[Federal Register Volume 75, Number 183 (Wednesday, September 22, 2010)]
[Notices]
[Pages 57744-57745]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2010-23684]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC10-555-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-555); Comment 
Request; Extension

September 16, 2010.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Energy.

ACTION: Notice of proposed information collection and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) 
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) (2006), 
(Pub. L. 104-13), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission 
or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the proposed information 
collection described below.

DATES: Comments in consideration of the collection of information are 
due November 22, 2010.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be filed either electronically (eFiled) or in 
paper format, and should refer to Docket No. IC10-555-000. Documents 
must be prepared in an acceptable filing format and in compliance with 
Commission submission guidelines at http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. eFiling instructions are available at: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp. First time users must follow 
eRegister instructions at: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/eregistration.asp, to establish a user name and password before 
eFiling. The Commission will send an automatic acknowledgement to the 
sender's e-mail address upon receipt of eFiled comments. Commenters 
making an eFiling should not make a paper filing. Commenters that are 
not able to file electronically must send an original and two (2) paper 
copies of their comments to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 
20426.
    Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in 
this docket may do so through eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/esubscription.asp. In addition, all comments and FERC 
issuances may be viewed, printed or downloaded remotely through FERC's 
eLibrary at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp, by searching 
on Docket No. IC10-555. For user assistance, contact FERC Online 
Support by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 
208-3676 (toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information collected under the 
requirements of FERC-555, ``Records Retention Requirements'' (OMB No. 
1902-0098), is used by the Commission to carry out its responsibilities 
in implementing the statutory provisions of sections 301, 304 and 309 
of the Federal Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 825, 825c and 825h), sections 
8, 10 and 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (15 U.S.C. 717-717w), and 
section 20 of the Interstate Commerce Act (ICA, 49 U.S.C. 20).
    The regulations for preservation of records establish retention 
periods, necessary guidelines, and requirements for retention of 
applicable records for the regulated public utilities, natural gas and 
oil pipeline companies subject to the Commission's jurisdiction. These 
records will be used by the regulated companies as the basis for their 
required rate filings and reports for the Commission. In addition, the 
records will be used by the Commission's audit staff during compliance 
reviews, by enforcement staff during investigations, and for special 
analyses as deemed necessary by the Commission.
    On January 8, 1999 the Commission issued AI99-2-000, an Accounting 
Issuance providing guidance on records storage media. Specifically, 
FERC gave each jurisdictional company the flexibility to select its own 
storage media. The storage media selected must have a life expectancy 
equal to the applicable record period unless the quality of the data 
transferred from one media to another with no loss of data would exceed 
the record period.
    On January 27, 2000, FERC issued a final rule amending its records 
retention regulations for public utilities and licensees, and natural 
gas and oil pipeline companies. These changes included revising the 
general instructions, and shortening various records retention periods. 
The final rule's objective was to reduce or eliminate burdensome and 
unnecessary regulatory requirements.
    It has been more than ten years since the issuance of the final 
rule and the accounting guidance, and, it is expected that 
jurisdictional companies have experienced more than sufficient time to 
implement these provisions. No additional changes have been made to the 
record retention requirements specified under FERC-555. The Commission 
implements these filing requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) under 18 CFR Parts 125, 225, and 356.
    Action: The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the 
current expiration date, with no changes to the existing collection of 
data.
    Burden Statement: In order to obtain a more accurate burden figure, 
Commission staff asked a small number of FERC-555 respondents to 
estimate the burden imposed by this data collection. The results show 
that the record retention requirements under FERC-555 were 
underestimated in the previous renewal of this information 
collection.\1\ The following table portrays the updated burden estimate 
based on industry responses:
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    \1\ The previous estimate reported average burden hours per 
response and total burden hours as 2,402 and 1,237,030 respectively 
(for the 515 respondents). Further, the previous estimate reported 
the average annual cost per respondent and total annual cost as 
$141,045 and $72,638,045 respectively.

[[Page 57745]]



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                                                                Average Number   Average burden
                                                 Number of       of responses      hours per       Total annual
            FERC data collection                respondents     per respondent    response \2\     burden hours
                                                annually (1)         (2)              (3)          (1)x(2)x(3)
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FERC-555....................................             475                1            4,968        2,359,800
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\2\ Record retention burden differs greatly by the size of the company and this figure captures an average
  across all jurisdictional companies. Thus a small company may require fewer than 1,000 hours per year to
  comply while a large company may require more than 10,000 hours per year to comply.

    The estimated total annual cost burden to respondents includes 
labor costs associated with record retention ($65,597,025) and both 
electronic and non-electronic record storage costs ($72,400,925). The 
total annual cost is $137,997,950; the total annual cost per respondent 
is $290,522.
    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 a collection of information; (5) 
searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing the collection 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 collection of 
information is 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 estimate of the burden of the 
proposed collection 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 collection 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. 2010-23684 Filed 9-21-10; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P