[Federal Register Volume 67, Number 28 (Monday, February 11, 2002)]
[Notices]
[Pages 6245-6247]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 02-3208]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC01-719B-002]


Information Collection Submitted for Review and Request for 
Comments

February 4, 2002.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of submission for review by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) has 
submitted the energy information collection listed in this notice to 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review under the 
provisions of Section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. 
L. 104-13). Any interested person may file comments on the collection 
of information directly with OMB and should address a copy of those 
comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission received 
comments from a single entity. In their comments, the entity agreed 
with the Commission's burden estimates but challenged the Commission's 
efforts to collect information on economic outages and proposed an 
alternative template to the one developed by the Commission. However, 
the information proposed to be collected on the alternative template 
raises issues that are the subject of filings still pending before the 
Commission, and so accordingly cannot comment on those issues as this 
time.

DATES: Comments regarding this collection of information are best 
assured of having their full effect if received on or before March 13, 
2002.

ADDRESSES: Address comments to Office of Management and Budget, Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, Desk Officer, Room 10202 NEOB, 725 17th Street 
NW, Washington, DC 20503. The Desk Officer may also be reached by 
telephone at (202) 395-7318 or by fax at (202) 395-7285. A copy of the 
comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Office of the Chief Information Officer, CI-1, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Attention: Michael Miller, 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

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The energy information collection submitted 
to OMB for review contains:
    1. Collection of Information: FERC-719B ``Reporting of Generation 
Unit Outages in California''.
    2. Sponsor: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
    3. Control Number: 1902-0185. Because the current authorization was 
scheduled to expire on November 30, 2001,\1\ the Commission is 
requesting renewal of the data collection until the expiration of the 
mitigation plan implemented by the Commission in its

[[Page 6246]]

April 26, 2001 order and amended in its June 19, 2001 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. There is a decrease 
in the reporting burden due to an adjustment in the number of reports 
that must be submitted to the Commission. 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. (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.) If the Commission's mitigation plan expires on 
September 30, 2002, it anticipates that 3,678 reports will be filed. In 
addition, because Commission staff created a pre-existing template, 
generators did not need 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). This is a mandatory information collection requirement.
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    \1\ Due to the continuing interruption of mail and delivery 
services to the Executive Office of the President, OMB has continued 
the expiration dates on information collections on a month to month 
basis. The expiration date for FERC-719B has been extended through 
February 28, 2002.
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    4. Necessity of the Collection of Information: Submission of the 
information is necessary for the Commission to carry out its 
responsibilities under the Federal Power Act (FPA). The FPA directs the 
Commission to ensure just and reasonable rates for transmission and 
wholesale sales of electricity in interstate commerce. See 16 USC 
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 USC 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) had 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 Energy Markets, San Diego Gas and 
Electric Company v. Sellers of Energy and Ancillary Service et. al, 95 
FERC para. 61,115 (2001), Order on Rehearing, 95 FERC para. 61,418 
(2001). 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 treated the information provided by 
the generators as non-public pursuant to the provisions of 18 C.F.R. 
1b.9 (2001).
    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.
    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.

[[Page 6247]]

    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's 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 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, the 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.
    6. Estimated Burden: 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 submission).
    7. Estimated Cost Burden to Respondents: 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.

    Statutory Authority: Sections 206, 301, 304, 307 and 311 of the 
Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 824(e)(a); 16 U.S.C. 825; 825(c); 
825(f); and 825(j).

Magalie R. Salas,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 02-3208 Filed 2-8-02; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P