[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 43 (Friday, March 4, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 12091-12093]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-4859]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket Nos. IC11-520-000, IC11-561-000, and IC11-566-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities, Proposed 
Collections; Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed information collections 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 activities described below.

DATES: Comments in consideration of the collection of information are 
due May 3, 2011.

ADDRESSES: Comments may be filed either electronically (eFiled) or in 
paper format, and should refer to Docket Nos. IC11-520-000, IC11-561-
000, and IC11-566-000. (For comments that only pertain to one of the 
collections, specify the appropriate collection and the related docket 
number.) 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 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 
these dockets 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 Nos. IC11-520, IC11-561, and IC11-566. 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 CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail 
at [email protected], telephone

[[Page 12092]]

at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Federal Power Act (FPA) as amended by 
the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA) mandates 
Federal oversight and approval of certain electric corporate activities 
and put in place related information filing requirements. The FERC-520, 
the Form 561 and the FERC-566 are the data collections currently 
helping ensure that FPA-mandated oversight can occur and that neither 
public nor private interests are adversely affected by the electric 
activities the FPA provisions cover.
    The implementing processes and regulatory requirements for the 
collections are codified in Chapter 18 of the Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR).

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      Information collection number         OMB Number             CFR Cite                 Statutory cite
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERC-520................................       1902-0083  18 CFR Part 45............
Form 561................................       1902-0099  18 CFR 46.6 and 131.31....  FPA Section 305, as
                                                                                       amended by PURPA Title
                                                                                       II, section 211 (16
                                                                                       U.S.C. 825d)
FERC-566................................       1902-0114  18 CFR 46.3...............
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    To clarify the aim and better publicize the relationships among 
these information activities, FERC is combining its processes for 
noticing and renewing its OMB authority to conduct these information 
collections.
    Overview of the Three Forms. The FERC-520, Form 561 and FERC-566 
provide views into complex electric corporate activities and serve to 
safeguard public and private interests, as the FPA requires. The 
Commission can use its enforcement authority when violations and 
omissions of FPA requirements occur.
    FERC-520. The FERC-520, ``Application for Authority to Hold 
Interlocking Directorate Positions'' is an application requesting FERC 
authorization for board members of regulated electric utilities that 
plan to simultaneously hold positions on the corporate boards of 
related or similar businesses. This corporate activity is known as an 
``interlocked directorate.'' The FERC-520 originates in FPA Section 
305(b) of the FPA. This part of the FPA makes the holding of certain 
defined interlocking corporate positions unlawful unless the Commission 
has authorized the interlocks to be held. Before assuming an 
interlocked board position, an applicant must demonstrate that neither 
public nor private interests will be adversely affected by the holding 
of the position. The FERC-520 identifies the applicant and describes 
the various interlocking positions the applicant seeks authorization to 
hold. Moreover, the form collects information related to the 
applicant's financial interests, other officers and directors of the 
firms involved, and the nature of business relationships among the 
firms.
    FERC allows two types of FERC-520 applications to implement the FPA 
requirements for holding interlocked positions. The first, in 18 CFR 
45.8, is a ``full'' application. ``Full'' applications are made by (1) 
an officer or director of more than one public utility; (2) an officer 
or director of a public utility and of a public utility securities 
underwriter; or (3) an officer or director of a public utility and of 
an electrical equipment supplier to that utility. They provide detailed 
information about the position for which authorization is sought, 
including a description of duties, estimated time devoted to the 
position, and the applicant's indebtedness to the public utility.
    The second type of FERC-520 application, in 18 CFR 45.9, is an 
``informational'' application for automatic authorization. These 
``informational applications'' are made by (1) An officer or director 
of two or more public utilities where the same holding company owns, 
directly or indirectly, wholly or in part, the other public utility; 
(2) an officer or director of two public utilities, if one utility is 
owned, wholly or in part, by the other; or (3) an officer or director 
of more than one public utility, if such person is already authorized 
under Part 45 to hold different positions where the interlock involves 
affiliated public utilities.
    As part of the FERC-520 application process, the FERC requires 
notices of change if the applicant resigns or withdraws from a 
Commission-authorized interlocked position or if the applicant is not 
re-elected or re-appointed to the interlocked position.
    Form 561. The Commission uses the FERC Form 561, ``Annual Report of 
Interlocking Positions'' to implement the FPA requirement that those 
who are authorized to hold interlocked directorates annually disclose 
all the interlocked positions they held the prior year. The positions 
that must be disclosed in the Form 561 are those public utility 
officers and directors hold with financial institutions, insurance 
companies, utility equipment and fuel providers, and with any of an 
electric utility's twenty largest purchasers of electric energy. The 
FPA specifically defines most of the information elements in the Form 
561, including the information that must be filed, the required filers, 
the directive to make the information available to the public, and the 
filing deadline. The Commission determined administrative aspects of 
the Form 561 such as the filing format and instructions for filling out 
the form.
    FERC-566. The FERC-566 ``Annual Report of a Utility's Twenty 
Largest Purchasers'' implements FPA requirements that each public 
utility annually publish a list of the purchasers of the twenty largest 
annual amounts of electric energy sold by such public utility during 
any one of three previous calendar years pursuant to rules prescribed 
by the Commission. The public disclosure of this information provides 
officers and directors with the information necessary to determine 
whether any of the entities with whom they are related are any of the 
largest twenty purchasers of the public utility with which they are 
affiliated. Similar to the statutory detail in the FPA for the FERC 
561, the FPA identifies who must file the FERC-566 report and sets the 
filing deadline. Additionally, the FPA specifies that those entities 
required to report who have a holding company system can calculate 
their total volumes of energy sold by including the amounts sold by 
utilities within their holding company system. The FERC details in its 
regulations special rules about the information to be provided in the 
FERC-566 report. For example, FERC allows required filers to file 
estimates of volumes based on actual information available to them if 
actual volumes are not available by the statutory due date. However, 
the FERC also requires revisions of those filed estimates with final 
numbers by March 1st.
    Filings Information. Under FERC regulations, respondents must file 
their FERC-520, Form 561 and FERC-566 in various formats, including 
electronically via the Commission's eFiling web page. Most are 
submitted this way.
    FERC has especially encouraged Form 561 respondents to file their 
forms via the FERC eFiling system and to use a Microsoft Excel version 
of the Form 561. The Microsoft Excel version of the Form 561 has been 
available since 1998.

[[Page 12093]]

There have been many efforts since 1998 to use evolving and advanced 
features of the Excel software to make filling the form out easier and 
compiling the filed information more easily. The following table shows 
the number of filings FERC has received for each of the three 
information collections.

    Number of Filings Related to Interlocked Positions and Reports of
              Utilities' Twenty Largest Customers 2008-2010
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                 Filing name                     2008     2009     2010
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FERC-520 (Total).............................      689      600      594
    [cir] Initial............................       24       36       26
    [cir] Informational......................      469      326      335
    [cir] Notice of Change...................      196      238      233
Form 561.....................................    2,441    2,420    2,432
Form 566.....................................      403      457      443
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    Action: The FERC is requesting a three-year extension of the 
current expiration dates for these three information collections. It 
proposes to continue to explore making the filing of the FERC-520, FERC 
Form 561 and FERC-566 more efficient by evaluating and possibly 
adopting more modern information transfer technology.
    Burden Statement: Public reporting burden for this collection is 
estimated in the following table.

                Estimated Burden of FERC Collections Related to Interlocked Positions and Reports of Utilities' Twenty Largest Customers
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                                                                                                             Number of    Average burden   Total annual
                    Form name                          Number of respondents annually (average) (1)        responses per     hours per     burden hours
                                                                                                          respondent (2)   response (3)     (1)x(2)x(3)
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FERC-520........................................                                          406\1\ (total)  ..............  ..............          12,680
    [cir] Initial...............................                                                      29               1            51.8           1,502
    [cir] Informational.........................                                                     377               1            29.5          11,122
    [cir] Notice of Change......................                                                     222               1             .25              56
Form 561........................................                                                   2,431               1             .25             608
FERC-566........................................                                                     434               1               6           2,604
 
        Total...................................  ......................................................  ..............  ..............          15,873
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    The estimated total cost to FERC-520 respondents is $867,922. 
[12,680 hours/2080 hours \2\ per year, times $142,372 \3\ equals 
$867,922]. The cost per FERC-520 respondent annually is $2,138.
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    \1\ This number of unique respondents corresponds to the number 
of initial filers plus the number of informational filers.
    \2\ Number of hours an employee works each year.
    \3\ Average annual salary per employee.
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    The estimated total cost to FERC-561 respondents is $41,616. [608 
hours/2080 hours per year, times $142,372 equals $41,616]. The cost per 
FERC-561 respondent annually is $68.
    The estimated total cost to FERC-566 respondents is $178,239. 
[2,604 hours/2080 hours per year, times $178,239 equals $178,239]. The 
cost per FERC-566 respondent annually is $68.
    The estimated total cost to respondents for these three information 
collections is $1,087,777.
    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 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 estimate 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.

    Dated: February 24, 2011.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2011-4859 Filed 3-3-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P