[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 188 (Thursday, September 27, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 48813-48814]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21053]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC18-19-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725); Comment 
Request; Extension September 21, 2018

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

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 currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725 (Certification of Electric Reliability 
Organization; Procedures for Electric Reliability Standards).

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due November 26, 
2018.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC18-19-
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-725, Certification of Electric Reliability 
Organization; Procedures for Electric Reliability Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0225.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-725 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.\1\
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    \1\ As of 9/19/2018, a package for the ``non-substantive'' 
changes to FERC-725, implemented in the Final Rule in Docket No. 
RM18-2-000, is pending review at the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB). The burden estimates provided in this Notice use those same 
burden estimates.
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    Abstract: The FERC-725 contains the following information 
collection elements:
    Self Assessment and ERO (Electric Reliability Organization) 
Application: The Commission requires the ERO to submit to FERC a 
performance assessment report every five years. The next assessment is 
due in 2019. Each Regional Entity submits a performance assessment 
report to the ERO.
    Submitting an application to become the ERO is also part of this 
collection.\2\
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    \2\ The Commission does not expect any new ERO applications to 
be submitted in the next five years and is not including any burden 
for this requirement in the burden estimate. FERC still seeks to 
renew the regulations pertaining to a new ERO application under this 
renewal but is expecting the burden to be zero for the foreseeable 
future. 18 CFR 39.3 contains the regulation pertaining to ERO 
applications.
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    Reliability Assessments: 18 CFR 39.11 requires the ERO to assess 
the reliability and adequacy of the Bulk-Power System in North America. 
Subsequently, the ERO must report to the Commission on its findings. 
Regional entities perform similar assessments within individual 
regions. Currently the ERO submits to FERC three assessments each year: 
Long term, winter, and summer. In addition, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC, the Commission-approved ERO) also 
submits various other assessments as needed.
    Reliability Standards Development: Under section 215 of the FPA, 
the ERO is charged with developing Reliability Standards. Regional 
Entities may also develop regional specific standards.
    Reliability Compliance: Reliability Standards are mandatory and 
enforceable upon approval by the Commission. In addition to the 
specific information collection requirements contained in each standard 
(cleared under other information collections), there are general 
compliance, monitoring and enforcement

[[Page 48814]]

information collection requirements imposed on applicable entities. 
Audits, spot checks, self-certifications, exception data submittals, 
violation reporting, and mitigation plan confirmation are included in 
this area.
    Stakeholder Survey: The ERO uses a stakeholder survey to solicit 
feedback from registered entities \3\ in preparation for its three year 
and five year self-performance assessment. The Commission assumes that 
the ERO will perform another survey prior to the 2019 self-assessment.
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    \3\ A ``registered entity'' is an entity that is registered with 
the ERO. All Bulk-Power System owners, operators and users are 
required to register with the ERO. Registration is the basis for 
determining the Reliability Standards with which an entity must 
comply. See http://www.nerc.com/page.php?cid=3%7C25 for more 
details.
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    Other Reporting: This category refers to all other reporting 
requirements imposed on the ERO or regional entities in order to comply 
with the Commission's regulations. For example, FERC may require NERC 
to submit a special reliability assessment. This category captures 
these types of one-time filings required of NERC or the Regions. The 
Commission implements its responsibilities through 18 CFR part 39.
    Type of Respondent: Electric Reliability Organization, Regional 
entities, and registered entities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \4\: The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost \5\ for this information collection in the table 
below. For hourly cost (for wages and benefits), we estimate that 70% 
of the time is spent by Electrical Engineers (code 17-2071, at $66.90/
hr.), 20% of the time is spent by Legal (code 23-0000, at $143.68/hr.), 
and 10% by Office and Administrative Support (code 43-0000, at $41.34/
hr.). Therefore, we use the weighted hourly cost (for wages and 
benefits) of $79.70 {or [(0.70) * ($66.90/hr.)] + [(0.20) * $143.68/
hr.] + [(0.10) * $41.34/hr.]{time} .
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    \4\ ``Burden'' is 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 Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \5\ Costs (for wages and benefits) are based on wage figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for May 2017 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits information (at 
https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).
    \6\ In instances where the number of responses per respondent is 
``1,'' the Commission Staff thinks that the actual number of 
responses varies and cannot be estimated accurately.

                                                                        FERC-725
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                                                                               Annual number                  Average burden hours     Estimated total
        Type of respondent            Type of reporting        Number of       of responses    Total number      & cost ($) per      annual burden hours
                                         requirement          respondents     per respondent   of responses    response (rounded)   & cost ($) (rounded)
                                                          (A)                        (B) \6\     (A) x (B) =  (D).................  (C) x (D)
                                                                                                         (C)
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Electric Reliability Organization   Self-Assessment.....  1.................              .2              .2  4,160 hrs.; $331,552  832 hrs.; $66,310.
 (ERO).
                                    Reliability           ..................             5.5             5.5  15,600 hrs.;          85,800 hrs.;
                                     Assessments.                                                              $1,243,320.           $6,838,260.
                                    Reliability           ..................               2               2  20,280 hrs.;          40,560 hrs.;
                                     Compliance.                                                               $1,616,316.           $3,232,632.
                                    Standards             ..................               1               1  21,840 hrs.;          21,840 hrs.;
                                     Development.                                                              $1,740,648.           $1,740,648.
                                    Other Reporting.....  ..................               1               1  2,080 hrs.; $165,776  2,080 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $165,776.
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    ERO, Sub-Total................  ....................  ..................  ..............  ..............  ....................  151,112 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $12,043,626.
Regional Entities.................  Self-Assessment.....  7.................              .2             1.4  4,160 hrs.; $331,552  5,824 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $464,173.
                                    Reliability           ..................               1               7  15,600 hrs.;          109,200 hrs.;
                                     Assessments.                                                              $1,243,320.           $8,703,240.
                                    Reliability           ..................               1               7  37,440 hrs.;          262,080 hrs.;
                                     Compliance.                                                               $2,983,968.           $20,887,776.
                                    Standards             ..................               1               7  2,340 hrs.; $186,498  16,380 hrs.;
                                     Development.                                                                                    $1,305,486.
                                    Other Reporting.....  ..................               1               7  1,040 hrs.; $82,888.  7,280 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $580,216.
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    Regional Entities, Sub-Total..  ....................  ..................  ..............  ..............  ....................  400,764 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $31,940,891.
Registered Entities...............  Stakeholder Survey..  estimated 1,409...              .2           281.8  8 hrs.; $637.60.....  2,254 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $179,676.
                                    Reliability           ..................               1           1,409  400 hrs.; $31,880...  563,600 hrs.;
                                     Compliance.                                                                                     $44,918,920.
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    Registered Entities, Sub-Total  ....................  ..................  ..............  ..............  ....................  565,854 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $45,098,596.
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        Total Burden Hrs. and Cost  ....................  ..................  ..............  ..............  ....................  1,117,730 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                     $89,083,113.
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    As indicated in the table, there was a decrease from eight to seven 
in the number of Regional Entities because the Southwest Power Pool 
dissolved in 2018. Other changes from previous estimates are based on 
new data in the proposed NERC 2019 Business Plan and Budget to reflect 
changes in the number of FTEs (full-time equivalent employees) working 
in applicable areas. Reviewing the NERC Compliance database, we 
determined the number of unique U.S. entities is 1,409 (compared to the 
previous value of 1,446). Lastly, in several instances, the amount of 
time an FTE devotes to a given function may have been increased or 
decreased.
    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.

    Dated: September 21, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-21053 Filed 9-26-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P