[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 83 (Tuesday, May 2, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20473-20474]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-08800]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD17-4-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725A and FERC-
725Z); Comment Request; Revisions

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of revised information collections and request for 
comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (``Commission'') 
is soliciting public comment on revisions to the information 
collections, FERC-725A (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-
Power System), and FERC-725Z (Mandatory Reliability Standards: IRO 
Reliability Standards), which will be submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for a review of the information collection 
requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due July 3, 2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. RD17-4-
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-725A (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-
Power System), and FERC-725Z (Mandatory Reliability Standards: IRO 
Reliability Standards).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0244 (FERC-725A) and 1902-0276 (FERC-725Z).
    Type of Request: Revisions to the information collections, as 
discussed in Docket No. RD17-4-000.
    Abstract: In a petition dated March 6, 2017, the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation (``NERC'') requested Commission 
approval for proposed Reliability Standards IRO-002-5 (Reliability 
Coordination, Monitoring and Analysis) and TOP-001-4 (Transmission 
Operations). NERC stated that the ``proposed Reliability Standards 
address the Commission directives in Order No. 817 related to: (i) 
Transmission operator monitoring of non-bulk electric system (``BES'') 
facilities; (ii) redundancy and diverse routing of transmission 
operator, balancing authority, and reliability coordinator data 
exchange capabilities; and (iii) testing of alternative or less 
frequently used data exchange capabilities.'' In addition, NERC 
requested Commission approval of the retirement of Reliability 
Standards TOP-001-3 and IRO-002-4. In an order on April 17, 2017,\1\ 
the implementation of Reliability Standard TOP-001-4 and the retirement 
of Reliability Standard TOP-001-3 was approved.
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    \1\ The Delegated Letter Order is available in the Commission's 
eLibrary at https://elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/OpenNat.asp?fileID=14560616.
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    Type of Respondents: Transmission operators (TOP), balancing 
authorities (BA), and reliability coordinators (RC).
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \2\ The Commission estimates the changes 
in the annual public reporting burden and cost as follows.\3\
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    \2\ Burden is defined 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, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \3\ For the Reliability Standards being retired in Docket No. 
RD17-4, the baseline numbers for respondents, burden, and cost are 
the same figures as those in Order No. 817. The requirements and 
burdens (from the standards being retired) are continuing in the new 
standards, plus there are additional requirements and burdens as 
indicated in the table.

                                                          Changes Due to Docket No. RD17-4-000
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                                 Number of respondents   Annual number
     Information collection        and type of entity    of responses    Total number     Average burden hours and   Total annual burden hours and total
          requirements                    \4\           per respondent   of responses      cost per response ($)               annual cost ($)
                                 (1)..................             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4) \5\....................  (3) * (4) = (5)
                                                                                   (3)
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                                                                        FERC-725A
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Reporting and Recordkeeping      .....................  ..............  ..............  no change..................  no change.
 Requirements (continuing in
 TOP-001-4 [formerly in TOP-001-
 3]) \6\.
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                                                    Increases, due to Implementation of TOP-001-4 \7\
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Reporting (R10, R20, & R21), in  323 (TOP)............               1             323  11 hrs.; $707.19...........  3,553 hrs.; $228,422.37.
 Yr. 1.
Reporting (R10, R20, & R21), in  323 (TOP)............               1             323  3 hrs.; $192.87............  969 hrs.; $62,297.01.
 Yr. 2 & ongoing.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 1........  323 (TOP)............               1             323  3 hrs.; $113.25............  969 hrs.; $36,579.75.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 2 &        323 (TOP)............               1             323  2 hrs.; $75.50.............  646 hrs.; $24,386.50.
 ongoing.

[[Page 20474]]

 
Reporting (R23 & R24), in Yr. 1  99 (BA)..............               1              99  8 hrs.; $514.32............  792 hrs.; $50,917.68.
Reporting (R23 & R24), in Yr. 2  99 (BA)..............               1              99  2 hrs.; $128.58............  198 hrs.; $12,729.42.
 & ongoing.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 1........  99 (BA)..............               1              99  4 hrs.; $151.00............  396 hrs.; $14,949.00.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 2 and      99 (BA)..............               1              99  4 hrs.; $151.00............  396 hrs.; $14,949.00.
 ongoing.
Increase to FERC-725A in Year 1  .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  5,710 hrs.; $330,868.80.
Increase to FERC-725A in Year 2  .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  2,209 hrs.; $114,361.93.
 & ongoing.
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                                                                        FERC-725Z
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Reporting and Recordkeeping      .....................  ..............  ..............  no change..................  no change.
 Requirements (continuing in
 IRO-002-5 [formerly in IRO-002-
 4]) \8\.
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                                                    Increases, due to Implementation of IRO-002-5 \9\
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Reporting (R2 & R3), in Yr. 1..  11 (RC)..............               1              11  8 hrs.; $514.32............  88 hrs.; $5,657.52.
Reporting (R2 & R3),in Yr. 2 &   11 (RC)..............               1              11  2 hrs.; $128.58............  22 hrs.; $1,414.38.
 ongoing.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 1........  11 (RC)..............               1              11  5 hrs.; $188.75............  55 hrs.; $2,076.25.
Recordkeeping, in Yr. 2 &        11 (RC)..............               1              11  4 hrs.; $151.00............  44 hrs.; $1,661.00.
 ongoing.
Increase to FERC-725Z in Year 1  .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  143 hrs.; $7,733.77.
Increase to FERC-725Z in Year 2  .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  66 hrs.; $3,075.38.
 and ongoing.
Total Increase in Year 1, Due    .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  5,853 hrs.; $338,602.57.
 to Docket No. RD17-4.
Total Increase in Year 2 and     .....................  ..............  ..............  ...........................  2,275 hrs.; $117,437.31.
 Ongoing, Due to Docket No.
 RD17-4.
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    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 respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
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    \4\ Our estimates are based on the NERC Compliance Registry of 
12/12/2016, which indicates there are 323 entities registered as 
TOPs, 99 entities registered as BAs, and 11 entities registered as 
RCs within the United States. One entity may be registered as having 
several rules.
    \5\ The hourly cost figures, for salary plus benefits, for the 
new standards are based on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) 
information (at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm), as of 
May 2015. For reporting requirements, an electrical engineer (code 
17-2071) is $64.29/hour; for the recordkeeping requirements, an 
information and record clerk (code 43-4199) is $37.75/hour.
    \6\ The reporting and recordkeeping requirements and the 
associated burden will continue in TOP-001-4 (formerly included in 
TOP-001-3, which is now being retired). The corresponding estimated 
burden for the 196 TOPs and BAs continues to be 96 hours per 
response (or a total estimated burden of 18,816 hours).
    \7\ Requirement R21 (applicable to TOPs in ongoing yrs.) covers 
quarterly testing and associated reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements. Requirement R24 (applicable to BAs in ongoing yrs.) 
covers quarterly testing and associated engineering and 
recordkeeping requirements.
    \8\ The reporting and recordkeeping requirements and the 
associated burden will continue in IRO-002-5 (burden formerly 
included in IRO-002-4, which is being retired). The corresponding 
estimated burden for the 11 RCs continues to be 24 hours per 
response (or a total estimated burden of 264 hours).
    \9\ Requirement R3 (applicable to RCs in ongoing yrs.) covers 
quarterly testing and associated reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.

    Dated: April 25, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-08800 Filed 5-1-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P