of each year, in 
accordance with the following schedule: for the period from January 1 
through March 31, file by April 30; for the period from April 1 through 
June 30, file by July 31; for the period July 1 through September 30, 
file by October 31; and for the period October 1 through December 31, 
file by January 31. The Index of Customers must be prepared in 
conformance with the Commission's ``Instruction Manual For Electronic 
Filing of Index of Customers by Public Utilities,'' which is available 
for inspection during regular business hours at the Commission's Public 
Reference Room and Files Maintenance Branch, Room 2A, Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, N., Washington, DC 20426. The 
Instruction Manual shall also be made available for inspection on the 
Commission Issuance Posting System through FERC's Home Page on the 
Internet (www.ferc.gov).
    (b) Each public utility that maintains an OASIS site must post its 
Index of Customers on the portion of its OASIS website that is 
accessible by the public without registration or payment of any fee. A 
public utility that is not required to maintain an OASIS website must 
likewise post its Index of Customers at a website that is accessible by 
the public without registration or payment of any fee and must identify 
the address for that website in each such filing with the Commission. 
The Index of Customers must be posted in a manner that easily allows 
public review, uploading, and downloading of the data contained 
therein.
    (c) Each filed Index of Customers shall display the public 
utility's website address on the Internet where the public utility's 
past and current Index of Customers are posted. The past and current 
Index of Customers shall all be posted at the same world wide web 
location.
    (d) Each Index of Customers filing shall continue to be posted on 
the public utility's website for a period of three years. Index of 
Customers filings must be available to the public for review, copying, 
and download at no cost.

PART 37--OPEN ACCESS SAME-TIME INFORMATION SYSTEMS AND STANDARDS OF 
CONDUCT FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES

    8. The authority citation for part 37 continues to read as follows:

    Authority. 16 U.S.C. 791-825r, 2601-2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 
U.S.C. 7101-7352.

    9. Section 37.6 is amended by adding paragraph (h) to read as 
follows:


Sec. 37.6  Information to be posted on the OASIS.

* * * * *
    (h) A public utility must post its past and current Index of 
Customers, as provided in Sec. 35.10b, on its OASIS website in a 
portion of its website that can be accessed by members of the public, 
without registration or payment of fee. The Index of Customers must be 
available to the public for review, copying, and download at no cost.

[FR Doc. 01-19397 Filed 8-3-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P