[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 22 (Monday, February 3, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 5948-5949]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-01956]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC20-4-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725I); 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 (PRA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission 
or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-725I (Mandatory Reliability Standards for 
the Northeast Power Coordinating Council) 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.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due March 4, 2020.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 
1902-0258, 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. IC20-4-000, 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-725I (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Northeast 
Power Coordinating Council).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0258.
    Type of Request: On November 25, 2019, the 60-day notice was 
published in the Federal Register (84 FR 64885). The Commission 
received no comments. Three-year extension of the FERC-725I

[[Page 5949]]

with no changes to the current reporting and recordkeeping 
requirements.
    Abstract: The Regional Reliability standard PRC-006-NPCC-1 
(Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding) provides regional requirements 
for Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding to applicable entities in 
NPCC. UFLS requirements were in place at a continent-wide level and 
within NPCC for many years prior to the implementation of federally 
mandated reliability standards in 2007. NPCC and its members think that 
a region-wide, fully coordinated single set of UFLS requirements is 
necessary to create an effective and efficient UFLS program, and their 
experience has supported that belief.
    Information collection burden for Reliability Standard PRC-006-
NPCC-01 is based on the time needed for planning coordinators and 
generator owners to incrementally gather data, run studies, and analyze 
study results to design or update the UFLS programs that are required 
in the regional Reliability Standard (in addition to the requirements 
of the NERC Reliability Standard PRC-006-3). There is also burden on 
the generator owners to maintain data.
    Type of Respondent: Generator Owners and Planning Coordinators.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \1\ The number of respondents is based 
on NERC's Registry as of July 26, 2019. Entities registered for more 
than one applicable function type have been accounted for in the 
figures below. The Commission estimates the annual public reporting 
burden and cost \2\ for the information collection as:
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    \1\ ``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.
    \2\ Commission staff estimates that the industry's skill set and 
cost (for wages and benefits) for FERC-725I are approximately the 
same as the Commission's average cost. The FERC 2019 average salary 
plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is $167,091/
year (or $80.00/hour).

                                FERC-725I (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Northeast Power Coordinating Council)
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                                                      Annual  number
                                         Number of     of  responses   Total  number  Average  burden hours  &    Total annual  burden       Cost per
 Information collection requirements    respondents         per        of  responses   cost  ($) per  response    hours  & total annual     respondent
                                                        respondent                                                      cost ($)                ($)
                                                 (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).....................  (3) * (4) = (5).........       (5) / (1)
                                                                                 (3)
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PCs Design and document automatic                  2               1               2  8 hrs.; $640............  16 hrs.; $1,280.........            $640
 UFLS program.
PCs update and maintain UFLS program               2               1               2  16 hrs.; $1,280.........  32 hrs.; $2,560.........           1,280
 database.
GOs provide documentation and data               125               1             125  16 hrs.; $1,280.........  2,000 hrs.; $160,000....           1,280
 to the planning coordinator.
GOs: record retention...............             125               1             125  4 hrs.; $320............  500 hrs.; $40,000.......             320
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    Total...........................  ..............  ..............             254  ........................  $203,840; 2,548 hrs.....  ..............
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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 estimates 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 28, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2020-01956 Filed 1-31-20; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P