[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 171 (Wednesday, September 4, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 46509-46511]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-19043]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC19-28-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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-729 (Electric 
Transmission Facilities) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
for review of the information collection requirements. 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 June 27, 2019, 
requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments and is 
making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

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

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0098, 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. 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.
    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-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

[[Page 46510]]

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 
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: \4\ The Commission estimates the annual 
public reporting burden for the information collection as:
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    \4\ ``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.

   FERC-555--Preservation of Records for Public Utilities and License, Natural Gas and Oil Pipeline Companies
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                               Annual  number
                                of responses    Total number    Average burden hrs. and    Total annual burden
    Number of respondents            per        of responses     cost per response \5\    hours and total annual
                                 respondent                                                        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).\6\ 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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    \5\ 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.
    \6\ The size thresholds are estimates based on staff judgment.
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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:
    Large....................  >$1.15 Billion.
    Medium...................  $310 Million to $1.15 Billion.
    Small....................  <310 Million.
GAS:
    Large....................  >$100 Million.
    Medium...................  $10 Million to $100 Million.
    Small....................  <$10 Million.
OIL:
    Large....................  >$50 Million.
    Medium...................  $5 Million to $50 Million.
    Small....................  <$5 Million.
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[[Page 46511]]


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                                                             Number of      Average hours per     Total burden
                          Size                                entities            entity           hours \7\
                                                                       (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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    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.
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    \7\ 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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    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: August 28, 2019.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-19043 Filed 9-3-19; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P