[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 249 (Wednesday, December 28, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 95582-95584]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-31294]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD16-6-000]


Proposed Consolidated Information Collection Activities [FERC-
725A(1B) and FERC-725Z]; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION: Comment request.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Collection (Commission or 
FERC) is submitting FERC-725A(1B) (Mandatory Reliability Standards for 
the Bulk Power System) and FERC-725AZ (Mandatory Reliability Standards: 
IRO Reliability Standards), in Docket No. RD16-6 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 issued a Notice in the Federal Register 
(81 FR 66952, 9/29/2016) requesting public comments. FERC received no 
comments in response to FERC-725A(1B) or FERC-725Z and is making this 
notation in the submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by January 27, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by RD16-6-000, FERC-725Z 
(OMB Control No. 1902-0276), and FERC-725A(1B) (OMB Control No. TBD), 
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. RD16-6, 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:

    Authority: 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D).

    Title: FERC-725A(1B), (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk 
Power System).
    OMB Control No.: TBD.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of FERC-725A(1B) information 
collection requirement with no changes to the reporting requirements.
    Abstract: Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA),\1\ the 
Commission proposes to approve Reliability Standards TOP-010-1 (Real-
time Reliability Monitoring and Analysis Capabilities) and IRO-018-1 
(Reliability Coordinator Real-time Reliability Monitoring and Analysis 
Capabilities), submitted by North American Electric Corporation (NERC). 
In this order, the Reliability Standards build on monitoring, real-time 
assessments and support effective situational awareness. The 
Reliability Standards accomplish this by requiring applicable entities 
to: (1) Provide notification to operators of real-time monitoring alarm 
failures; (2) provide operators with indications of the quality of 
information being provided by their monitoring and analysis 
capabilities; and (3) address deficiencies in the quality of 
information being provided by their monitoring and analysis 
capabilities.
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    \1\ Section 215 was added by the Energy Policy Act of 2005, 
Public Law 109-58, 119 Stat. 594 (2005) (codified at 16 U.S.C. 
824o).
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    FERC-725A(1B) address situational awareness objectives by providing 
for operator awareness when key alarming tools are not performing as 
intended. These collections will improve real-time situational 
awareness capabilities and enhance reliable operations by requiring 
reliability coordinators, transmission operators, and balancing 
authorities to provide operators with an improved awareness of system 
conditions analysis capabilities, including alarm availability, so that 
operators may take appropriate steps to ensure reliability. These 
functions include planning, operations, data sharing, monitoring, and 
analysis.
    Type of Respondents: Balancing Authority (BA),Transmission 
Operations (TOP) and Reliability Coordinators (RC).
    Estimate of Annual Burden \2\: The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden for the information collection as:
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    \2\ Burden is 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-725A(1B), Changes Due to TOP-010-1 in Docket No. RD16-6-000
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                                                       Number of     Annual number                   Average burden &     Total annual
             Entity                Requirements &     respondents    of responses    Total number   cost per response    burden hours &      Cost per
                                       period             \3\       per respondent   of Responses          \4\         total annual cost  respondent ($)
                                                               (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)..............  (3) * (4) = (5)..       (5) / (1)
                                                                                               (3)
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BA \5\.........................  Year 1                        100               1             100  70 hrs.;           7,000 hrs.;             $4,494.00
                                  Implementation                                                     $4,494.00.         $449,400.00.
                                  (one-time
                                  reporting).

[[Page 95583]]

 
                                 Starting in Year              100               1             100  42 hrs.;           4,200 hrs.;              2,696.40
                                  2 (annual                                                          $2,696.40.         $269,640.00.
                                  reporting).
TOP \6\........................  Year 1                        171               1             171  70 hrs.;           11,970 hrs.;             4,494.00
                                  implementation                                                     $4,494.00.         $768,474.00.
                                  (one-time
                                  reporting).
                                 Starting in Year              171               1             171  40 hrs. $2,568.00  6,840 hrs.;              2,568.00
                                  2 (annual                                                                             $439,128.00.
                                  reporting).
BA/TOP.........................  Annual Record                 271               1             271  2 hrs.; $75.38...  542 hrs.;                   75.38
                                  Retention.                                                                            $20,427.98.
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    Total burden hours per year  .................  ..............  ..............  ..............  .................  19,512 hrs.        ..............
                                                                                                                        $1,238,301.98
                                                                                                                        (Year 1); 11,582
                                                                                                                        hrs. $729,195.98
                                                                                                                        per year,
                                                                                                                        (starting in
                                                                                                                        Year 2).
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    Title: FERC-725Z, Mandatory Reliability Standards: IRO Reliability 
Standards.
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    \3\ The number of respondents is the number of entities in which 
a change in burden from the current standards to the proposed 
exists, not the total number of entities from the current or 
proposed standards that are applicable.
    \4\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based 
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information, as of May 2015 (at 
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm, with updated benefits 
information for March 2016 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), for an electrical engineer (code 17-2071, $64.20/
hour), and for information and record clerks record keeper (code 43-
4199, $37.69/hour). The hourly figure for engineers is used for 
reporting; the hourly figure for information and record clerks is 
used for document retention.
    \5\ Balancing Authority (BA). The following Requirements and 
associated measures apply to balancing authorities: Requirement R1: 
A revised data specification and writing the required operating 
process/operating procedure; and Requirement R2: Quality monitoring 
logs and the data errors and corrective action logs.
    \6\ Transmission Operations (TOP). The following Requirements 
and associated measures apply to transmission operators: Requirement 
R1: A revised data specification and writing the required operating 
process/operating procedure; and Requirement R3: Alarm process 
monitor performance logs to maintain performance logs and corrective 
action plans.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0276.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of FERC-725Z information 
collections requirement with no changes to the reporting requirements.
    Abstract: FERC-725Z requires reliability coordinators to have an 
alarm process monitor that provides notification to system operators 
when the failure of a real-time monitoring alarm processor has 
occurred. Proposed Reliability Standard TOP-010-1, Requirement R4 
contains an identical requirement applicable to transmission operators 
and balancing authorities. This collection will improve real-time 
situational awareness capabilities and enhance reliable operations by 
requiring reliability coordinators, transmission operators, and 
balancing authorities to provide operators with an improved awareness 
of system conditions analysis capabilities, including alarm 
availability, so that operators may take appropriate steps to ensure 
reliability. These functions include planning, operations, data 
sharing, monitoring, and analysis.
    Type of Respondents: Balancing Authority and Transmission 
Operations.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden for the information collection as:

                                                FERC-725Z, Changes Due to Reliability Standard IRO-018-1
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                                                       Number of     Annual number                   Average burden &     Total annual
             Entity                Requirements &     respondents    of responses    Total number   cost per response    burden hours &      Cost per
                                       period             \7\       per respondent   of responses          \8\         total annual cost  respondent ($)
                                                               (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)..............  (3) * (4) = (5)..       (5) / (1)
                                                                                               (3)
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RC \9\.........................  Year 1                         11               1              11  60 hrs.;           660 hrs.;               $3,852.00
                                  Implementation                                                     $3,852.00.         $42,372.00.
                                  (reporting).
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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;

[[Page 95584]]

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.
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    \7\ The number of respondents is the estimated number of 
entities for which there is a change in burden from the current 
standards to the proposed standards, not the total number of 
entities from the current or proposed standards that are applicable.
    \8\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based 
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information, as of May 2015 (at 
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm, with updated benefits 
information for March 2016 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), for an electrical engineer (code 17-2071, $64.20/
hour), and for information and record clerks (code 43-4199, $37.69/
hour). The hourly figure for engineers is used for reporting; the 
hourly figure for information and record clerks is used for document 
retention.
    \9\ Reliability Coordinator (RC). The following Requirements and 
the associated measures apply to RCs: Requirement R1: A revised data 
specification and writing the required operating Process/Operating 
Procedure; Requirement R2: Quality monitoring logs and the data 
errors and corrective action logs; and Requirement R3: Alarm process 
monitor performance logs.
    \10\ There is a DLO for Docket No. RD16-6-001, Revisions to the 
Violation Risk Factors for Reliability Standards, approving the 
directed changes to VRF designations in IRO-018-1 and TOP-010-1.

    Dated: December 20, 2016.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2016-31294 Filed 12-27-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P