[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 94 (Wednesday, May 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 22658-22659]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09944]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD17-1-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the information collection FERC-
725R (Mandatory Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability Standards) which 
will be submitted 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 (82 FR 9565, 2/7/
2017) requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments 
on the FERC-725R and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by June 16, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0268 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 202-395-0710.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
Docket No. RD17-1-000, by 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:
    Title: FERC-725R, Mandatory Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability 
Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0268.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of FERC-725R information 
collection requirement, as modified.
    Abstract: On November 10, 2016, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed a petition for Commission approval 
of retirement, pursuant to section 215(d)(1) of the Federal Power Act 
(FPA) and Section 39.5 of the Commission's regulations, of currently-
effective Reliability Standard BAL-004-0 (Time Error Correction). NERC 
explains that since Reliability Standard BAL-004-0 became effective, 
improvements have been made to mandatory Reliability Standards (such as 
the development of Reliability Standards BAL-003-1.1 and BAL-001-2 and 
the Interconnection Reliability Operations and Coordination (IRO) 
Standards) that help ensure continued adherence to frequency 
approximating 60 Hertz over long-term averages and make Reliability 
Standard BAL-004-0 redundant.
    Type of Respondents: Public utilities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \1\: The Commission estimates the 
reduction (due to the retirement of Reliability Standard BAL-004-0) in 
the annual public reporting burden for the information collection as 
follows:
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    \1\ 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.

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                                                                 Number of
  FERC 725R, reductions due to    Number of respondents \2\    responses per   Total number    Average burden hours & cost   Annual burden hours & total
           RD17-1-000                                           respondent     of responses         per response \3\                 annual cost
                                 (1)........................             (2)     (1)x(2)=(3)                           (4)                   (3)x(4)=(5)
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Retirement of current standard   110 (BA 99; RC 11).........              -1            -110  3 hrs. ($167) [(Eng.) 2 hrs.  -330 hrs.; -$18,370 [Eng., -
 BAL-004-0 (currently in FERC-                                                                 ($129); (R.K.) 1 hr. ($38)]    220 hrs., -$14,190; R.K. -
 725R).                                                                                                                               110 hrs., -$4,180]
rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
    Total Reduction (Rounded)..  ...........................  ..............            -110  ............................          -330 hours; -$18,370
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    The reduction to total annual burden and cost will be 330 hours and 
$18,370.
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    \2\ The estimated number of respondents is based on the NERC 
compliance registry as of December 12, 2016. According to the NERC 
compliance registry, there are 99 U.S. balancing authorities (BA) 
and 11 reliability coordinators (RC).
    \3\ The estimates for cost per response are derived using the 
following formula: Burden Hours per Response $/hour = Cost per 
Response. The $64.29/hour figure for an engineer(rounded to $129 for 
two hours in the above table and the $37.75/hour figure for a record 
clerk (rounded to $38) are based on the average salary plus benefits 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm), May 2015, Section 22, Utilities. In the 
burden table, engineering is abbreviated as Eng., and record keeping 
is abbreviated as R.K.
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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

[[Page 22659]]

Commission, including whether the information will have practical 
utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimates 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 
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other forms of information technology.

    Dated: May 10, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-09944 Filed 5-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P