[Federal Register Volume 66, Number 220 (Wednesday, November 14, 2001)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57050-57052]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 01-28467]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC01-719B-001]


Proposed Renewal of Information Collection and Request for 
Comments

November 7, 2001.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Request for Office of Management and Budget to renew 
information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is 
providing notice of a request to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for renewal of the Commission's May 11, 2001 request for a 
collection of information in connection with the California electricity 
markets, and is soliciting public comment on that information 
collection.

DATES: Comments are requested on or before January 6, 2002.

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

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Power Act directs the Commission 
to ensure just and reasonable rates for transmission and wholesale 
sales of electricity in interstate commerce. See 16 U.S.C. 824e(a). To 
enable the Commission to fulfill this duty, the Federal Power Act also 
authorizes the Commission to conduct investigations of, and collect 
information from, public utilities. See 16 U.S.C. 825, 825c, 825f, and 
825j. Commission staff has been investigating the California 
electricity market, which in late 2000 and early 2001 was in a state of 
emergency with prices at extremely high levels and, on some days, 
rotating blackouts.
    One of the likely reasons for the high prices was forced and 
scheduled outages by electric generators in California. On most days 
between January and May 2001, the California Independent System 
Operator (ISO) reported outages of well over 10,000 megawatts for 
generating plants in California. In addition to causing higher prices, 
the outages limited the availability of electric power in California, 
leading the ISO to order rotating blackouts in the state to preserve 
the transmission system. On April 26, 2001, the Commission issued an 
Order Establishing Prospective Mitigation and Monitoring Plan for the 
California Wholesale Electric Markets and Establishing An Investigation 
of Public Utility Rates in Wholesale Western Energy Markets, San Diego 
Gas and Electric Company v. Sellers of Energy and Ancillary Service et 
al, 95 FERC para. 61,115 (2001) (the April 26 Order), Order on 
Rehearing, 95 FERC para. 61,418 (June 19, 2001) (the June 19 Order). In 
the April 26 Order, the Commission stated that:

the Commission staff will continue its independent monitoring of 
generating unit outages as well as the real-time and forward price 
monitoring of both electric and natural gas commodity and 
transmission prices. Knowledge of these conditions on an ongoing and 
up-to-date basis is essential, if the Commission is to provide an 
independent and informed assessment of the key elements of the 
mitigation plan, such as the level of unplanned outages and 
conditions that could cause price mitigation to be invoked.

95 FERC at 61,360.

    To implement its monitoring efforts, on May 11, 2001, the 
Commission sought a clearance from OMB to collect information 
electronically from generators on plant outages within 24 hours of 
their occurrence and conclusion, whether forced, scheduled or 
otherwise. 66 FR 24353 (May 14, 2001). OMB granted the Commission's 
request on May 17, 2001, with an expiration date of November 30, 2001. 
Currently, the Commission requires this information from all non-
municipal generators that sell into the ISO market, are not investor 
owned utilities, and own, operate or control either one generation unit 
with a capacity of 30 MW or more, or generation units aggregating 50 MW 
or more in capacity. Municipal generators that meet the generation 
capacity parameters are requested to supply the information on a 
voluntary basis. For the purposes of the data collection, Commission 
staff considers an outage partial if it reduces the available output of 
a generation unit below its nameplate rated capacity or below the 
reliable capacity of the unit as determined by contract with the 
California ISO. The Commission has

[[Page 57051]]

treated the information provided by the generators as non-public 
pursuant to the provisions of 18 CFR 1b.9.
    The Commission proposes that the information continue to be 
provided through a template that can be requested from Commission staff 
at the E-Mail address [email protected]. That electronic address 
is also the address to which the Commission requests that generators 
continue to send the outage information.
    The Commission believes that federal oversight of California 
generator outages in general, and the collection of outage data in 
particular, played an important role in the maintenance of an adequate 
system supply and low electricity prices in California this past 
summer. Since the data collection began, Commission staff has reviewed 
the outage incident reports submitted and has contacted generators, 
when warranted, for further information. Staff has also utilized the 
data to investigate or mediate disputes between the ISO and generators. 
For example, Commission staff has resolved disputes between generators 
and the ISO involving the current generating capacity of 30 units and 
is currently attempting to resolve additional similar disputes. The 
Commission believes that these efforts have played a significant role 
in helping to preserve system reliability on the ISO grid.
    Because the Commission is potentially requesting information from a 
large number of generators (over 100) concerning future outages, the 
data collection may be subject to the Paperwork Reduction Act, which 
requires OMB to review certain federal reporting requirements. 44 
U.S.C. 3507. Because the current authorization will expire on November 
30, 2001, the Commission is requesting renewal of the data collection 
until the expiration of the mitigation plan implemented by the 
Commission in its April 26 Order and amended in the June 19 Order. As 
of now, pursuant to the June 19 Order, the mitigation plan is to remain 
in effect until September 30, 2002. If the Commission subsequently 
extends the date of the expiration of the mitigation plan, the 
Commission proposes to continue the information collection through the 
new expiration date, recognizing that the maximum clearance OMB can 
grant under the Paperwork Reduction Act is three years, or, in this 
case, through November 30, 2004.
    While the California electric market had adequate generation supply 
and stable prices this past summer, the Commission is concerned that 
outages could cause supply shortages and higher prices during the next 
ten months. From November 2000 through May 2001, California endured 
tight supplies, high outage rates (often exceeding 10,000 MW per day), 
extremely high prices and, on seven occasions, rolling blackouts. 
Between January 16, 2001 and February 16, 2001, the ISO declared a 
record 32 straight days of Stage 3 emergencies, the highest state of 
emergency. During the winter and spring, many generators will go off-
line for weeks or months to perform scheduled maintenance or to install 
equipment to comply with upcoming, more stringent environmental 
standards. Adding to the potential supply problem in the near term is 
that California traditionally has obtained less imported power during 
the winter months as its sources provide power to their own loads and 
export power to the Pacific Northwest.
    Generator outages affect the supply of electricity and prices in 
the market each day in which they occur. By continuing to request that 
generators provide information on outages within 24 hours of when they 
begin and end, the Commission staff will be able to analyze outages 
quickly and, if necessary, investigate outages in real time when the 
effect on prices is occurring. This analysis will include determining 
whether generators that have taken plants out of service with the 
permission of the California ISO for scheduled maintenance return those 
plants to service promptly and do not improperly extend those outages 
to influence market prices.
    The electronic template asks for the following data: Date of 
Report; Outage Report Type (Beginning or Ending); Company Name; Name of 
the Contact Person and Telephone Number; Unit Name; Year Unit Was 
Built; Unit Type; Is the Unit RMR (Reliability-Must-Run) or Non-RMR; 
Fuel Type; Nameplate Capacity; Re-Rated Capacity; Output Before Outage; 
Outage Type (Forced or Scheduled); Complete or Partial Outage; 
Megawatts Out; Date Outage Began; Time Outage Began; Date Outage Ended 
or Expected to End; Time Outage Ended or Expected to End; Reason for 
Outage; and whether a post-outage report was created. Most of the 
information asked for on the template, such as the identification and 
operating characteristics of a generation unit, remain constant and do 
not require additional time to compile after the first report. The only 
new data in later reports are in those fields asking for information 
about an outage.
    The Commission is seeking to retain the existing reporting format, 
but is requesting one change in the scope of the reporting 
requirements. Specifically, the Commission seeks to require generators 
to file reports of outages that occur for economic reasons. Last 
summer, the ISO began to grant permission for ``economic'' outages. An 
``economic'' outage is an outage in which the ISO allows a generator to 
take an uneconomic unit out of service because it will not be needed 
for dispatch. In recent months, these ``economic'' outages have become 
a significant issue. The ISO alleges that some units are being taken 
out of service without ISO permission and that others are not being 
brought back on line when the ISO withdraws permission. On the other 
hand, generators allege that the ISO is granting permission for 
``economic'' outages on an inconsistent basis and is improperly 
withdrawing that permission. To monitor generation supply effectively 
in California and ensure just and reasonable rates, it is now important 
to collect data on outages for economic reasons as well as outages for 
mechanical reasons.
    The Commission estimates that between 100 and 125 entities owning 
generation could be subject to this data request, but that would only 
be if co-generation units began selling into the ISO market as opposed 
to selling their power exclusively to the investor-owned transmission 
utilities in California (Pacific Gas and Electric Company, San Diego 
Gas & Electric Company and Southern California Edison Company). During 
the first five months of the currently approved data collection, 22 
different generators, including four municipalities, submitted outage 
reports. Many entities own several generation units, so the actual 
number of reports submitted by each entity has varied.
    Between May 23, 2001, when the Commission began receiving the first 
outage reports, and October 23, 2001, the Commission received a total 
of 1,839 outage reports by a total of 22 generators. (Many generators 
have multiple units and submitted separate outage reports for each 
one.) Extrapolating this five-month total for the expected ten-month 
period of the renewed clearance (assuming that the Commission 
mitigation plan expires, as is currently proposed, on September 30, 
2002), the Commission anticipates that there would be a total of 3,678 
reports filed during the upcoming ten-month period. (We note that the 
May 11 OMB Request estimated that there would be 4,038 reports filed 
during the entire six-month period of the current clearance. This was 
before Commission staff excluded from the reporting requirements co-
generation units that did not sell into the ISO market from the 
reporting requirements.)

[[Page 57052]]

    Because Commission staff has created a pre-existing template, 
generators need not take any time to develop a reporting format. 
Moreover, all of the generators that previously submitted outage 
reports already have the fixed items (such as Nameplate Capacity and 
Fuel Type) filled in for units that have been the subject of prior 
reports. The Commission estimates that it would take each generator 
that previously submitted an outage report for a generation unit 
approximately 20 minutes to fill out a subsequent report (because much 
of the information remains constant). The Commission estimates that a 
generator that has not previously filed an outage report for a unit 
will take approximately one hour to fill out an initial report. Because 
all of the major non-municipal generators which are subject to the data 
collection have already submitted initial outage reports for many of 
their units, the Commission does not anticipate a large number of new 
entities filing first-time reports. As such, the Commission anticipates 
that very few entities will need the one hour to file the first report 
for a unit.
    As stated above, for the first five months of the current approved 
data collection, the Commission received 1,839 electronic outage 
incident reports, which extrapolates to 3,678 reports for the proposed 
ten-month extension period. Assuming a total of 3,678 outage reports 
for the ten months for which this information collection is requested, 
the total number of hours it would take to comply with the reporting 
requirement would be approximately 1,278 hours (78 hours for initial 
submissions and 1,200 hours for subsequent submissions, assuming 20 
minutes per subsequent submission). Commission staff estimates a cost 
of $50 per hour for complying with the reporting requirement, based on 
salaries for professional and clerical staff, as well as direct and 
indirect overhead costs. Therefore, the total estimated cost of 
compliance would be $63,900.
    Commission staff will submit this reporting requirement to OMB for 
approval. OMB's regulations describe the process that federal agencies 
must follow in order to obtain OMB approval of reporting requirements. 
See 5 CFR part 1320. If OMB approves a reporting requirement, it will 
assign an information collection control number to that requirement. If 
a request for information subject to OMB review does not display a 
valid control number, or if the agency has not provided a justification 
as to why the control number cannot be displayed, then the recipient is 
not required to respond.
    OMB requires federal agencies seeking approval of reporting 
requirements to allow the public an opportunity to comment on the 
proposed reporting requirement.5 CFR 1320.5(a)(1)(iv). Therefore, the 
Commission solicits comments on:
    (1) Whether the collection of the information is necessary for the 
proper performance of the Commission's functions, including whether the 
information will have practical utility;
    (2) The accuracy of Commission staff's estimate of the burden of 
the collection of this information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used;
    (3) The quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be 
collected; and
    (4) How to minimize the burden of the collection of this 
information on respondents, including the use of appropriate automated 
electronic, mechanical, or other forms of information technology.

Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 01-28467 Filed 11-13-01; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P