[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 121 (Friday, June 24, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 37853-37855]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-13519]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC22-19-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-919 and FERC-
919A); 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, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection FERC-919, (Refinements to Policies and 
Procedures for Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric 
Energy, Capacity and Ancillary Services by Public Utilities), and FERC-
919A, (Data Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Market-Based 
Rate Purposes).

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due August 23, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit your comments (identified by Docket No. IC22-
19-000) by one of the following methods:
    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: Deliver to: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, Office of the Secretary, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, 
Rockville, MD 20852.
    Instructions: All 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], telephone at (202) 502-8663.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-919, (Refinements to Policies and Procedures for 
Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy, Capacity and 
Ancillary Services by Public Utilities), and FERC-919A, (Data 
Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Market-Based Rate 
Purposes).
    OMB Control No.: FERC-919 (1902-0234), FERC-919A (1902-0317).
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of these information 
collection requirements for all collections described below with no 
changes to the current reporting requirements.
    Please note: FERC-919A is a temporary collection number and will be 
combined into FERC-919.
    Abstract: The FERC-919 collection is necessary to ensure that 
market-based rates charged by public utilities are just and reasonable 
as mandated by Federal Power Act (FPA) sections 205 and 206. Section 
205 of the FPA requires just and reasonable rates and charges. Section 
206 allows the Commission to revoke a seller's market-based rate 
authorization if it determines that the seller may have gained market 
power since it was originally granted market-based rate authorization 
by the Commission. FERC-919, as stated in 18 Code of Federal 
Regulations (CFR) Part 35, Subpart H,\1\ the Commission codifies 
market-based rate standards for generating electric utilities for use 
in the Commission's determination of whether a wholesale seller of 
electric energy, capacity, or ancillary services qualify for market-
based rate authority. Subpart H mandates that sellers submit market 
power analyses and related filings (descriptions below). Market power 
analyses must address both horizontal and vertical market power.
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    \1\ Market-Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy, 
Capacity and Ancillary Services by Public Utilities, Order No. 697, 
72 FR 39904 (Jul. 20, 2007), 119 FERC ] 61,295 (2007).
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Horizontal Market Power Analysis

    This demonstrates a lack of horizontal market power, the Commission 
requires two indicative market power screens: the uncommitted pivotal 
supplier screen (which is based on the annual

[[Page 37854]]

peak demand of the relevant market) and the uncommitted market share 
screen applied on a seasonal basis. The Commission presumes sellers 
that fail either screen to have market power and such sellers may 
submit a delivered price test analysis or alternative evidence to rebut 
the presumption of horizontal market power. If a seller fails to rebut 
the presumption of horizontal market power, the Commission sets the 
just and reasonable rate at the default cost-based rate unless it 
approves different mitigation based on case specific circumstances. 
When submitting horizontal market power analyses, a seller must submit 
the horizontal market power analysis into a relational database for it 
to be retrievable in conformance with the instructions posted on the 
Commission's website.\2\ A seller must also include all supporting 
materials referenced in the indicative screens.
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    \2\ See Data Collection for Analytics and Surveillance and Mkt.-
Based Rate Purposes, Order No. 860, 168 FERC ] 61,039 (2019), order 
on reh'g, Order No. 860-A, 170 FERC ] 61,129 (2020).
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Vertical Market Power Analysis

    To demonstrate a lack of vertical market power, if a public utility 
with market-based rates, or any of its affiliates, owns, operates or 
controls transmission facilities, that public utility must:

 Have on file a Commission-approved Open Access Transmission 
Tariff \3\
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    \3\ A part of the associated burden is reported separately in 
information collections FERC-516 (OMB Control Number: 1902-0096).
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 Submit a description of its ownership or control of, or 
affiliation with an entity that owns or controls:
    [cir] Intrastate natural gas transportation, intrastate natural gas 
storage or distribution facilities
    [cir] Physical coal supply sources and ownership or control over 
who may access transportation of coal supplies
 Make an affirmative statement that it and its affiliates have 
not erected and will not erect barriers to entry into the relevant 
market

Asset Appendix

    In addition to the market power analyses, a seller must submit an 
asset appendix in the relational database with its initial application 
for market-based rate authorization or updated market power analysis, 
and all relevant changes in status filings. The asset appendix must:
     List, among other things, all affiliates that have market-
based rate authority.
     List all generation assets owned (clearly identifying 
which affiliate owns which asset) or controlled (clearly identifying 
which affiliate controls which asset) by the corporate family by 
balancing authority area, and by geographic region, and provide the in-
service date and nameplate and/or seasonal ratings by unit.
     Must reflect all electric transmissions and natural gas 
interstate pipelines and/or gas storage facilities owned or controlled 
by the corporate family and the location of such facilities.
     List all long-term power purchases and sales agreements 
attributed to a seller and its affiliates by the corporate family by 
balancing authority area, and by geographic region, and provide the 
start date and end date.

Triennial Market Power Analysis

    Sellers that own or control 500 megawatts or more of generation 
and/or that own, operate or control transmission facilities, are 
affiliated with any entity that owns, operates or controls transmission 
facilities in the same region as the seller's generation assets, or 
with a franchised public utility in the same region as the seller's 
generation assets are required to file updated market power analyses 
every three years. The updated market power analyses must demonstrate 
that a seller does not possess horizontal market power.

Change in Status Filings

    Concerning changes in status filings, the Commission requires that 
sellers file notices of such changes no later than each quarter after 
the change in status occurs. The Commission also requires that each 
seller must include an appendix in the relational database identifying 
specified assets with each pertinent change in status notification 
filed.

Relational Database Updates

    A Seller must report on a monthly basis changes to its previously-
submitted relational database information, excluding updates to the 
horizontal market power screens. These submissions must be made by the 
15th day of the month following the change. These submissions include 
the asset appendix information described above, as well as other 
market-based information concerning seller category, operating reserves 
authorization, identification of its ultimate upstream affiliate(s), 
mitigation, and other limitations.

Exemptions From Submitting Updated Market Power Analyses

    Wholesale power marketers and wholesale power producers that are 
not affiliated with franchised public utilities or transmission owners, 
that do not own transmission, and that do not, together with all of 
their affiliates, own or control 500 megawatts or more of generation in 
a relevant region are not required to submit updated market power 
analyses. The Commission determines which sellers are in this category 
through information filed by the utility either when the seller files 
its initial application for market-based rate authorization or through 
a separate filing made to request such a determination.
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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 CFR 1320.3.
    \5\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided in 
this section is based on the salary figures for May 2021 posted by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector (available 
at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm#13-0000) and scaled 
to reflect benefits using the relative importance of employer costs 
in employee compensation from May 2021 (available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm). The hourly estimates for 
salary plus benefits are:
    Economist (Occupation Code: 19-3011), $75.75.
    Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2071), $72.15.
    Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000), $142.25.
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits), weighting all of 
these skill sets evenly, is $96.72. The Commission rounds it to $97/
hour.
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    Type of Respondents: Public utilities, wholesale electricity 
sellers.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \4\ The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost \5\ for this information collection as follows.

[[Page 37855]]



                     FERC-919--Refinements to Policies and Procedures for Market Based Rates for Wholesale Sales of Electric Energy
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                                                     Annual number                                                                          Annual cost
            Requirement                Number of     of responses    Total number     Average burden & cost   Total annual burden  hours  per respondent
                                      respondents   per respondent   of responses         per response                & cost \6\                ($)
                                               (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).....................  (3) * (4) = (5)...........       (5) / (1)
                                                                               (3)
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Market Power Analysis in New                   144               1             144  135 hrs.; $13,095.......  19,440 hrs.; $1,885,680...         $13,095
 Applications for Market-based
 rates.
Triennial market power analysis...              65               1              65  133.23 hrs.; $12,923.31.  8,659.95 hrs.; $840,015.15       12,923.31
Asset appendix addition to change              149               1             149  49 hrs.; $4,753.........  7,301 hrs.; $708,197......           4,753
 in status reports.
FERC-919A Burden carried over from           1,000            .333             333  2.44 hrs.; \7\ $237.11..  814 hrs.; $78,958.........          237.11
 Order 860-A Category 1--(Ongoing).
FERC-919A Burden carried over from           1,500               1           1,500  4.10 hrs.; \8\ $397.96..  6,154 hrs.; $596,938......          397.96
 Order 860-A Category 2--(Ongoing).
FERC-919A Burden Carried over from             440               1             440  46 hrs.; $4,462.........  20,240 hrs.; $1,963,280...           4,462
 Order 860-A Upstream Affiliates.
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    Total.........................           3,298  ..............           2,631  ........................  62,608.95 hrs.;
                                                                                                               $6,073,068.15.
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    Row 1 (Market Power Analysis in New Applications for Market-based 
rates) will have 144 filings. Row 2 (Triennial market power analysis) 
will have 65 filings. Row 3 (Asset appendix addition to change in 
status reports) will have 149 filings. There are a total of 358 filings 
in Rows 1 through 3.
    Currently, there are 2,729 sellers that would submit information 
into the relational database. At the time of implementation of Order 
No. 860, there were 2,647 sellers that would submit information into 
the relational database in the first year of implementation. Six 
institutional investors had FPA section 203(a)(2) blanket 
authorizations, which collectively owned approximately 110 upstream 
affiliates that themselves owned sellers. In the March Notice,\9\ the 
Commission estimated an average of four sellers affected for every 
upstream affiliate, equaling 440 total sellers.
    FERC-919A Burden carryover explanation:
     M16-17-000 Final Rule (Order No. 860) (Category 1, 2nd 
Year and Ongoing), as modified by Order of August 2021--to 814 hrs.)
     RM16-17-000 Final Rule (Order No. 860) (Category 2, 2nd 
Year and Ongoing) as modified by Order of August 2921--to 6,154 hrs.)
    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: June 17, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-13519 Filed 6-23-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P