[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 145 (Friday, July 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 35630-35632]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-16015]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD18-4-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G2 \1\); 
Comment Request; Revision
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    \1\ Commission staff is using the FERC-725G2 is a temporary 
``place holder'' information collection for this 30-day notice. 
FERC-725G information collection (OMB Control No. 1902-0252) is 
pending review at OMB in an unrelated item and only one item per OMB 
Control No. can be pending OMB review at a time. In order to submit 
this timely, to OMB, we are using a temporary place holder.
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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 submitting its information collection, FERC-725G2 \1\ 
(Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: PRC Reliability 
Standards) 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 on May 16, 2018, requesting public 
comments. The Commission received no comments on the FERC-725G2 and is 
making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due August 27, 
2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No.: 
1902-0281, 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 202-395-8528. A copy of the comments should 
also be sent to the Commission, in Docket No. RD18-4-000, by either of 
the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Website: 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-725G2, Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: 
PRC Reliability Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0281.
    Type of Request: Revision of FERC-725G2 information collection 
requirements as discussed in Docket No. RD18-4.
    Abstract: The information collected by the FERC-725G2 is required 
to implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the Federal 
Power Act (FPA) (16 U.S.C. 824o). Section 215 of the FPA buttresses the 
Commission's

[[Page 35631]]

efforts to strengthen the reliability of the interstate grid.
    On March 16, 2018, the North American Electric Reliability 
Corporation (NERC, the Commission-approved ERO) submitted for 
Commission approval proposed Reliability Standard PRC-025-2. 
Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 addresses setting load-responsive 
protective relays associated with generation facilities at a level to 
prevent unnecessary tripping of generators during a system disturbance 
for conditions that do not pose a risk of damage to the associated 
equipment. Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 also improves upon the 
retired Reliability Standard PRC-025-1 \2\ by addressing certain relay 
setting application issues and by clarifying certain terminology and 
references. NERC requested that the Commission approve the Reliability 
Standard and find that the approved standard is just, reasonable, not 
unduly discriminatory or preferential, and in the public interest. NERC 
also requested that the Commission approve: (i) The associated 
Implementation Plan; (ii) the associated Violation Risk Factors (VRFs) 
and Violation Severity Levels (VSLs), which remain unchanged from 
Reliability Standard PRC-025-1; and (iii) the retirement of currently-
effective Reliability Standard PRC-025-1.
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    \2\ http://www.nerc.net/standardsreports/standardssummary.aspx.
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    Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 became effective on 7/1/2018, the 
first day of the first calendar quarter after the effective date of the 
applicable governmental authority's order approving the standard. 
NERC's Implementation Plan approved phased-in compliance dates after 
the effective date of Reliability Standard PRC-025-2.\3\
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    \3\ See NERC's Implementation Plan at https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Project%20201604%20Modifications%20to%20PRC0251%20DL/Project_2016_04_Implementation_Plan_Clean_01092018.pdf.
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    On May 2, 2018, pursuant to the relevant authority delegated to the 
Director, Office of Electric Reliability under 18 CFR 385.713 (2017) 
Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 and the retirement of Reliability 
Standard PRC-025-1 was approved.
    Type of Respondents: Generator Owner (GO), Transmission Owner (TO), 
and Distribution Provider (DP).
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \4\ Details follow on the changes in 
Docket No. RD18-4-000 to Reliability Standard FERC-725G2.
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    \4\ 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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    Net Effect to Burden for FERC-725G2: Due to the retirement of 
Reliability Standard PRC-025-1 and implementation of Reliability 
Standard PRC-025-2, the number of respondents is reduced by 25, and the 
number of annual burden hours is reduced by 550 hours. (The net changes 
are due to a change in the number of affected entities on the NERC 
Registry.) The burden per respondent for Reliability Standard PRC-025-2 
remains 22 hours (total for both one-time and ongoing burden, similar 
to the now-retired Reliability Standard PRC-025-1.)

                                     FERC-725G2, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-2, in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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                                                            Annual number                    Average burden hours   Total annual burden
              Entity                Number of respondents   of responses    Annual number   and cost per response     hours and total        Cost per
                                             \5\           per respondent    of responses          \6\ ($)            annual cost ($)     respondent ($)
                                    (1)..................             (2)  (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)..................  (3) * (4) = (5).....  (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review & documentation   994 GO/TO/DP.........               1              994  20 hrs.; $1,298.20...  19,880 hours;               $1,298.20
 of relay settings to ensure                                                                                        $1,290,410.80.
 compliance.
(On-going) Record Retention (of     994 GO/TO/DP.........               1              994  2 hrs.; $62.32.......  1,988 hours;                    62.32
 compliance records for R1 and M1,                                                                                  $61,946.08.
 for 3 years or until mitigation
 complete).
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    \5\ According to the NERC compliance registry as of March 9, 
2018, NERC has registered 415 distribution providers (DP), 985 
generator owners (GO) and 336 transmission owners (TO). However, 
under NERC's compliance registration program, entities may be 
registered for multiple functions, so these numbers incorporate some 
double counting. The number of unique entities responding will be 
approximately 994 entities registered as a transmission owner, a 
distribution provider, or a generator owner that is also a 
transmission owner and/or a distribution owner. This estimate 
assumes all of the unique entities apply load-responsive protective 
relays.
    \6\ The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2017, for two positions 
involved in the reporting and recordkeeping requirements. These 
figures include salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) and are: Engineer: $64.91/hour, and File Clerk: 
$31.16/hour. Hourly cost for the engineer are used for the one-time 
costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used for the ongoing 
record retention.

                                FERC-725G, Mandatory Reliability Standard PRC-025-1, Retirement in Docket No. RD18-4-000
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                                                          Annual number                   Average burden hours  Total annual burden
              Entity                     Number of        of responses    Annual number     and cost \7\ per      hours and total    Cost per respondent
                                        respondents      per respondent    of responses       response ($)        annual cost ($)          \8\ ($)
                                   (1).................             (2)  (1) * (2) = (3)  (4).................  (3) * (4) = (5)....  (5) / (1) = (6)
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(One-time) Review & documentation  1,019 GO/DP/TO......               1            1,019  20 hrs.; $1,192.40    20,380 hours;        $1,192.40
 of relay settings to ensure                                                               (reduction).          $1,215,055.60        (reduction).
 compliance,(reduction).                                                                                         (reduction).
(On-going) Record Retention (of    1,019 GO/DP/TO......               1            1,019  2 hrs.; $57.90        2,038 hours;         57.90 (reduction).
 compliance records for R1 and                                                             (reduction).          $59,000.10
 M1, for 3 years or until                                                                                        (reduction).
 mitigation complete) (reduction).
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[[Page 35632]]

    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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    \7\ GO = Generator Owner, DP = Distribution Provider, TO = 
Transmission Owner, each of which applies load-responsive protective 
relays at the terminals of the Elements listed in the proposed 
standard at section 3.2 (Facilities).
    \8\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based 
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information May 2014, (at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm#17-0000) for an electrical 
engineer ($59.62/hour for review and documentation), and for a file 
clerk ($28.95/hour for record retention). Those figures (and the 
number of respondents) were used when the standard was approved and 
added to the OMB inventory. Hourly cost for the engineer are used 
for the one-time costs, and hourly cost for the file clerk are used 
for the ongoing record retention.

    Dated: July 19, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-16015 Filed 7-26-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P