[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 199 (Tuesday, October 17, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48226-48227]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-22472]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC17-13-000]


Commission Information Collection Activity (FERC-717); Comment 
Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Comment request.

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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 submitting its information collection, FERC-717, (Open Access 
Same-Time Information System and Standards for Business Practices and 
Communication Protocol) which will be submitted to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for a 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 published Notice in the Federal 
Register in Docket No. IC17-13-000, (82 FR 37580, 8/11/2017) requesting 
public comments. FERC received no comments in response to the Notice 
and is indicating that in its submittal to the OMB.

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

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by OMB Control No. 1902-
0173, 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. IC17-13-000 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-717, Open Access Same-Time information System and 
Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0173.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of the FERC-717 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: The Commission directs all public utilities that own, 
control or operate facilities for transmitting energy in interstate 
commerce to provide certain types of information regarding their 
transmission operations on an Open Access Same-time Information System 
(OASIS). The Commission does not believe that open-access 
nondiscriminatory transmission services can be completely realized 
until it removes real-world obstacles that prevent transmission 
customers from competing effectively with the Transmission Provider. 
One of the obstacles is unequal access to transmission information. The 
Commission believes that transmission customers must have simultaneous 
access to the same information available to the Transmission Provider 
if truly nondiscriminatory transmission services are to be a reality.
    The Commission also established Standards of Conduct requiring that 
personnel engaged in transmission system operations function 
independently from personnel engaged in marketing functions. The 
Standards of Conduct were designed to prevent employees of a public 
utility (or any of its affiliates) engaged in marketing functions from 
preferential access to OASIS-related information or from engaging in 
unduly discriminatory business practices. Companies were required to 
separate their transmission operations/reliability functions from their 
marketing/merchant functions and prevent system operators from 
providing merchant employees and employees of affiliates with 
transmission-related information not available to all customers at the 
same time through public posting on the OASIS.
    Type of Respondents: Transmission Owners and Transmission 
Operators.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \1\ The Commission estimates an 
adjustment in the annual public reporting burden for the FERC-717. The 
adjustment is due to Transmission Providers being allowed to file 
responses jointly or individually. The Transmission Provider may 
delegate this responsibility to a Responsible Party such as another 
Transmission Provider, an Independent System Operator, a Regional 
Transmission Group, or a Regional Reliability Council. The number 
comprise two separate entities: Transmission Owners and Transmission 
Operators. The responses submitted are our best estimate of the 
Transmission Operators and remaining individual Transmission Owners. 
The rationale is that some Transmission Owners have elected to turn 
over operational control of their collective transmission systems to 
Transmission Operators, including RTOs/ISOs (as authorized in 18 CFR 
37.5). These Transmission Operators offer OASIS access to the 
collective systems facilitating a single OASIS transmission request 
serving multiple transmission systems. As a result of

[[Page 48227]]

these efficiency gains, the lower respondent count is appropriate.
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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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    As a result of the efficiency gains, and an overestimate of the 
respondents in our past request, we are submitting a more accurate 
number of respondents. The estimate below reflects the work associated 
with the current information collection requirements:

                   FERC-717, Open Access Same-Time Information System and Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols
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                                                     Annual  number
                                        Number of     of  responses   Total  number  Average burden hours and cost per    Total annual burden hours and
Information collection requirements    respondents         per        of  responses             response \2\                    total annual cost
                                                       respondent
                                                (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)..............................  (3) * (4) = (5)
                                                                                (3)
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FERC-717...........................             170               1             170  30 hrs.; $2,295..................  5,100 hrs.; $390,150.
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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; 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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    \2\ The Commission staff thinks that the average respondent for 
this collection is similarly situated to the Commission, in terms of 
salary plus benefits. Based upon FERC's 2017 annual average of 
$158,754 (for salary plus benefits), the average hourly cost is 
$76.50/hour.

    Dated: October 11, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-22472 Filed 10-16-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P