[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 56 (Friday, March 22, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 10820-10821]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-05494]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. IC19-18-000]
Commission Information Collection Activities (Ferc-740); Comment
Request; Extension
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 soliciting public comment on the currently approved
information collection, FERC-740 (Availability of E-Tag Information to
Commission Staff).
DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by May 21,
2019.
ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC19-18-
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], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202)
273-0873.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Title: FERC-740, Availability of E-Tag Information to Commission
Staff.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0254.
Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-740 information
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting
requirements.
Abstract: In Order 771,\1\ the FERC-740 information collection
(providing Commission staff access to e-Tag data) was implemented to
provide the Commission, Market Monitoring Units, Regional Transmission
Organizations, and Independent System Operators with information that
allows them to perform market surveillance and analysis more
effectively. The e-Tag information is necessary to understand the use
of the interconnected electricity grid, particularly transactions
occurring at interchanges. Due to the nature of the electric grid, an
individual transaction's impact on an interchange cannot be assessed
adequately in all cases without information from all connected systems,
which is included in the e-Tags. The details of the physical path of a
transaction included in the e-Tags helps the Commission to monitor, in
particular, interchange transactions more effectively, detect and
prevent price manipulation over interchanges, and improve the efficient
and orderly use of the transmission grid. For example, the e-Tag data
allows the Commission to identify transmission reservations as they go
from one market to another and link the market participants involved in
that transaction.
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\1\ Order 771 was issued in Docket No. RM11-12 (77 FR 76367, 12/
28/2012).
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Order No. 771 provided the Commission access to e-Tags by requiring
that Purchasing-Selling Entities \2\ (PSEs) and Balancing Authorities
(BAs), list the Commission on the ``CC'' list of e-Tags so that the
Commission can receive a copy of the e-Tags (the ``'CC' list
requirement''). The Commission accesses the e-Tags by contracting with
a commercial vendor, OATI.
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\2\ A Purchasing-Selling Entity is the entity that purchases or
sells, and takes title to, energy, capacity, and Interconnected
Operations Services. Purchasing-Selling Entities may be affiliated
or unaffiliated merchants and may or may not own generating
facilities. Purchasing-Selling Entities are typically E-Tag Authors.
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In early 2014, the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB)
incorporated the ``CC'' list requirement on e-Tags as part of the
tagging process.\3\ Even before NAESB added the FERC requirement to the
tagging standards, the ``CC'' list requirement had already been
programmed into the industry standard tagging software so as to make
the inclusion of FERC in the ``CC'' list automatic, where appropriate.
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\3\ NAESB Electronic Tagging Functional Specifications, Version
1.8.2.
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The Commission expects that PSEs and BAs will continue to use
existing, automated procedures to create and validate the e-Tags in a
way that provides the Commission with access to them. In the rare event
that a new BA would need to alert e-Tag administrators that certain
tags it generates qualify for exemption under the Commission's
regulations (e.g., transmissions from a new non-U.S. BA into another
non-U.S. BA using a path that does not go through a U.S. BA), this
administrative function would be expected to require less than an hour
of effort total from both the BA and an e-Tag administrator to include
the BA on the exemption list. New exempt BAs occur less frequently than
every year, but for the purpose of estimation we will conservatively
assume one appears each year creating an additional burden and cost
associated with the Commission's FERC-740 of one hour and $65.68.\4\
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\4\ The estimated hourly cost (wages plus benefits) provided in
this section is based on the figures for May 2017 posted by the
Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector (available at
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm), assuming:
15 minutes legal (code 23-0000), at $143.68/hour
45 minutes information and record clerk (code 43-4199), at
$39.68/hour.
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Type of Respondents: Purchasing-Selling Entities and Balancing
Authorities.
Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the burden
and cost for FERC-740 as follows based on the distinct e-Tags submitted
to the Commission in 2017 (the most recent full year available).
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\5\ ``Burden'' is the total time, effort, or financial resources
expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or
provide information to or for a Federal agency. For further
explanation of what is included in the information collection
burden, refer to Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations Part 1320.
[[Page 10821]]
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Average burden Total annual burden
FERC-740 Number of Annual number of Total number hours & cost per hours & total Cost per
respondents responses per respondent of responses response annual cost respondent ($)
(1) (2)..................... (1) * (2) = (4)................ (3) * (4) = (5).... (5) / (1)
(3)
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Purchasing-Selling Entities (e- 355 4,482 (rounded)......... 1,591,208 Automatic, so 0 Automatic, so 0 Automatic, so 0
Tag Authors). burden and cost. burden and cost. burden and cost.
Balancing Authorities........... 81 19,645 (rounded)........ 1,591,208 Automatic, so 0 Automatic, so 0 Automatic, so 0
burden and cost. burden and cost. burden and cost.
New Balancing Authority [as 1 1....................... 1 1 hr.; $65.68...... 1 hr.; $65.68...... $65.68.
noted above].
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Total....................... .............. ........................ .............. ................... 1 hr.; $65.68...... $65.68.
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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.
Dated: March 18, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-05494 Filed 3-21-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P