[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 21 (Thursday, January 31, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 703-705]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-00452]


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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

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) and 
submitting the information collection to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review. Any interested person may file comments 
directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the 
Commission as explained below. On September 27, 2018, the Commission 
published a Notice in the Federal Register in Docket No. IC18-19-000 
requesting public comments. The Commission received one public comment 
which is addressed here and in the related submittal to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due March 4, 2019.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by OMB Control No. 1902-
0225, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and 
Regulatory Affairs: [email protected]. Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
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.
    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.\1\
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    \1\ 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

[[Page 704]]

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 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 \2\ 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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    \2\ 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.
    Summary and Response to Public Comment: In response to the Notice 
of Information Collection and Request for Comments published in the 
Federal Register on September 21, 2018, the Commission received one 
comment from Utility Services, Inc. The comment sought clarification on 
certain compliance provisions contained in the Rules of Procedure of 
the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which are 
approved by the Commission. The comment maintained that, depending on 
the Commission's answer, the information collection burden on 
applicable entities associated with the application of the NERC Rules 
of Procedure could be affected.
    The Commission finds this proceeding is not the proper forum to 
request clarification regarding the scope and application of the NERC 
Rules of Procedure. Such requests may be directed to NERC or, more 
formally, through a petition to the Commission proposing changes to the 
NERC Rules of Procedure. Such a request, if filed with the Commission, 
would be addressed after notice and opportunity for comment and the 
development of a record. By contrast, while the comment states that the 
request for clarification is motivated by uncertainty among applicable 
entities (i.e., the commenter's unnamed clients), that assertion is 
unsubstantiated. In addition, the provisions in the NERC Rules of 
Procedure referenced by the commenter were approved by the Commission 
in response to a petition filed by NERC, to which no comments were 
received.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \3\ The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost \4\ 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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    \3\ ``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.
    \4\ 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).
    \5\ 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--Certification of Electric Reliability Organization; Procedures for Electric Reliability Standards
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                                                                             Annual number                   Average burden hours     Estimated total
         Type of respondent            Type of reporting       Number of     of responses    Total number       & cost ($) per      annual burden hrs. &
                                          requirement         respondents   per respondent   of responses     response (rounded)     cost ($) (rounded)
                                     .....................             (A)         (B) \5\     (A) x (B) =  (D)..................  (C) x (D)
                                                                                                       (C)
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Electric Reliability Organization    Self-Assessment......  ..............              .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 Development  ..............               1               1  21,840 hrs.;           21,840 hrs.;
                                                                                                             $1,740,648.            $1,740,648.
                                     Other Reporting......               1               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......  ..............              .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 Development  ..............               1               7  2,340 hrs.; $186,498.  16,380 hrs.;
                                                                                                                                    $1,305,486.
                                     Other Reporting......               7               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...  ..............              .2           281.8  8 hrs.; $637.60......  2,254 hrs.; $179,676.
                                     Reliability                   * 1,409               1           1,409  400 hrs.; $31,880....  563,600 hrs.;
                                      Compliance.                                                                                   $44,918,920.
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[[Page 705]]

 
    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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* Estimated.

    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: January 9, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-00452 Filed 1-30-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P