[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 68 (Friday, April 8, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 20843-20846]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-07398]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC22-3-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

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 collections, FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1T (Annual Report of 
Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Others), 1-F and 1-FT (Annual 
Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees), and 3-Q and 3-QT 
(Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and 
Natural Gas Companies). The Commission published a 60-day notice in the 
Federal Register on November 18, 2021 and received one comment.

DATES: Comments on the collections of information are due May 9, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1T, 1-F and 1-
FT, and 3-Q and 3-QT to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) 
through www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain, Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control 
Number: 1902-0021, 1902-0311, 1902-0029, 1902-0312, 1902-0205, and/or 
1902-0028 in the subject line. Your comments should be sent within 30 
days of publication of this notice in the Federal Register.
    Please submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. 
IC22-3-000 and the form(s)) to the Commission as noted below. 
Electronic filing through http://www.ferc.gov, is preferred.
     Electronic Filing: Documents must be filed in acceptable 
native applications and print-to-PDF, but not in scanned or picture 
format.
     For those unable to file electronically, comments may be 
filed by USPS mail or by hand (including courier) delivery.
    [cir] Mail via U.S. Postal Service only, addressed to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
    [cir] Hand (including courier) delivery to: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
    Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Using the search function under the ``Currently Under Review 
field,'' select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click ``submit'' 
and select ``comment'' to the right of the subject collection. FERC 
submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission 
guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance, contact FERC 
Online Support by email at [email protected], or by phone at: 
(866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
    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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected] and telephone at (202) 502-8663.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Type of Request: Three-year extensions of FERC Form Nos. 1, 1T, 1-
F, 1-FT, 3-Q, and 3Q-T with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.1 2 This renewal

[[Page 20844]]

incorporates the requirements and burden represented by the 1 and 1T, 
1-F and 1-FT, 3-Q and 3-QT (electric and gas), respectively. Staff 
anticipates that the Commission will seek to retire the 1T, 1-FT, and 
3-QT as duplicative after OMB decisions are made.
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    \1\ Due to expiration dates in 2019 for many of the Commission's 
financial forms, the renewal work for several of the forms was in 
process or pending at OMB during the 2019 Forms Refresh rulemaking 
effort in Docket No. RM19-12-000. OMB can only have one OMB Control 
No. pending review at a time. To submit the rulemaking timely to 
OMB, we assigned alternate ``temporary'' information collection 
numbers (FERC Form No. 1T, 1-FT, and 3-QT (electric and gas). 
Accordingly, FERC Form Nos. 1T, 1-FT, and 3-QT represent the 
additional burden associated with the final rule in RM19-12-000. 
Revisions to the Filing Process for Comm'n Forms, Order No. 859, 84 
FR 30620 (June 27, 2019), 167 FERC ] 61,241 (2019).
    \2\ For purposes of this notice, unless otherwise stated, FERC 
Form Nos. 1 and 1T are collectively referred to as ``FERC Form No. 
1,'' FERC Form Nos. 1-F and 1-FT are collectively referred to as 
``FERC Form No. 1-F,'' and FERC Form Nos. 3-Q (electric and natural 
gas) and 3-QT (electric and natural gas) are collectively referred 
to as ``FERC Form No. 3-Q.''
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FERC Form No. 1, Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, 
and Others

    OMB Control Nos. and Titles: 1902-0021 (FERC Form No. 1, Annual 
Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Others) and 1902-
0311 (FERC Form No. 1T, Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, 
Licensees and Others--Modifications to Form 1 due to Final Rule in 
Docket No. RM19-12-000).
    Abstract: FERC Form No. 1 is a comprehensive financial and 
operating report submitted annually by major electric utilities, 
licensees, and others. It is used by the Commission for electric rate 
regulation, market oversight analysis, and audit planning. 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).\3\
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    \3\ As detailed in 18 CFR part 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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    FERC Form No. 1 is designed to collect financial and operational 
information and is made available to the public. 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.

XBRL, Order No. 859, and FERC Form No. 1

    Previously, FERC Form No. 1 filers would transmit the information 
in the form to the Commission using a software application called 
Visual FoxPro (VFP). This application is no longer supported by its 
developer, Microsoft Corporation. As a result, in April 2015, the 
Commission issued an order announcing its intention to replace the VFP 
filing format for certain Commission forms (including FERC Form No. 1) 
with an eXtensible Markup Language (XML)-based filing format. On June 
20, 2019, the Commission issued Order No. 859, which adopted eXtensible 
Business Reporting Language (XBRL) as the standard for filing FERC Form 
No. 1 and certain other Commission forms.\4\
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    \4\ Revisions to the Filing Process for Comm'n Forms, Order No. 
859, 167 FERC ] 61,241 (2019).
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    Type of Respondent: Major electric utilities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \5\ The Commission estimates the annual 
burden and cost \6\ for FERC Form No. 1 as follows:
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    \5\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, 
disclose, or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For 
further explanation of what is included in the information 
collection burden, refer to 5 CFR 1320.3. The burden hours and costs 
are rounded for ease of presentation.
    \6\ The cost is based on FERC's 2021 Commission-wide average 
salary cost (salary plus benefits) of $87.00/hour. 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.

                                    Form 1 (OMB Control No. 1902-0021) Including Form 1-T (OMB Control No. 1902-0311)
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                                                                 Average annual                       Average annual     Total average
                                                   Number of        number of      Total number of    burden (hrs.) &    annual burden       Cost per
                 Requirements                     respondents     responses per       responses          cost per        (hrs.) & total   respondent ($)
                                                                   respondent                          response ($)     annual cost ($)
                                                           (1)               (2)    (1) * (2) = (3)               (4)    (3) * (4) = (5)       (5) / (1)
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Form 1........................................             217                 1                217             1,168            253,456        $101,616
                                                                                                             $101,616        $22,050,672
Form 1-T......................................             217                 1                217                14              3,038           1,218
                                                                                                               $1,218           $264,306
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    Total (includes both Form 1 and Form 1-T).  ..............  ................  .................  ................            256,494         102,834
                                                                                                                             $22,314,978
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FERC Form No. 1-F, Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and 
Licensees

    OMB Control Nos. and Titles: 1902-0029 (FERC Form No. 1-F, Annual 
Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees) and 1902-0312 (FERC 
Form No. 1-FT, Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and 
Licensees, Modifications to FERC Form No. 1-F due to Final Rule in 
Docket No. RM19-12-000).
    Abstract: FERC Form No. 1-F is a financial and operating report 
submitted annually by Nonmajor electric utilities and licensees. The 
Commission uses it for electric rate regulation, market oversight 
analysis, and planning audits. 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.\7\
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    \7\ As detailed in 18 CFR part 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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    FERC Form No. 1-F is designed to collect financial and operational 
information and is made available to the public. 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.


[[Page 20845]]


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.

XBRL, Order No. 859, and FERC Form No. 1-F

    Previously, FERC Form No. 1-F filers would transmit the information 
in the form to the Commission using a software application called VFP. 
This application is no longer supported by its developer, Microsoft 
Corporation. As a result, in April 2015, the Commission issued an order 
announcing its intention to replace the VFP filing format for certain 
Commission forms (including FERC Form No. 1-F) with an XML-based filing 
format. On June 20, 2019, the Commission issued Order No. 859, which 
adopted XBRL as the standard for filing FERC Form No. 1-F and other 
Commission forms.\8\
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    \8\ Revisions to the Filing Process for Comm'n Forms, Order No. 
859, 167 FERC ] 61,241 (2019)
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    Type of Respondent: Nonmajor electric utilities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The estimated annual burden and cost 
follow. (The estimated hourly cost used for FERC Form No. 1-F is 
$87.00/hour (for wages plus benefits) and is described above, under 
FERC Form No. 1.) The burden hours and costs are rounded for ease of 
presentation.

                                  Form 1-F (OMB Control No. 1902-0029) Including Form 1-FT (OMB Control No. 1902-0312)
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                                                                 Average annual                       Average annual     Total average
                                                   Number of        number of      Total number of    burden (hrs.) &    annual burden       Cost per
                 Requirements                     respondents     responses per       responses          cost per        (hrs.) & total   respondent ($)
                                                                   respondent                          response ($)     annual cost ($)
                                                           (1)               (2)    (1) * (2) = (3)               (4)    (3) * (4) = (5)       (5) / (1)
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Form 1-F......................................               2                 1                  2               122                244         $10,614
                                                                                                              $10,614            $21,228
Form 1-FT.....................................               2                 1                  2                14                 28           1,218
                                                                                                               $1,218             $2,436
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    Total (includes both Form 1-F and Form 1-   ..............  ................  .................  ................                272          11,832
     FT)......................................                                                                                   $23,664
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FERC Form No. 3-Q, Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, 
Licensees, and Natural Gas Companies

    OMB Control Nos. and Titles: 1902-0205 (FERC Form No. 3-Q, 
Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and 
Natural Gas Companies) and 1902-0313 (FERC Form No. 3-QT, Quarterly 
Financial Report-Electric and Gas, modifications to FERC Form No. 3-Q 
due to Final Rule in Docket No. RM19-12-000).
    Abstract: FERC Form No. 3-Q is a quarterly financial and operating 
report for rate regulation, market oversight analysis, and financial 
audits which supplements (a) FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1-F, for the electric 
industry, or (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. FERC Form No. 3-Q is submitted for all 
Major and Nonmajor electric utilities, licensees, and natural gas 
companies.\9\ FERC Form No. 3-Q includes a basic set of financial 
statements:
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    \9\ 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.

 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 report:

 Monthly and quarterly quantities of gas transported and 
associated revenues,
 Storage, terminalling, and processing services,
 Natural gas customer accounts and details of service, and
 Operational expenses, depreciation, depletion, and 
amortization of gas plant.

XBRL, Order No. 859, and FERC Form No. 3-Q

    Previously, FERC Form No. 3-Q filers would transmit the information 
in the form to the Commission using a software application called VFP. 
This application is no longer supported by its developer, Microsoft 
Corporation. As a result, in April 2015, the Commission issued an order 
announcing its intention to replace the VFP filing format for certain 
Commission forms (including FERC Form No. 3-Q) with an XML-based filing 
format. On June 20, 2019, the Commission issued Order No. 859, which 
adopted XBRL as the standard for filing these Commission forms.\10\
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    \10\ Revisions to the Filing Process for Comm'n Forms, Order No. 
859, 167 FERC ] 61,241 (2019).
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    Type of Respondent: Major and nonmajor electric utilities, 
licensees, and major and non-major natural gas companies.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: The estimated annual burden and cost (as 
rounded) follow. (The estimated hourly cost used for FERC Form No. 3-Q 
is $87.00/hour (for wages plus benefits) and is described above, under 
FERC Form No. 1.) The burden hours and costs are rounded for ease of 
presentation. The quarterly filings are generally a subset of the 
annual filings. For this reason, the XBRL burden (``3-QT'') hours are 
``0'' because the burden associated with the 3-QT is already 
incorporated into other burden numbers for FERC Form No. 1 and FERC 
Form No. 2.

[[Page 20846]]



                             Form 3-Q (Electric) (OMB Control No. 1902-0205) Including Form 3-QT (OMB Control No. 1902-0313)
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                                                                 Average annual                       Average annual     Total average
                                                   Number of        number of      Total number of    burden (hrs.) &    annual burden       Cost per
                 Requirements                     respondents     responses per       responses          cost per        (hrs.) & total   respondent ($)
                                                                   respondent                          response ($)     annual cost ($)
                                                             1                 2    (1) * (2) = (3)                 4    (3) * (4) = (5)       (5) / (1)
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Form 3-Q (Electric)...........................             221                 3                663               168            111,384         $43,848
                                                                                                              $14,616         $9,690,408
Form 3-QT (Electric)..........................             221                 3                663                 0                  0
                                                                                                                   $0
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    Total (includes both Form 3-Q (Electric)    ..............  ................  .................  ................            111,384          43,848
     and 3-AT (Electric)).....................                                                                                $9,690,408
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                               Form 3-Q (Gas) (OMB Control No. 1902-0205) Including Form 3-QT (OMB Control No. 1902-0313)
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                                                                 Average annual                       Average annual     Total average
                                                   Number of        number of      Total number of    burden (hrs.) &    annual burden       Cost per
                 Requirements                     respondents     responses per       responses          cost per        (hrs.) & total   respondent ($)
                                                                   respondent                          response ($)     annual cost ($)
                                                             1                 2    (1) * (2) = (3)                 4    (3) * (4) = (5)       (5) / (1)
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Form 3-Q (Gas)................................             147                 3                441               167             73,647         $43,587
                                                                                                              $14,529         $6,407,289
Form 3-QT (Gas)...............................             147                 3                441                 0                  0               0
                                                                                                                   $0                 $0
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    Total (includes both Form 3-Q (Gas) and 3-  ..............  ................  .................  ................             73,647          43,587
     AT (Gas))................................                                                                                $6,407,289
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    For the FERC Form 3-Q (electric and natural gas), the total average 
annual burden hours is 185,031, and the total annual cost is 
$16,097,697.

60-Day Notice Comments

    Comments: The Commission published a 60-day notice on November 18, 
2021, in the Federal Register (86 FR 67042) and received one comment 
from the government agency, Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA).
    BEA Comment: BEA comments that it is interested in any 
modifications that are made to the FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1-F. BEA 
explains that it uses data from FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1-F indirectly in 
estimating the U.S. Census Bureau's Construction Value Put in Place 
(VPIP) for electric utilities. BEA further explains that census VPIP 
serves a major source data input to the national income and product 
account (NIPA) structures investment estimates. BEA states that while 
it uses the information indirectly through the VPIP program, it is 
considered an indispensable data source to the NIPA estimates.
    FERC Response: The Commission finds BEA's comments regarding the 
usefulness of the FERC Form Nos. 1 and 1-F to be helpful. With respect 
to BEA's concern about modifications to the forms, the Commission 
generally does not make any changes to the data collected in the 
financial forms without first offering a public process by which 
interested parties, like BEA, may comment on any proposals to change 
the collection.

30-Day Notice Comments

    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 1, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-07398 Filed 4-7-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P