[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 204 (Friday, October 21, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 72797-72798]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-25504]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY


Proposed Agency Information Collection Extension With Changes

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Department 
of Energy.

ACTION: Notice and request for OMB review and comment.

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SUMMARY: EIA has submitted an information collection request to the OMB 
for extension with changes, under the provisions of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, for the Electric Power and Renewable Electricity 
Surveys (OMB Control Number 1905-0129) information collection. EIA 
requests a three-year clearance with changes for the following forms:

[ssquf] Form EIA-63B, ``Photovoltaic Module Shipments Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-411, ``Coordinated Bulk Power Supply Program Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-826, ``Monthly Electric Utility Sales and Revenue 
Report with State Distributions'' (will be replaced by EIA-861M)
[ssquf] Form EIA-860, ``Annual Electric Generator Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-860M, ``Monthly Update to the Annual Electric 
Generator Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-861, ``Annual Electric Power Industry Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-861S, ``Annual Electric Power Industry Report (Short 
Form)''

[[Page 72798]]

[ssquf] Form EIA-861M, ``Monthly Electric Power Industry Report'' (will 
replace EIA-826)
[ssquf] Form EIA-923, ``Power Plant Operations Report''
[ssquf] Form EIA-930, ``Balancing Authority Operations Report''

DATES: Comments regarding this collection must be received on or before 
November 21, 2016. If you anticipate that you will be submitting 
comments, but find it difficult to do so within the period of time 
allowed by this notice, please advise the DOE Desk Officer at OMB of 
your intention to make a submission as soon as possible. The Desk 
Officer may be telephoned at 202-395-4718 or contacted by email at 
[email protected].


ADDRESSES: Written comments should be sent to the:

DOE Desk Officer, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office 
of Management and Budget, New Executive Office Building, Room 10102, 
735 17th Street NW., Washington, DC 20503, [email protected]
And to
Rebecca Peterson, [email protected], U.S. Energy Information 
Administration, Mail Stop EI-23, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence 
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585, (Email is preferred)

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Direct any requests for additional 
information or copies of the information collection instruments and 
instructions to Rebecca Peterson at [email protected] or at 202-
586-4509. The collection instruments and instructions are also 
available on the Internet at: http://www.eia.gov/survey/changes/electricity/solar/.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request 
contains:
    (1) OMB No.: 1905-0129;
    (2) Information Collection Request Title: Electricity and 
Renewables Power Surveys;
    (3) Type of Request: Extension, with changes of a currently 
approved collection;
    (4) Purpose: The electricity and renewables surveys collect data 
from entities involved in the production, transmission, delivery, and 
sale of electricity, and in maintaining the reliable operation of the 
power system. The data collected are the primary source of information 
on the nation's electric power industry. EIA uses the data collected on 
the electric power surveys to answer queries from the U.S. Congress, 
other federal and state agencies, the electric power industry, and the 
public; and as input to the National Energy Modeling System (NEMS) and 
to EIA's other forecasting and analytical activities. Other users of 
the data include policy makers, regulators, energy market analysts, and 
the energy industries.
    Changes to the currently approved forms in this package can be 
summarized as follows:
     Form EIA-63B: Change from a monthly only to an annual and 
monthly collection and eliminate questions about photovoltaic cells 
which will result in a significant decrease in burden;
     Form EIA-411: Discontinue the collection of historical 
information associated with demand, capacity, transactions, and reserve 
margins;
     Form EIA-826: Discontinue this form and replace it with 
Form EIA-861M (see further below);
     Form EIA-860: Require plants in Puerto Rico to begin 
reporting and add questions concerning storage capacity, solar 
generators, virtual net metering agreements, and planned retirement 
dates of environmental equipment;
     Form EIA-860M: Add questions regarding net metering 
agreements involving newly operable solar generators;
     Form EIA-861: Add questions regarding small scale storage 
and virtual net metered capacity;
     Form EIA-861 M (which replaces the Form EIA-826): Add 
questions regarding capacity;
     Form EIA-923: Reduce the current monthly sample via a more 
efficient model-based cutoff design; require plants in Puerto Rico to 
begin reporting, remove data protection for coal and petroleum stocks, 
collect the mercury removal rate for environmental equipment, collect 
data from plants that are operating under test conditions;
     Form EIA-930: Require respondents to report hourly sub-
regional demand, hourly net generation by standard fuel type, and their 
hourly total actual demand within 30 minutes (instead of the current 60 
minutes) of the end of the data hour.
    (5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: The annual estimated 
number of respondents on the electric and solar surveys is 16,770;
    (6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: The annual 
estimated number of total responses is 65,716;
    (7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: The annual estimated 
number of burden hours is 152,120 which represents an increase of 
10,975 burden hours from the prior renewal of this collection. Most of 
the overall change is driven by an overall 17-percent increase in 
survey respondents due to rapid growth in the electric power industry. 
To a smaller extent, the increase is due to additional questions that 
are needed on certain surveys to optimize data coverage while adding 
only a minimal increase in burden and to the requirement for plants in 
Puerto Rico to begin reporting on the Forms EIA-860 and EIA-923.
    (8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost burden: New 
respondents will incur a one-time total startup cost of $14,400. This 
will apply to the 25 power companies in Puerto Rico that will be new 
respondents (25 companies times 8 hours times $72.02 per hour, the 
current hourly rate for an EIA employee). EIA estimates that for each 
of these companies it will take 8 hours to configure their reporting 
systems, review instructions, search their data systems and receive 
authentication for EIA's Single Sign-on Internet Data Collection System 
in order to report electronically. Additional costs to respondents are 
not anticipated beyond costs associated with response burden. This 
information is maintained in the normal course of business. The total 
annual cost of burden hours to the respondents for all nine surveys is 
estimated to be $10,955,682 (152,120 burden hours times $72.02 per 
hour). Other than the cost of burden hours, EIA estimates that there 
are no additional costs for generating, maintaining, and providing the 
information.

    Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974, Pub. L. 93-275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
772(b).

    Issued in Washington, DC, October 14, 2016.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, 
U.S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2016-25504 Filed 10-20-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P