[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 124 (Thursday, June 27, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 30705-30707]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-13721]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC19-28-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-555); 
Consolidated Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the requirements and burden of 
the information collections described below.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due August 26, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC19-28-
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.
    Please reference the specific collection number and/or title in 
your comments.
    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: 
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the information collection 
requirements for all collections described below with no changes to the 
current reporting requirements. Please note the three collections are 
distinct.
    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.
    Title: FERC-555 (Preservation of Records for Public Utilities and 
Licensees, Natural Gas and Oil Pipeline Companies).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0098.
    Abstract: The Commission collects the information under the 
requirements of FERC-555 (Records Retention Requirements) to carry out 
its responsibilities in implementing the statutory provisions of 
Sections 301, 304 and 309 of the Federal Power Act (FPA),\1\ Sections 
8, 10 and 16 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA),\2\ and Section 20 of the 
Interstate Commerce Act (ICA).\3\
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    \1\ 16 U.S.C. 825, 825c and 825h.
    \2\ 15 U.S.C. 717-717w.
    \3\ 49 U.S.C. 20.
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    The regulations for preservation of records establish retention 
periods, necessary guidelines, and requirements for retention of 
applicable records. These requirements apply to the regulated public 
utilities, natural gas and oil pipeline companies subject to the 
Commission's jurisdiction. Regulated entities use these records as the 
basis for required rate filings and reports to the Commission. 
Additionally, the Commission's audit staff will use the records during 
compliance reviews. The Commission's enforcement staff will also use 
the information during investigations. Finally, the Commission will use 
the records for special analyses when necessary.
    On January 8, 1999 the Commission issued AI99-2-000, an Accounting 
Issuance providing guidance on records storage media. More 
specifically, the Commission gave each jurisdictional company the 
flexibility to select its own storage media. The storage media selected 
must have a life expectancy equal to the applicable record period

[[Page 30706]]

unless the quality of the data transferred from one media to another 
with no loss of data would exceed the record period.
    On January 27, 2000, the Commission issued a final rule amending 
its records retention regulations for public utilities and licensees as 
well as natural gas and oil pipeline companies. These changes included 
revising the general instructions, and shortening various records 
retention periods. The objective of the final rule was to reduce or 
eliminate burdensome and unnecessary regulatory requirements.
    The Commission is not making any additional changes to the record 
retention requirements specified under FERC-555. The Commission 
implements these filing requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations 
(CFR) under 18 CFR parts 125, 225, and 356.
    Type of Respondent: Electric utilities, natural gas pipelines, and 
oil pipelines.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden for the information collection as:

                       FERC-555--Preservation of Records for Public Utilities and License, Natural Gas and Oil Pipeline Companies
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                                      Annual number
       Number of respondents          of responses    Total number       Average burden hrs. and cost per     Total annual burden hours and total annual
                                     per respondent   of responses                 response \4\                                  cost
(1)                                             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)....................................  (3) * (4) = (5)
                                                                (3)
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509................................               1             509  5,218.14 hrs.; $417,451................  2,656,034 hrs.; $212,482,720.
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    Additional Background. Based on the data submitted by 
jurisdictional filers in 2010, we provide more detail regarding how we 
generated burden and cost estimates. We divided the entities into three 
size categories based on annual revenue reported on FERC's financial 
forms (Form 1, Form 2/2A and Form 6).\5\ As indicated in the appendix, 
we only received useful responses from five entities: Three large, one 
medium, and one small. Because of this very limited data, it should not 
be inferred that the average burden and cost indicated for each entity 
size are representative of the burden for all entities in that size 
category and industry. We performed the analysis in this way in order 
to come up with a better average to apply across all the industries. It 
should also be noted that it is difficult to compare across industries 
based on entity size. For example, the first table below indicates that 
a large electric utility has an annual revenue more than ten times 
greater than a large gas pipeline.
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    \4\ The estimates for cost per response are derived using the 
following formula: Average Burden Hours per Response * $80/hour = 
Average cost/response. The figure is the 2019 FERC average hourly 
cost (for wages and benefits) of $80 (and an average annual salary 
of $167,091/year). Commission staff is using the FERC average salary 
because we consider any record retention requirements completed in 
response to the FERC-555 to be compensated at rates similar to the 
work of FERC employees.
    \5\ The size thresholds are estimates based on staff judgment.
    \6\ Due to rounding during the analysis and calculations, the 
total in this column does not sum to the exact figure reported shown 
in the summary burden table.
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    The first table shows the estimated size categories by industry, 
and the second table shows the burden and cost based on size (combining 
the 3 industries).

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 Industry and size classification              Annual revenue
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                                Electric
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Large............................  >$1.15 Billion.
Medium...........................  $310 Million to $1.15 Billion.
Small............................  <$310 Million.
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                                   Gas
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Large............................  >$100 Million.
Medium...........................  $10 Million to $100 Million.
Small............................  <$10 Million.
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                                   Oil
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Large............................  >$50 Million.
Medium...........................  $5 Million to $50 Million.
Small............................  <$5 Million.
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                                                                     Number of     Average hours   Total burden
                              Size                                   entities       per entity       hours \6\
                                                                             (1)             (2)       (1) * (2)
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Large...........................................................             174          11,475       1,996,658
Medium..........................................................             166           2,371         393,619
Small...........................................................             169           1,571         265,572
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[[Page 30707]]

    The total estimated annual cost burden to respondents is 
$212,482,720, which includes $127,433,401 for non-labor record storage 
costs and $85,049,319 for employee costs. The average cost per 
respondent is $417,451, which includes $250,360 for non-labor record 
storage costs and $167,091 for employee costs. All of these cost 
figures are based on staff analysis of the data we received in 2019.

    Dated: June 21, 2019.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-13721 Filed 6-26-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P