[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 211 (Wednesday, October 31, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 54737-54740]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-23770]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC18-18-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-545 and FERC-
549C); Consolidated Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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 collections FERC-545 [Gas Pipeline 
Rates: Rate Change (Non-formal)] and FERC-549C (Standards for Business 
Practices of Interstate Natural

[[Page 54738]]

Gas Pipelines) 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 August 16, 2018, 
requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments on 
either the FERC-545 or the FERC-549C and will make this notation in its 
submittals to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due by November 
30, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0154 (FERC-545) and 1902-0174 (FERC-549C), 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. IC18-18-000, 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], by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at 
(202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 

FERC-545, Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-formal)

    Title: FERC-545, Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-formal).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0154.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-545 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: FERC-545 is required to implement sections 4, 5, and 16 
of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), (15 U.S.C. 717c-717o, Pub. L. 75688, 52 
Stat. 822 and 830). NGA sections 4, 5, and 16 authorize the Commission 
to inquire into rate structures and methodologies and to set rates at a 
just and reasonable level. Specifically, a natural gas company must 
obtain Commission authorization for all rates and charges made, 
demanded, or received in connection with the transportation or sale of 
natural gas in interstate commerce.
    Under the NGA, a natural gas company's rates must be just and 
reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential. The 
Commission may act under different sections of the NGA to effect a 
change in a natural gas company's rates. When the Commission reviews 
rate increases that a natural gas company has proposed, it is subject 
to the requirement of section 4(e) of the NGA. Under section 4(e), the 
natural gas company bears the burden of proving that its proposed rates 
are just and reasonable. On the other hand, when the Commission seeks 
to impose its own rate determination, it must do so in compliance with 
section 5(a) of the NGA. Under section 5, the Commission must first 
establish that its alternative rate proposal is both just and 
reasonable.
    Section 16 of the NGA states that the Commission ``shall have the 
power to perform any and all acts, and to prescribe, issue, make, 
amend, and rescind such orders, rules, and regulations as it may find 
necessary or appropriate to carry out provisions of [the NGA].'' In 
other words, section 16 of the NGA grants the Commission the power to 
define accounting, technical and trade terms, prescribe forms, 
statements, declarations or reports, and to prescribe rules and 
regulations.
    Pipelines adjust their tariffs to meet market and customer needs. 
The Commission's review of these proposed changes is required to ensure 
rates remain just and reasonable and that services are not provided in 
an unduly or preferential manner. The Commission's regulations in 18 
CFR part 154 specify what changes are allowed and the procedures for 
requesting Commission approval.
    The Commission uses information in FERC-545 to examine rates, 
services, and tariff provisions related to natural gas transportation 
and storage services. The following filing categories are part of FERC-
545: (1) Tariff Filings--filings regarding proposed changes to a 
pipeline's tariff (including Cost Recovery Mechanisms for Modernization 
of Natural Gas Facilities filings in Docket No. PL15-1) and any related 
compliance filings; (2) Rate Filings--rate-related filings under NGA 
sections 4 and 5 and any related compliance filings and settlements; 
(3) Informational Reports; (4) Negotiated Rate and Non-Conforming 
Agreement Filings; and (6) Market-Based Rates for Storage Filings (Part 
284.501-505). One-time compliance filings mandated in Order No. 587-W 
(Docket Nos. RM96-1-038 and RM14-2-003) and Order No. 801 (Docket No. 
RM14-21-000) are excluded from this data collection renewal.
    Type of Respondents: Natural gas pipelines under the jurisdiction 
of NGA.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \1\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost for the information collection as:
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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.

[[Page 54739]]



                                                 FERC-545--Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal)
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                                             Average number      Total     Average burden hours and                                          Cost per
                                Number of   of responses per   number of    cost ($) (rounded) per   Total annual burden hours and total  respondent ($)
                               respondents     respondent      responses       response \3\ \4\           annual cost ($) (rounded)        (rounded) \5\
                                       (1)   (2) = (3) / (1)         (3)  (4)......................  (3) * (4) = (5)....................       (5) / (1)
                                                         \2\
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Tariff Filings...............          124             2.597         322  211 hrs.; $24,054........  67,942 hrs.; $7,745,388............         $62,463
Rate Filings.................           17             1.412          24  354 hrs.; $40,356........  8,496 hrs.; $968,544...............          56,973
Informational Reports........          101             2.347         237  235 hrs.; $26,790........  55,695 hrs.; $6,349,230............          62,864
Negotiated Rates & Non-                 65             9.923         645  233 hrs.; $26,562........  150,285 hrs.; $17,132,490..........         263,577
 Conforming Agreement Filings.
Market-Base Rates for Storage            4                 1           4  230 hrs.; $26,220........  920 hrs.; $104,880.................          26,220
 Filings.
    Total....................  ...........  ................       1,232  .........................  283,338 hrs.; $32,300,532..........  ..............
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FERC-549C, Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas 
Pipelines
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    \2\ The average number of responses per respondent was 
calculated by dividing the total number of responses (Column 3) in 
each category by the number of respondents (Column 1).
    \3\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided in 
this section is based on the salary figures (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) for May 2017 posted by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector. The hourly estimates for 
salary plus benefits are:
    Computer and Mathematical (Occupation Code: 15-0000), $63.25.
    Economist (Occupation Code: 19-3011), $71.98.
    Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000), $143.68.
    Accountants and Auditors: 13-2011), $56.59.
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is calculated 
weighting each of the aforementioned wage categories as follows: 
$63.25 (0.05) + $71.98 (0.3) + $143.68 (0.6) + $56.59 (0.05) = 
$113.79. The Commission rounds it to $114/hour.
    \4\ The average costs are rounded to the nearest dollar.
    \5\ The average costs per respondent are rounded to the nearest 
dollar.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0174.
    Abstract: The business practice standards under FERC-549C are 
required to carry out the Commission's policies in accordance with the 
general authority in sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, and 20 of the 
Natural Gas Act (NGA), \6\ and sections 311, 501, and 504 of the 
Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA). \7\ The Commission adopted these 
business practice standards in order to update and standardize the 
natural gas industry's business practices and procedures in addition to 
improve the efficiency of the gas market and the means by which the gas 
industry conducts business across the interstate pipeline grid.
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    \6\ 15 U.S.C. 717c-717w.
    \7\ 15 U.S.C. 3301-3432.
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    In various orders since 1996, the Commission has adopted 
regulations to standardize the business practices and communication 
methodologies of interstate natural gas pipelines. These standards were 
proposed by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB \8\) in 
order to create a more integrated and efficient pipeline industry.\9\ 
Generally, when and if NAESB-proposed standards (e.g. consensus 
standards developed by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ)) are approved 
by the Commission, the Commission incorporates them by reference into 
its approval. The process of standardizing business practices in the 
natural gas industry began with a Commission initiative to standardize 
electronic communication of capacity release transactions. The 
outgrowth of the initial Commission standardization efforts produced 
working groups composed of all segments of the natural gas industry 
and, ultimately, the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB), a consensus 
organization open to all members of the gas industry, was created. GISB 
was succeeded by NAESB.
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    \8\ A standards organization accredited by the American National 
Standards Institute (ANSI).
    \9\ This series of orders began with the Commission's issuance 
of Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas 
Pipelines, Order No. 587, FERC Stats. & Regs. 31,038 (1996).
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    NAESB is a voluntary non-profit organization comprised of members 
from the retail and wholesale natural gas and electric industries. 
NAESB's mission is to take the lead in developing standards across 
these industries to simplify and expand electronic communication and to 
streamline business practices. NAESB's core objective is to facilitate 
a seamless North American marketplace for natural gas, as recognized by 
its customers, the business community, industry participants, and 
regulatory bodies.
    NAESB has divided its efforts among four quadrants including two 
retail quadrants, a wholesale electric quadrant, and the WGQ. The NAESB 
WGQ standards are a product of this effort. Industry participants 
seeking additional or amended standards (to include principles, 
definitions, standards, data elements, process descriptions, and 
technical implementation instructions) must submit a request to the 
NAESB office, detailing the change, so that the appropriate process may 
take place to amend the standards.
    Failure to collect the FERC-549C data would prevent the Commission 
from monitoring and properly evaluating pipeline transactions and/or 
meeting statutory obligations under both the NGA and NGPA.
    Type of Respondent: Natural gas pipelines under the jurisdictions 
of NGA and NGPA.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost for the information collection as:

[[Page 54740]]



                                     FERC-549C: Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines
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                                             Average  number
                                Number of     of  responses      Total     Average  burden  hrs. &    Total annual burden  hours & total     Cost per
                               respondents   per  respondent   number of   cost  ($)  per response             annual cost  ($)             respondent
                                                  \10\         responses             \11\                                                 (rounded)  ($)
                                       (1)   (2) = (3) / (1)         (3)  (4)......................  (3) * (4) = (5)....................       (5) / (1)
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Standards for Business                 165              2.97         490  96 hrs.; $8,928..........  47,040 hrs.; $4,374,720............         $26,513
 Practices of Interstate
 Natural Gas Pipelines.
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    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether either 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 estimates of the burden and 
costs of the collection of information, including the validity of the 
methodology and assumptions used on each collection; (3) ways to 
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of either information 
collection; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of either 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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    \10\ The average number of responses per respondent were 
calculated by dividing the total number of responses (Column 3) in 
each category by the number of responses (Column 1).
    \11\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided 
in this section is based on the salary figures (http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) for May 2017 posted by the Bureau of 
Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector. The hourly estimates for 
salary plus benefits are:
    Petroleum Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2171), $71.62
    Computer Systems Analyst (Occupation Code: 15-1121), $67.82
     Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000), $143.68
    Economist (Occupation Code: 19-3011), $71.98
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is calculated 
weighting each of the aforementioned wage categories as follows: 
$71.62 (0.3) + $143.68 (0.3) + $67.82 (0.15) + $71.98 (0.25) = 
$92.76. The Commission rounds it to $93/hour.

    Dated: October 25, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-23770 Filed 10-30-18; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P