[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 159 (Wednesday, August 18, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 51027-51030]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-20458]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. IC10-917-001 and IC10-918-001]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-917 and FERC-
918) \1\; Comment Request; Submitted for OMB Review

August 12, 2010.
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    \1\ This Notice in Docket Nos. IC10-917 and IC10-918 and the 
corresponding clearance package and request to OMB for a three-year 
extension of the existing regulations are separate activities from 
pending Docket No. RM10-23 and the associated OMB clearance package.
    FERC has a separate, pending Notice of Proposed Rulemaking 
(NOPR) in Docket No. RM10-23, that includes proposals affecting the 
FERC-917. The NOPR in Docket No. RM10-23 and the corresponding OMB 
clearance package were submitted to OMB (ICR No. 201006-1902-001) 
for review on 6/30/2010. Comments on Docket No. RM10-23 should be 
submitted in that docket.
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AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of section 3507 of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507, the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) has submitted the 
information collections described below to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. Any 
interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should 
address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. 
The Commission issued a Notice in the Federal Register (75 FR 30008, 5/
28/2010) requesting public comments. FERC received no comments on the 
FERC-917 and FERC-918 and has made this notation in its submission to 
OMB.\1\

[[Page 51028]]


DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due by September 
17, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Address comments on the collections of information to the 
Office of Management and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. 
Comments to OMB should be filed electronically, c/o [email protected] and include OMB Control Number 1902-0233 for 
reference. For comments that pertain to only one of the collections, 
specify the appropriate collection. The Desk Officer may be reached by 
telephone at 202-395-4638.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission and should refer to Docket Nos. IC10-917-001 and 
IC10-918-001. (If comments apply to only one of the collections, 
indicate the docket and the collection number.) Comments may be filed 
either electronically or in paper format. Those persons filing 
electronically do not need to make a paper filing. Documents filed 
electronically via the Internet must be prepared in an acceptable 
filing format and in compliance with the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission submission guidelines. Complete filing instructions and 
acceptable filing formats are available at http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide/electronic-media.asp. To file the document 
electronically, access the Commission's Web site and click on Documents 
& Filing, E-Filing (http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp), and 
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 acknowledgement to the sender's e-mail address upon receipt 
of comments.
    For paper filings, the comments should be submitted to the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, and should refer to Docket Nos. 
IC10-917-001 and IC10-918-001.
    Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in 
FERC Docket Numbers IC10-917 and IC10-918 may do so through 
eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp. All 
comments may be viewed, printed or downloaded remotely via the Internet 
through FERC's homepage using the ``eLibrary'' link. For user 
assistance, contact [email protected], or call toll-free at 
(866) 208-3676, or for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail 
at [email protected], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax 
at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: On February 17, 2007, the Commission issued 
Order No. 890 to address and remedy opportunities for undue 
discrimination under the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff 
(OATT) adopted in 1996 by Order No. 888.\2\
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    \2\ 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. ] 
31,036 (1996), order on reh'g, Order No. 888-A, 62 FR 12274 (Mar. 
14, 1997), FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,048 (1997), order on reh'g, 
Order No. 888-B, 81 FERC ] 61,248 (1997), order on reh'g, Order No. 
888-C, 82 FERC ] 61,046 (1998), aff'd in relevant part sub nom. 
Transmission Access Policy Study Group v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 (D.C. 
Cir. 2000), aff'd sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535 U.S. 1 (2002).
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    Through Order No. 890, the Commission:
    (1) Adopted pro forma OATT provisions necessary to keep imbalance 
charges closely related to incremental costs;
    (2) Increased nondiscriminatory access to the grid by requiring 
public utilities, working through the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC), to develop consistent methodologies for 
available transfer capability (ATC) calculation and to publish those 
methodologies to increase transparency.
    (3) Required an open, transparent, and coordinated transmission 
planning process, thereby increasing the ability of customers to access 
new generating resources and promote efficient utilization of 
transmission.
    (4) Required both the transmission provider's merchant function and 
network customers to include a statement with each application for 
network service or to designate a new network resource that attests, 
for each network resource identified, that the transmission customer 
owns or has committed to purchase the designated network resource and 
the designated network resource comports with the requirements for 
designated network resources.
    (5) Gave the right to customers to request from transmission 
providers studies addressing congestion and/or integration of new 
resource loads in areas of the transmission system where they have 
encountered transmission problems due to congestion or where they 
believe upgrades and other investments may be necessary to reduce 
congestion and to integrate new resources. The network customer 
includes this attestation in the customer's comment section of the 
request when it confirms the request on the Open Access Same-Time 
Information System (OASIS).
    (6) Required with regard to capacity reassignment that: (a) All 
sales or assignments of capacity be conducted through or otherwise 
posted on the transmission provider's OASIS on or before the date the 
reassigned service commences; (b) assignees of transmission capacity 
execute a service agreement prior to the date on which the reassigned 
service commences; and (c) transmission providers aggregate and 
summarize in an electric quarterly report the data contained in these 
service agreements.
    (7) Adopted an operational penalties annual filing that provides 
information regarding the penalty revenue the transmission provider has 
received and distributed.
    (8) Required creditworthiness information to be included in a 
transmission provider's OATT. Attachment L must specify the qualitative 
and quantitative criteria that the transmission provider uses to 
determine the level of secured and unsecured credit required.
    The Commission required a NERC/NAESB \3\ team to draft and review 
Order No. 890 reliability standards and business practices. The team 
was to solicit comment from each utility on developed standards and 
practices and utilities were to implement each, after Commission 
approval. Public utilities, working through NERC, were to revise 
reliability standards to require the exchange of data and coordination 
among transmission providers and, working through NAESB, were to 
develop complementary business practices.
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    \3\ NAESB is the North American Energy Standards Board.
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    Required OASIS postings included:
    (1) Explanations for changes in ATC values;
    (2) Capacity benefit margin (CBM) reevaluations and quarterly 
postings;
    (3) OASIS metrics and accepted/denied requests;
    (4) Planning redispatch offers and reliability redispatch data;
    (5) Curtailment data;
    (6) Planning and system impact studies;
    (7) Metrics for system impact studies; and
    (8) All rules.
    Incorporating the Order No. 890 standards into the Commission's

[[Page 51029]]

regulations benefits wholesale electric customers by streamlining 
utility business practices, transactional processes, and OASIS 
procedures, and by adopting a formal ongoing process for reviewing and 
upgrading the Commission's OASIS standards and other electric industry 
business practices. These practices and procedures benefit from the 
implementation of generic industry standards.
    The Commission's Order No. 890 regulations can be found in 18 CFR 
35.28 (pro forma tariff requirements), and 37.6 and 37.7 (OASIS 
requirements).
    Action: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the 
current FERC-917 and FERC-918 reporting requirements, with no change.
    Burden Statement: FERC-917 and FERC-918 are both included in OMB 
Control Number 1902-0233. The estimated annual public reporting burdens 
for FERC-917 (requirements in 18 CFR 35.28) and FERC-918 (requirements 
in 18 CFR 37.6 and 37.7) are reduced from the original estimates made 
three years ago. The reductions are due to the incorporation and 
completion of: (1) One-time pro forma tariff changes by utilities in 
existence at that time; (2) completed development and comment 
solicitation of the required NERC/NAESB reliability standards and 
business practices; and (3) the transfer of burden associated with the 
implementation of some of the NERC/NAESB business practices, in Order 
No. 729, issued November 11, 2009,\4\ to the Commission's FERC-725A 
information collection (OMB Control Number 1902-0244). The estimated 
annual figures follow.
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    \4\ Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Calculation of 
Available Transfer Capability, Capacity Benefit Margins, 
Transmission Reliability Margins, Total Transfer Capability, and 
Existing Transmission Commitments and Mandatory Reliability 
Standards for the Bulk-Power System, Order No. 729, 74 FR 64884 
(Dec. 3, 2009) 129 FERC ] 61,155.
    The FERC-725A requirements (Mandatory Reliability Standards for 
the Bulk-Power System, which now includes the utilities' 
implementation) are separate and are not a subject of this Notice in 
Docket Nos. IC10-917 and IC10-918. The FERC-725A reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements in Order 729 (Docket No. RM08-19, et al.) 
were approved by OMB (in ICR Number 200912-1902-005) on 3/12/2010.

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                                          Annual number of   Average number    Average burden     Total annual
       FERC Information collection           respondents    of responses per      hours per     burden hours (1)
                                                 (1)         respondent (2)     response (3)       x (2) x (3)
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                                             18 CFR 35.28 (FERC-917)
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Conforming tariff changes...............                 6                 1                25               150
Revision of Imbalance Charges...........                 6                 1                 5                30
ATC revisions...........................                 6                 1                40               240
Planning (Attachment K).................               134                 1               100            13,400
Congestion studies......................               134                 1               300            40,200
Attestation of network resource                        134                 1                 1               134
 commitment.............................
Capacity reassignment...................               134                 1               100            13,400
Operational Penalty annual filing.......               134                 1                10             1,340
Creditworthiness--include criteria in                    6                 1                40               240
 the tariff.............................
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    FERC-917--Sub Total Part 35.........  ................  ................  ................            69,134
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                                          18 CFR 37.6 & 37.7 (FERC-918)
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ATC-related standards:
    NERC/NAESB Team to develop..........                 0                 0                 0                 0
    Review and comment by utility.......                 0                 0                 0                 0
    Implementation by each utility \4\..                 0                 0                 0             \4\ 0
Mandatory data exchanges................               134                 1                80            10,720
Explanation of change of ATC values.....               134                 1               100            13,400
Reevaluate CBM and post quarterly.......               134                 1                20             2,680
Post OASIS metrics; requests accepted/                 134                 1                90            12,060
 denied.................................
Post planning redispatch offers and                    134                 1                20             2,680
 reliability redispatch data............
Post curtailment data...................               134                 1                10             1,340
Post Planning and System Impact Studies.               134                 1                 5               670
Posting of metrics for System Impact                   134                 1               100            13,400
 Studies................................
Post all rules to OASIS.................               134                 1                 5               670
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    FERC-918--Sub Total of Part 37        ................  ................  ................            57,620
     Reporting Requirements.............
FERC-918--Recordkeeping Requirements....               134                 1                40             5,360
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    FERC-918--Sub Total of Reporting and  ................  ................  ................            62,980
     Recordkeeping Requirements.........
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        Total FERC-917 and FERC-918       ................  ................  ................           132,114
         (Part 35 + Part 37, Reporting
         and Recordkeeping Requirements)
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Total combined annual burden for FERC-917 and FERC-918 is 132,114 hours 
(126,754 reporting hours + 5,360 recordkeeping hours). This is a 
reduction of 24,922 hours from the combined FERC-917 and FERC-918 
burden OMB previously approved.

[[Page 51030]]

    Total combined estimated annual cost for FERC-917 and FERC-918 is 
$21,941,076.\5\ This includes:
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    \5\ Using the hourly rate figures of the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics, occupational series and market rates as applicable, the 
hourly rate is a composite of the respondents who will be 
responsible for implementing and responding to the collection of 
information (support staff, engineering, and legal).
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    (1) Reporting costs of $14,449,956; (126,754 hours @ $114 an hour 
(average cost of attorney ($200 per hour), consultant ($150), technical 
($80), and administrative support ($25)) and
    (2) Recordkeeping (labor and storage) costs of $7,491,120 (labor = 
$91,120 [for 5,360 hours x $17/hour (file/record clerk @ $17 an hour)] 
and off-site storage costs = $7,400,000 (8,000 sq. ft. x $925/sq. 
ft.)).
    The reporting burden includes the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended to generate, maintain, retain, disclose, or provide 
the information including: (1) Reviewing instructions; (2) developing, 
acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems for the 
purposes of collecting, validating, verifying, processing, maintaining, 
disclosing and providing information; (3) adjusting the existing ways 
to comply with any previously applicable instructions and requirements; 
(4) training personnel to respond to the collections of information; 
(5) searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing the 
collections of information; and (7) transmitting, or otherwise 
disclosing the information.
    The estimate of cost for respondents is based upon salaries for 
professional and clerical support, as well as direct and indirect 
overhead costs. Direct costs include all costs directly attributable to 
providing this information, such as administrative costs and the cost 
for information technology. Indirect or overhead costs are costs 
incurred by an organization in support of its mission. These costs 
apply to activities which benefit the whole organization rather than 
any one particular function or activity.
    Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed collections of 
information are necessary for the proper performance of the functions 
of the Commission, including whether the information will have 
practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates of the 
burden of the proposed collections of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information to be collected; 
and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collections of information 
on those who are to respond, including the use of appropriate 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology, e.g. permitting 
electronic submission of responses.

Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2010-20458 Filed 8-17-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P