[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 249 (Monday, December 31, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 67717-67719]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-28411]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC18-21-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G); 
Consolidated 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-725G (Reliability 
Standards for the Bulk Power System: PRC Reliability Standards, OMB 
Control No. 1902-0252) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review of the information collection requirements.
    As part of this extension request, FERC will transfer the 
information collection requirements and burden of the FERC-725G1 (OMB 
Control No. 1902-0284) and FERC-725G4 (OMB Control No. 1902-0282) into 
FERC-725G. FERC-725G1 and FERC-725G4 information collections will 
eventually be discontinued.
    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 published a Notice in the Federal 
Register on 10/17/2018, requesting public comments. The Commission 
received no comments on the FERC-725G (or the transfers of FERC-725G1 
and FERC-725G4) and will make this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by January 30, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0252 (FERC-725G), 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. IC18-21-000, 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: 
    Title: FERC-725G (Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: 
PRC Reliability Standards). \1\
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    \1\ The current information collection requirements of the FERC-
725G1 (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: 
Reliability Standard PRC-004-3; OMB Control No. 1902-0284) and FERC-
725G4 (Mandatory Reliability Standards: Reliability Standard PRC-
010-1 (Undervoltage Load Shedding); OMB Control No. 1902-0282) are 
being transferred into the FERC-725G.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0252.
    Type of Request: Request a three-year extension of the FERC-725G 
information collection requirements (including the information 
collection requirements transferred from the FERC-725G1 and FERC-725G4) 
with no changes to the current reporting requirements.
    Abstract: The information collected by the FERC-725G is required to 
implement the statutory provisions of section 215 of the Federal Power 
Act (FPA).\2\ Section 215 of the FPA buttresses the Commission's 
efforts to strengthen the reliability of the interstate bulk power 
grid.
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    \2\ 16 U.S.C. 824o.
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    The FERC-725G information collection currently contains the 
reporting and recordkeeping requirements for the following Reliability 
Standards:
     PRC-002-2 (Disturbance Monitoring and Reporting 
Requirements).
     PRC-006-2 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding).
     PRC-012-2 (Remedial Action Schemes).
     PRC-019-1 (Coordination of Generating Unit or Plant 
Capabilities, Voltage Regulating Controls, and Protection).
     PRC-023-4 (Transmission Relay Loadability).
     PRC-024-1 (Generator Frequency and Voltage Protective 
Relay Settings).
     PRC-025-1 (Generator Relay Loadability).
     PRC-026-1 (Relay Performance During Stable Power Swings).
     PRC-027-1 (Coordination of Protection Systems for 
Performance During Faults).
    Additionally, the information collection requirements of the 
following Reliability Standards will be transferred into FERC-725G:

[[Page 67718]]

     PRC-004-5(i) \3\ (Protection System Misoperation 
Identification and Correction) and
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    \3\ This standard is currently contained in the FERC-725G1 
information collection. FERC-725G1 will eventually be discontinued.
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     PRC-010-2 \4\ (Undervoltage Load Shedding).
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    \4\ This standard is currently contained in the FERC-725G4 
information collection. FERC-725G4 will eventually be discontinued.
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    Each of these Reliability Standards has three components that 
impose burden upon affected industry:
     Requirements (e.g., denoted in each Reliability Standard 
as R1, R2. . .).
     Measures (e.g., denoted in each Reliability Standard as 
M1, M2. . .).
     Evidence Retention.
    These three components can be reviewed for the Reliability 
Standards in NERC petitions in FERC's eLibrary system (http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp) or on NERC's own website 
(www.nerc.com).
    Type of Respondents: Transmission owners, generator owners, 
distribution providers, planning coordinators and transmission 
planners.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden and cost \6\ for the information collection as:
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    \5\ 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.
    \6\ The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2017. Unless otherwise 
specified, this figure includes salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) for an Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2071, 
$66.90/hour) and an Information and Record Clerk (Occupation Code: 
43-4199, $39.68/hour). All of the reporting requirements use the 
electrical engineer rate for cost calculation. Similarly, all of the 
record-keeping requirements use the information and record clerk 
rate for cost calculation.
    \7\ GO = generator owner, TO = transmission owner, DP = 
distribution planner; PC = planning coordinator, TP = transmission 
planners, RC = Reliability Coordinator.
    \8\ The average costs are rounded to the nearest dollar.
    \9\ Reliability Standard PRC-004-5(i) is an updated standard 
that neither added nor removed reporting and record keeping 
requirements (and corresponding burden) as compared to Reliability 
Standards PRC-004-3 and PRC-004-4.
    \10\ The reporting requirements for Reliability Standard PRC-
004-5(i) are being reduced by 2 hours/response (annually, to 8 hrs. 
rather than 10) due to completion of a one-time requirement imposed 
by the Order in Docket No. RD14-14-000.
    \11\ This hourly figure was revised from the 60-day public 
notice from 0 hours/response to 1 hour/response. This results in a 
total annual burden of 738 hours for Reliability Standard PRC-019-2.
    \12\ This hourly figure was revised from the 60-day public 
notice from 0 hours/response to 1 hour/response. This results in a 
total annual burden of 738 hours for Reliability Standard PRC-024-1.

                                                              FERC-725G: Mandatory Reliability Standards: PRC Reliability Standards
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                                                                                   Annual
                                                                                  number of                                                                                           Cost per
       Reliability standards                 Number of respondents \7\            responses   Total number     Average burden & cost ($)       Total annual burden hours & total     respondent
                                                                                     per      of responses      (rounded) per response             annual cost ($) (rounded)          (rounded)
                                                                                 respondent                                                                                              ($)
                                    (1).......................................           (2)   (1) * (2) =  (4) \8\.......................  (3) * (4) = (5).......................     (5) / (1)
                                                                                                       (3)
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                                                                                     Reporting Requirements
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PRC-023-4.........................  741 (TO, GO, DP, PC)......................             1           741  42.445 hrs.; $2,840...........  31,452 hrs.; $2,104,139...............        $2,840
PRC-002-2.........................  521 (TO, GO)..............................             1           521  73.729 hrs.; $4,932...........  38,413 hrs.; $2,569,830...............         4,932
PRC-006-2.........................  80 (TO, DP)...............................             1            80  47 hrs.; $3,144...............  3,760 hrs.; $251,544..................         3,144
PRC-012-2.........................  3,291 (RC, PC, TO, GO, DP)................             1         3,291  23.746 hrs.; $1,589...........  78,147 hrs.; $5,228,034...............         1,589
PRC-019-1.........................  738 (GO, TO)..............................             1           738  17 hrs.; $1,137...............  12,546 hrs.; $839,327.................         1,137
PRC-024-1.........................  738 (GO)..................................             1           738  17 hrs.; $1,137...............  12,546 hrs.; $839,327.................         1,137
PRC-025-1.........................  1,019 (GO, TO, DP)........................             1         1,019  6.622 hrs.; $443..............  6,748 hrs.; $451,441..................           443
PRC-026-1.........................  1,092 (GO, PC, TO)........................             1         1,092  7.868 hrs.; $526..............  8,592 hrs.; $574,805..................           526
PRC-027-1.........................  1,727 (TO, GO, DP)........................             1         1,727  19.757 hrs.; $1,322...........  34,120 hrs.; $2,282,628...............         1,322
PRC-004-5(i) \9\ (formerly in FERC- 648 (TO, GO, DP)..........................             1           648  8 hrs.; $535 \10\.............  5,184 hrs.; $346,810..................           535
 725G1).
PRC-010-2 (formerly in FERC-725G4)  26 (PC, TP, DP)...........................             1            26  36 hrs.; $2,408...............  936 hrs.; $62,618.....................         2,408
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                                                                        Record-Keeping (Evidence Retention) Requirements
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PRC-023-4.........................  741 (TO, GO, DP, PC)......................             1           741  513.858 hrs.; $20,390.........  380,769 hrs.; $15,108,914.............        20,390
PRC-002-2.........................  521 (TO, GO)..............................             1           521  31.599 hrs.; $1,254...........  16,463 hrs.; $653,252.................         1,254
PRC-006-2.........................  80 (TO, DP)...............................             1            80  5 hrs.; $198..................  400 hrs.; $15,872.....................           198
PRC-012-2.........................  3,291 (RC, PC, TO, GO, DP)................             1         3,291  11.754 hrs.; $466.............  38,684 hrs.; $1,534,981...............           466
PRC-019-2.........................  738 (GO, TO)..............................             1           738  1 hr.; $40 \11\...............  738 hrs.; $29,284.....................            40
PRC-024-1.........................  738 (GO)..................................             1           738  1 hr.; $40 \12\...............  738 hrs.; $29,284.....................            40
PRC-025-1.........................  1,019 (GO, TO, DP)........................             1         1,019  2.044 hrs.; $81...............  2,083 hrs.; $82,653...................            81
PRC-026-1.........................  1,092 (GO, PC, TO)........................             1         1,092  12 hrs.; $476.................  13,104 hrs.; $519,967.................           476
PRC-027-1.........................  1,727 (TO, GO, DP)........................             1         1,727  15.854 hrs.; $629.............  27,380 hrs.; $1,086,438...............           629
PRC-004-5(i) (formerly in FERC-     648 (TO, GO, DP)..........................             1           648  12 hrs.; $476.................  7,776 hrs.; $308,552..................           476
 725G1).
PRC-010-2 (formerly in FERC-725G4)  26 (PC, TP, DP)...........................             1            26  12 hrs.; $476.................  312 hrs.; $12,380.....................           476
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    Subtotal for Reporting          ..........................................  ............  ............  ..............................  232,444 hrs.; $15,550,503.............
     Requirements.
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    Subtotal for Record-keeping     ..........................................  ............  ............  ..............................  488,447 hrs.; $19,381,577 \13\........
     Requirements.
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[[Page 67719]]

 
        Total.....................  ..........................................  ............  ............  ..............................  720,891 hrs.; $34,932,080 \13\........
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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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    \13\ These hour and cost figures were updated from cost posited 
in the 60-day notice based due to updated hour and cost figures 
related to Reliability Standards PRC-019-2 and PRC-024-1.

    Dated: December 21, 2018.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-28411 Filed 12-28-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P