[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 205 (Wednesday, October 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63172-63174]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-24827]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC13-22-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-733); Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A), the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the 
proposed information collection FERC-733, Demand Response/Time-Based 
Rate Programs and Advanced Metering.

[[Page 63173]]


DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due December 23, 
2013.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC13-22-
000) by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support 
by email at [email protected], or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and 
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-733, Demand Response/Time-Based Rate Programs and 
Advanced Metering
    OMB Control No.: To be determined
    Type of Request: Approval of a new survey of demand response and 
time-based rate programs and tariffs, and advanced metering that 
replaces the FERC-731 survey.
    Abstract: Section 1252(e)(3) of the Energy Policy Act of 2005,\1\ 
requires the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) 
to prepare and publish an annual report, by appropriate region, that 
assesses demand response resources, including those available from all 
consumer classes. Specifically, EPAct 2005 Section 1252(e)(3) requires 
that the Commission identify and review:
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    \1\ Pub. L. 109-58, Sec.  1252(e)(3), 119 Stat. 594, 966 (2005) 
(EPAct 2005).
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    (A) Saturation and penetration rate of advanced meters and 
communications technologies, devices and systems;
    (B) Existing demand response programs and time-based rate programs;
    (C) The annual resource contribution of demand resources;
    (D) The potential for demand response as a quantifiable, reliable 
resource for regional planning purposes;
    (E) Steps taken to ensure that, in regional transmission planning 
and operations, demand resources are provided equitable treatment as a 
quantifiable, reliable resource relative to the resource obligations of 
any load-serving entity, transmission provider, or transmitting party; 
and
    (F) Regulatory barriers to improved customer participation in 
demand response, peak reduction and critical period pricing programs.
    In 2006 and 2008, the Commission designed and used Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) approved collections FERC-727, Demand 
Response and Time Based Rate Programs Survey (OMB Control No. 1902-
0214), and FERC-728, Advanced Metering Survey (OMB Control No. 1902-
0213), to collect and convey to Congress the requested demand response 
and advanced metering information. In 2010 and 2012, the Commission 
designed and used OMB approved collection FERC-731, Demand Response/
Time-Based Rate Programs and Advanced Metering (OMB Control No. 1902-
0251).
    For 2014 and 2016 the Commission proposes to continue to utilize a 
voluntary survey (FERC-733) that incorporates changes to the previously 
approved FERC-731 to improve data quality and reduce respondent burden. 
The Commission proposes to (1) align its collection of Advanced 
Metering Infrastructure (AMI) installations with that of the Energy 
Information Administration (EIA), (2) consolidate several questions, 
(3) eliminate some of the data collected on the FERC-731, (4) include 
three additional categories regarding customer's methods of accessing 
data, and (5) request additional details concerning retail demand 
response programs that participate in wholesale programs.\2\
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    \2\ The additional details of the retail demand response 
programs that participate in wholesale demand response programs is 
necessary to identify the potential peak reductions that are solely 
wholesale in nature and not associated with specific demand response 
efforts at the retail program level.
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    The Commission proposes to revise the structure of its question on 
advanced meters to comport with recent changes approved by OMB for the 
EIA in Form EIA-861, Schedule 6, Part D, ``Advanced Metering and 
Customer Communication.'' The Commission also proposes to eliminate 
certain data elements requested by the 2012 FERC-731 including: the 
respondents' number of customers by customer sector in Question 3, and 
the request for the respondents' long-range (4 to 6 years) plans for 
demand response programs in Question 5.
    The Commission believes that the above changes should result in a 
more accurate and streamlined data collection that will reduce 
respondent burden.
    The Commission investigated alternatives, including using data from 
the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) and EIA, to 
fielding and collecting data using a FERC designed survey. However, as 
explained below, the data is not currently collected or cannot be 
obtained by the Commission in time to complete the 2014 report to 
Congress.
    NERC, as the Electric Reliability Organization for the United 
States \3\ as certified by the Commission, has begun to collect demand 
response data on dispatchable and non-dispatchable resources that it 
needs to conduct its reliability work. Reporting demand response 
information in the Demand Response Availability Data System (DADS) is 
mandatory for all entities who are part of NERC's functional model. The 
Demand Response Data Task Force at NERC developed DADS to collect 
demand response program information. DADS currently collects 
information on dispatchable and controllable demand response resources. 
DADS does not currently collect and report information on several key 
demand response program types including economic, and time-based rate 
programs. Because DADS does not currently collect and report data which 
is specifically required by EPAct 2005, the system cannot be relied 
upon for FERC's reporting purposes. EPAct 2005 specifically requires 
FERC to identify and review time-based rate programs.
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    \3\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ] 
61,062, order on reh'g & compliance, 117 FERC ] 61,126 (2006), 
appeal docketed sub nom. Alcoa, Inc. v. FERC, No. 06-1426 (D.C. Cir. 
Dec. 29, 2006).
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    NERC plans to require its registered entities to report information 
on these other demand response program types in the future, but it is 
unclear at this time when NERC may begin to collect these additional 
data or whether the new data will be available or suitable for FERC 
staff to use to prepare their reports to Congress.
    The EIA collects aggregated information on energy efficiency and 
load management as well as advanced metering data in its EIA-861, 
``Annual Electric Power Industry Report.'' The data collected in this 
survey does not identify specific demand response programs or time-
based rate programs, but it does support the Commission's advanced 
metering data needs. Unfortunately, the finalized advanced metering 
data for 2013 will not be

[[Page 63174]]

available until the fourth quarter of 2014 under EIA's proposed 
schedule. Therefore, the EIA data will not be available to the 
Commission in time to report 2013 findings in calendar year 2014.
    Because these alternatives will not provide data or will not 
provide data in a timely manner for the 2014 report, the Commission 
proposes to conduct a survey (attached in the docket) with a response 
deadline of May 1, 2014. This survey has been designed to be consistent 
with the NERC's data collection such that, in future years, the 
Commission may be able to use the NERC data when it becomes available, 
phase-out the FERC demand response survey and still comply with EPAct 
2005 Section 1252(e)(3).
    FERC staff has designed a survey that will impose minimal burden on 
respondents by providing respondents with an easy-to-complete, fillable 
form that will include such user friendly features as pre-populated 
fields and drop-down menus, make use of the data that is becoming 
available from reliable sources, and provide it with the information 
necessary to draft and file the report that is required by Congress. 
The survey can be electronically filed. A paper version of the survey 
will be available for those who are unable to file electronically.
    Access to the Proposed Materials: The survey form, instructions, 
and glossary are attached to this docket, but they are not being 
published in the Federal Register.\4\ Interested parties can see the 
materials electronically as part of this notice in FERC's eLibrary 
(http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp) by searching Docket No. 
IC13-22-000.
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    \4\ The attached form is for illustrative purposes only and does 
not include all the interactive features of the actual form.
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    Interested parties may also request paper or electronic copies of 
any of the materials by contacting FERC's Public Reference Room by 
email at [email protected] or by telephone at (202) 502-
8371
    Type of Respondents: The Commission is proposing to collect the 
demand response and advanced metering information via a voluntary 
survey from the nation's entities that serve wholesale and retail 
customers. The information will be used to draft and file the report 
that is required by Congress. Industry cooperation is important for us 
to obtain as accurate and up-to-date information as possible to respond 
to Congress, as well as to provide information to states and other 
market participants. We, therefore, strongly encourage all potential 
survey respondents to complete the survey.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the total 
Public Reporting Burden for this information collection as:
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    \5\ The Commission defines burden as the total time, effort, or 
financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, 
retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal 
agency. For further explanation of what is included in the 
information collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal 
Regulations 1320.3.

                                        FERC-733--Demand Response/Time-Based Rate Programs and Advanced Metering
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                                                                                         Number of                      Average  burden
                                                                        Number of      responses per   Total number of     hours per     Estimated total
                                                                       respondents       respondent       responses         response        burden \6\
                                                                                (A)              (B)        (A)x(B)=(C)            (D)                (C)x(D)
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Entities that serve wholesale and retail customers.................           3,400                1            3,400              3.5           11,900
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    The total estimated cost burden to respondents for the 2014 survey 
is $669,613 (11,900 hours/year x $56.27/hour \7\ = $669,613. The 
estimated cost per respondent for the survey is $196.95 (3.5 hours/
survey x $56.27/hour = $196.95.
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    \6\ This collection occurs every two years and OMB approval is 
typically for three years. As such, it is likely that there will be 
two surveys completed during the time this form is approved. When we 
submit this collection to OMB for approval (after the comment 
period) we will likely calculate the total burden for three years 
(two surveys) and average the total burden over those three years.
    \7\ This figure is based on the average salary plus benefits for 
a management analyst (NAICS Occupation Code 13-1111). We obtained 
wage and benefit information from the Bureau of Labor Statistics 
(see http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm and http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).
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    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the 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 and 
cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, 
utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to 
minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are 
to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or 
other forms of information technology.

    Dated: September 26, 2013.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-24827 Filed 10-22-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P