[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 135 (Monday, July 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32695-32697]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-14908]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD17-4-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities; Comment Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

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

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) 
previously issued a 60-day Notice in the Federal Register requesting 
public comments on the revisions to FERC-725A (Mandatory Reliability 
Standards for the Bulk-Power System), and FERC-725Z (Mandatory 
Reliability Standards: IRO Reliability Standards). The Commission 
received no comments.
    Another unrelated item is currently pending review at the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) under FERC-725A. Only one item per OMB 
Control No. may be pending OMB review at a time. In order to submit 
this material for Docket No. RD17-4 timely to OMB, the package will be 
submitted to OMB under FERC-725Z, and a `placeholder' information 
collection number, FERC-725A(1C) (Mandatory Reliability Standards for 
Bulk-Power System: Reliability Standard TOP-001-4) rather than under 
FERC-725A.
    In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act 
of 1995, the Commission is submitting the FERC-725A(1C) and FERC-725Z 
to the OMB for review of the revised 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.

DATES: Comments on the FERC-725A(1C) and FERC-725Z are due by August 
16, 2017.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control Nos. 
TBD (for FERC-725A(1C)) and 1902-0276 (for FERC-725Z) should be sent 
via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs at: 
[email protected], Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission Desk Officer.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
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], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at 
(202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: FERC-725A(1C) (Mandatory Reliability Standards for Bulk-
Power System: Reliability Standard TOP-001-4), and FERC-725Z (Mandatory 
Reliability Standards: IRO Reliability Standards)
    OMB Control No.: TBD (FERC-725A(1C)) and 1902-0276 (FERC-725Z).
    Type of Request: Revisions to the information collection FERC-725Z 
and implementation of new `placeholder' information collection FERC-
725A(1C), 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 Standards IRO-002-5 and TOP-001-4 and 
the retirement of Reliability Standards IRO-002-4 and TOP-001-3 were 
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 due to Docket No. RD17-
4-000 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.

[[Page 32696]]



                                      Changes Due to Docket No. RD17-4-000
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                                  Number of     Annual  number                  Average  burden    Total annual
   Information  collection      respondents &    of  responses    Total number   hours &  cost    burden hours &
         requirements          type  of entity        per        of responses     per response     total annual
                                     \4\          respondent                          ($)           cost  ($)
                               (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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                                                FERC-725A(1C) \7\
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                                Increases, due to Implementation of TOP-001-4 \8\
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Reporting (R10, R20, & R21),   323 (TOP)......               1             323  11 hrs.;         3,553 hrs.;
 in Yr. 1.                                                                       $707.19.         $228,422.37.
Reporting (R10, R20, & R21),   323 (TOP)......               1             323  3 hrs.; $192.87  969 hrs.;
 in Yr. 2 & ongoing.                                                                              $62,297.01.
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.;
 ongoing.                                                                                         $24,386.50.
Reporting (R23 & R24), in Yr.  99 (BA)........               1              99  8 hrs.; $514.32  792 hrs.;
 1.                                                                                               $50,917.68.
Reporting (R23 & R24), in Yr.  99 (BA)........               1              99  2 hrs.; $128.58  198 hrs.;
 2 & ongoing.                                                                                     $12,729.42.
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.;
 ongoing.                                                                                         $14,949.00.
Increase to FERC-725A(1C) in   ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  5,710 hrs.;
 Year 1.                                                                                          $330,868.80.
Increase to FERC-725A(1C) in   ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  2,209 hrs.;
 Year 2 & ongoing.                                                                                $114,361.93.
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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]) \9\.
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                               Increases, due to Implementation of IRO-002-5 \10\
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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.;
 & ongoing.                                                                                       $1,414.38.
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.;
 ongoing.                                                                                         $1,661.00.
Increase to FERC-725Z in Year  ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  143 hrs.;
 1.                                                                                               $7,733.77.
Increase to FERC-725Z in Year  ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  66 hrs.;
 2 and ongoing.                                                                                   $3,075.38.
TOTAL INCREASE IN YEAR 1, Due  ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  5,853 hrs.;
 To Docket No. RD17-4.                                                                            $338,602.57.
TOTAL INCREASE IN YEAR 2 AND   ...............  ..............  ..............  ...............  2,275 hrs.;
 ONGOING, Due To Docket No.                                                                       $117,437.31.
 RD17-4.
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    (As of 7/5/2017, the total OMB-approved annual burden inventory for

[[Page 32697]]

FERC-725A is 1,642,395 hours; the total OMB-approved annual burden 
inventory for FERC-725Z is 49,331 hours.\11\ Because FERC-725A(1C) is a 
new `placeholder' information collection number, the current inventory 
is 0.)
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    \4\ Our estimates are based on the NERC Compliance Registry of 
12/12/2016, which indicates that, within the United States, there 
are 323 entities registered as TOPs, 99 entities registered as BAs, 
and 11 entities registered as RCs. One entity may be registered as 
having several roles.
    \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). These 
burdens continue in FERC-725A with no change, so a formal submittal 
for FERC-725A will not be made at this time. The changes are being 
submitted under `placeholder' information collection no. FERC-
725A(1C).
    \7\ The new requirements and burden which would normally be 
submitted to OMB under FERC-725A will be submitted under 
`placeholder' information collection number FERC-725A(1C).
    \8\ 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.
    \9\ 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).
    \10\ Requirement R3 (applicable to RCs in ongoing yrs.) covers 
quarterly testing and associated reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.
    \11\ These figures are the total OMB-approved inventory, prior 
to the revisions in Docket No. RD17-4. In addition, as of 7/5/2017, 
there are proposed revisions pending OMB review for the FERC-725A 
(related to the Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in Docket No. RM16-20) 
which are not counted in these OMB-approved inventory figures.
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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.

    Dated: July 6, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-14908 Filed 7-14-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P