[Federal Register Volume 80, Number 153 (Monday, August 10, 2015)]
[Notices]
[Pages 47914-47916]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2015-19559]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD14-14-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities; (FERC-725G1); 
Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Comment request.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting its information 
collections FERC-725G1 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 
previously issued a Notice in the Federal Register on 5/13/2015 
requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments on 
FERC-725G1 and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by September 
9, 2015.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the FERC-725G1 
information should be sent via email to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs: [email protected]. Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be 
reached via telephone at 202-395-4718.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
Docket No. RD14-14-000, 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], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at 
(202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the information collection 
requirements for all collections described below with no changes to the 
current reporting requirements. Please note that each collection is 
distinct from the next.
    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the 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 and cost of the collections of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information collections; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of the collections of information on 
those who are to

[[Page 47915]]

respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other 
forms of information technology.
    Title: Proposed revisions FERC-725; proposed new collection FERC-
725G1 (Certification of the Electric Reliability Organization and 
Procedures for the Establishment, Approval and Enforcement of Electric 
Reliability Standards; Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-
Power System: Reliability Standard PRC-004-3).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0269 (FERC-725); TBD (FERC-725G1).
    Abstract: On September 15, 2014, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC) submitted a petition seeking approval of 
a revised Protection and Control (PRC) Reliability Standard PRC-004-3--
Protection System Misoperation Identification and Correction, pursuant 
to section 215(d)(1) of the Federal Power Act (FPA) \1\ and section 
39.5 of the Commission's regulations.\2\ The revised Reliability 
Standard, which replaces Reliability Standards PRC-004-2.1a (Analysis 
and Mitigation of Transmission and Generation Protection System 
Misoperations) and PRC-003-1 (Regional Procedures for Analysis of 
Misoperations of Transmission and Generation Protection System), 
requires transmission owners, generator owners, and distribution 
providers to identify and correct causes of misoperations of certain 
protection systems. NERC also requests approval of two new terms 
utilized in the proposed Reliability Standard, to be included in NERC's 
Glossary of Terms Used in NERC Reliability Standards (NERC Glossary). 
Finally, NERC requests approval of its implementation plan for 
Reliability Standard PRC-004-3, including the retirement of Reliability 
Standards PRC-004-2.1a and PRC-003-1, as well as approval of the 
associated Violation Risk Factors (VRFs) and Violation Severity Levels 
(VSLs). FERC determined that revised Reliability Standard PRC-004-3, 
including the associated new Glossary terms and implementation plan, is 
just, reasonable, not unduly discriminatory or preferential and in the 
public interest. We accept the violation severity levels associated 
with the standard as proposed by NERC, however, we direct NERC to 
submit a compliance filing, within 60 days of issuance of this order, 
to address the Commission's concerns with the VRF designations for 
Requirements R1 through R6.
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    \1\ 16 U.S.C. Sec.  824o(d)(1) (2012).
    \2\ 18 CFR Sec.  39.5 (2014).
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    Type of Respondent: Businesses or other for-profit institutions; 
not-for-profit institutions.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: Reliability Standard PRC-004-3 requires 
each transmission owner, generator owner, and distribution provider to 
provide notification of BES interrupting devices that operated in 
accordance with the Requirement R2.\3\ Our estimate below regarding the 
number of respondents is based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of 
January 30, 2015. According to the NERC Compliance Registry, NERC has 
registered in the United States 326 transmission owners (TO), 914 
generator owners (GO), and 471 distribution providers (DP). However, 
under NERC's compliance registration program, entities may be 
registered for multiple functions, so these numbers incorporate some 
double counting. The total number of unique entities that may be 
identified as a notification provider (e.g., applicable entity) in 
accordance with Reliability Standard PRC-004-3 will be approximately 
659 entities registered in the United States as a transmission owner, 
generator owner, and/or distribution provider.
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    \3\ Requirement R2--Each Transmission Owner, Generator Owner, 
and Distribution Provider that owns a BES interrupting device that 
operated shall, within 120 calendar days of the BES interrupting 
device operation, provide notification as described in Parts 2.1 and 
2.2.

                                                                     FERC-725G1 \4\
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                                                                          Annual  number                      Average      Total annual
                                                             Number of     of  responses   Total  number   burden & cost   burden hours      Cost per
                                                            respondents         per        of  responses   per response   & total annual  respondent ($)
                                                                            respondent                          \5\            cost
                                                                     (1)             (2)     (1)*(2)=(3)             (4)     (3)*(4)=(5)         (5)/(1)
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Notifications to TO/GO/DP per Requirement R2............             659               1             659               8           5,272             584
                                                                                                                    $584        $384,856
One-time review and adjustment of existing program......             659               1             659               2           1,318             146
                                                                                                                    $146         $96,214
Evidence Retention......................................             659               1             659              12           7,908             384
                                                                                                                    $384        $253,056
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    Total...............................................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............          14,498           1,114
                                                                                                                                $734,126
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[[Page 47916]]

     
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    \4\ FERC-725G is a currently pending request at OMB. Only one 
submittal can be pending OMB review under each control number, 
therefore, FERC-725G1 will be used for timely submittal.
    \5\ The estimates for cost per response are derived using the 
following formula: Average Burden Hours per Response * $n per Hour = 
Average Cost per Response. The $73 hourly cost figure is the average 
of the salary plus benefits for a manager and an engineer (rounded 
to the nearest dollar); $32/hour is the salary plus benefits for 
information and record clerks. The figures are taken from the Bureau 
of Labor Statistics at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm.

    Dated: August 4, 2015.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015-19559 Filed 8-7-15; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P