[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 88 (Tuesday, May 7, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 19921-19923]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-09297]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC19-22-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities; (FERC Form Nos. 1, 
1-F, and 3-Q); Comment Request; Extensions

AGENCY:  Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION:  Notice of information collections and request for comments.

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SUMMARY:  In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently 
approved information collections, FERC Form Nos. 1 (Annual Report of 
Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Others), 1-F (Annual Report 
for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees), and 3-Q (Quarterly 
Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Natural Gas 
Companies).

DATES:  Comments on the collections of information are due July 8, 
2019.

ADDRESSES:  You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC19-22-
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

[[Page 19922]]

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:
    Type of Request: Three-year extensions of the FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-
F, and 3-Q with no changes to the current reporting requirements.\1\
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    \1\ FERC Form Nos. 1, 1-F, and 3-Q (electric and natural gas) 
are part of the ``Forms Refresh'' effort, which is a separate 
activity and not addressed here. See Revisions to the Filing Process 
for Commission Forms, 166 FERC ] 61,027 (2019) (started in Docket 
No. AD15-11 and ongoing in Docket No. RM19-12). (OMB issued its 
decisions on the proposed changes in the Forms Refresh Notice of 
Proposed Rulemaking in Docket No. RM19-12 on March 14, 2019.)
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FERC Form No. 1, Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, 
and Others

    OMB Control No.: 1902-0021.
    Abstract: The FERC Form No. 1 is a comprehensive financial and 
operating report submitted annually for electric rate regulation, 
market oversight analysis, and financial audits by Major electric 
utilities, licensees and others. Major is defined as having in each of 
the last three consecutive calendar years, sales or transmission 
services that exceed one of the following: (1) One million megawatt-
hours of total sales; (2) 100 megawatt-hours of sales for resale; (3) 
500 megawatt-hours of power exchanges delivered; or (4) 500 megawatt-
hours of wheeling for others (deliveries plus losses).\2\
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    \2\ As detailed in 18 CFR 101 (Uniform System of Accounts 
Prescribed for Public Utilities and Licensees Subject to the 
Provision of the Federal Power Act, General Instructions) and 18 CFR 
141.1.
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    The FERC Form No.1 is designed to collect financial and operational 
information and is made available to the public. The FERC Form No.1 
includes a basic set of financial statements:
     Comparative Balance Sheet,
     Statement of Income,
     Statement of Retained Earnings,
     Statement of Cash Flows,
     Statements of Accumulated Comprehensive Income,
     Comprehensive Income, and Hedging Activities, and
     Notes to Financial Statements.
    Supporting schedules contain:
     Supplementary information and outlines of corporate 
structure and governance,
     Information on formula rates, and
     Description of important changes during the year.
    Other schedules provide:
     Information on revenues and the related quantities of 
electric sales and electricity transmitted,
     Account balances for all electric operation and 
maintenance expenses,
     Selected plant cost data, and
     Other statistical information.
    Type of Respondent: Major electric utilities
    Estimate of Annual Burden 3: The Commission estimates 
the annual burden and cost \4\ for FERC Form No. 1 as follows:
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    \3\ 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 Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 
1320.3.
    \4\ The Commission staff believes the FERC FTE (full-time 
equivalent) average cost for wages plus benefits is representative 
of the corresponding cost for the industry respondents. The FERC 
2018 average salary plus benefits for one FERC FTE is $164,820/year 
(or $79.00/hour).

                                                                     FERC Form No. 1
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                           Number of                                                                                                         Cost per
Number of  respondents   responses per   Total number    Average burden hours and  average cost    Total annual burden hours and total      respondent
                          respondent     of responses              per response  ($)                         annual cost  ($)                   ($)
(1)                                (2)     (1) x (2) =  (4)....................................  (3) x (4) = (5)........................     (5) / (1) =
                                                   (3)                                                                                               (6)
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207...................               1             207  1,168 hrs.; $92,272....................  241,776 hrs.; $19,100,304..............         $92,272
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FERC Form No. 1-F, Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and 
Licensees

    OMB Control No.: 1902-0029.
    Abstract: The FERC Form No. 1-F is a financial and operating report 
submitted annually for electric rate regulation, market oversight 
analysis, and financial audits by Nonmajor electric utilities and 
licensees. Nonmajor is defined as utilities and licensees that are not 
classified as Major, and having total sales in each of the last three 
consecutive years of 10,000 megawatt-hours or more.\5\
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    \5\ As detailed in 18 CFR 101 (Uniform System of Accounts 
Prescribed for Public Utilities and Licensees Subject to the 
Provision of the Federal Power Act, General Instructions) and 18 CFR 
141.2.
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    The FERC Form No.1-F is designed to collect financial and 
operational information and is made available to the public. The FERC 
Form No.1-F includes a basic set of financial statements:
     Comparative Balance Sheet,
     Statement of Retained Earnings,
     Statement of Cash Flows,
     Statement of Comprehensive Income and Hedging Activities, 
and
     Notes to Financial Statements.
    Supporting schedules contain:
     Supplementary information and include revenues and the 
related quantities of electric sales and electricity transmitted,
     Account balances for all electric operation and 
maintenance expenses,
     Selected plant cost data; and
     Other statistical information.
    Type of Respondent: Nonmajor electric utilities
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The estimated annual burden and cost 
follow. (The estimated hourly cost used for the FERC Form No. 1-F is 
$79 (for wages plus benefits) and is described above, under the FERC 
Form No. 1.):

                                                                    FERC Form No. 1-F
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                         Annual number
                         of responses    Total number      Average burden hours and cost per       Total annual burden hours and total       Cost per
Number of  respondents        per        of responses                   response                             annual cost  ($)               respondent
                          respondent                                                                                                            ($)
(1)                                (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)....................................  (3) * (4) = (5)........................       (5) / (1)
                                                   (3)
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5.....................               1               5  122 hrs.; $9,638.......................  610 hrs.; $48,190......................          $9,638
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[[Page 19923]]

FERC Form No. 3-Q, Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, 
Licensees, and Natural Gas Companies

    OMB Control No.: 1902-0205.
    Abstract: The FERC Form No. 3-Q is a quarterly financial and 
operating report for rate regulation, market oversight analysis, and 
financial audits which supplements the (a) FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1-F, 
for the electric industry, or the (b) FERC Form No. 2 (Annual Report 
for Major Natural Gas Companies; OMB Control No. 1902-0028) and FERC 
Form No. 2-A (Annual Report for Nonmajor Natural Gas Companies; OMB 
Control No. 1902-0030), for the natural gas industry. The FERC Form No. 
3-Q is submitted for all Major and Nonmajor electric utilities, 
licensees, and natural gas companies.\6\
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    \6\ 18 CFR 260.1(b) states that for natural gas companies as 
defined by the Natural Gas Act, Major pertains to a company whose 
combined gas transported or stored for a fee exceed 50 million Dth 
in each of the three previous calendar years. 18 CFR 260.2(b) states 
that for natural gas companies as defined by the Natural Gas Act, 
Non-Major pertains to a company not meeting the filing threshold for 
FERC Form No. 2, but having total gas sales or volume transactions 
exceeding 200,000 Dth in each of the three previous calendar years.
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    FERC Form No. 3-Q includes a basic set of financial statements:
     Comparative Balance Sheet,
     Statement of Income and Statement of Retained Earnings,
     Statement of Cash Flows,
     Statement of Comprehensive Income and Hedging Activities, 
and
     Supporting schedules containing supplementary information.
    Electric respondents report:
     Revenues and the related quantities of electric sales and 
electricity transmitted,
     Account balances for all electric operation and 
maintenance expenses,
     Selected plant cost data; and
     Other statistical information.
    Natural gas respondents include:
     Monthly and quarterly quantities of gas transported and 
associated revenues,
     Storage, terminaling and processing services,
     Natural gas customer accounts and details of service, and
     Operational expenses, depreciation, depletion and 
amortization of gas plant.
    Type of Respondent: Major and nonmajor electric utilities, 
licensees, and natural gas companies.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The estimated annual burden and cost (as 
rounded) follow. (The estimated hourly cost used for the FERC Form No. 
3-Q is $79 (for wages plus benefits) and is described above, under the 
FERC Form No. 1.):

                                                                                        FERC Form No. 3-Q
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                                                     Annual  number
                                         Number of     of responses   Total  number       Average burden  hours and cost  per      Total annual  burden hours  and total  annual   Annual  cost
                                        respondents        per        of  responses                     response                                        cost                            per
                                                       respondent                                                                                                                 respondent ($)
                                                (1)             (2)  (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)........................................  (3) * (4) = (5)..............................       (5) / (1)
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FERC 3-Q (electric)...................          212               3              636  168 hrs.; $13,272..........................  106,848 hrs.; $8,440,992.....................         $39,816
FERC 3-Q (natural gas)................          165               3              495  167 hrs.; $13,193..........................  82,665 hrs.; $6,530,535......................         $39,579
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    Total for FERC 3-Q................  ...........  ..............            1,131  ...........................................  189,513 hrs.; $14,971,527....................  ..............
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    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collections of 
information are 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 cost of the collections of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information collections; and 
(4) ways to minimize the burden of the collections of information on 
those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Dated: April 30, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-09297 Filed 5-6-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P