[Federal Register Volume 87, Number 211 (Wednesday, November 2, 2022)]
[Notices]
[Pages 66173-66175]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2022-23846]



[[Page 66173]]

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. PL20-3-000]


Actions Regarding the Commission's Policy on Price Index 
Formation and Transparency, and Indices Referenced in Natural Gas and 
Electric Tariffs

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Notice of policy statement.

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SUMMARY: On April 21, 2022, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission 
(Commission) revised its price index policy set forth in its Policy 
Statement on Natural Gas and Electric Price Indices (Revised Policy 
Statement). In order to comply with Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) Paperwork Reduction Act requirements on Policy Statements, the 
Commission is establishing a new information collection, FERC-549E, 
(Price Index Data Providers and Developers) OMB No. 1902-New, to 
reflect the burden to implement the policy changes in the Revised 
Policy Statement and to reflect the unreported burden arising from the 
prior policy statements. The Commission is also seeking comment on the 
burden and cost related to complying with the Revised Policy Statement.

DATES: Send comments on or before December 2, 2022.

ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by docket number, may be filed in the 
following ways. Electronic filing through https://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, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
    The Comment Procedures Section of this document contains more 
detailed filing procedures.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
    Evan Oxhorn (Legal Information), Office of the General Counsel, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, 
DC 20426, (202) 502-8183, [email protected].
    Eric Primosch (Technical Information), Office of Energy Policy and 
Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6483, [email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    1. On April 21, 2022, the Commission issued an order in the above-
captioned proceeding.\1\ Upon further consideration, we determine that 
the reference in the Revised Policy Statement to the existing 
information collection FERC-549 was in error. That information 
collection is already in use for a matter unrelated to the Revised 
Policy Statement.\2\ The Commission should have referenced an 
information collection for the prior policy statements.\3\ However, 
when the Commission issued the prior policy statements, the orders did 
not provide a Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) burden estimate.\4\ In 
order to comply with Office of Management and Budget (OMB) PRA 
requirements on Policy Statements, the Commission is establishing a new 
information collection, FERC-549E, (Price Index Data Providers and 
Developers) OMB No. 1902-New, to reflect the burden to implement the 
policy changes in the Revised Policy Statement and to reflect the 
unreported burden arising from the prior policy statements. The 
Commission is also seeking comment on the burden and cost as shown in 
this order related to complying with the Revised Policy Statement.
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    \1\ Actions Regarding the Commission's Pol'y Statement on Price 
Index Formation & Transparency, & Indices Referenced in Nat. Gas & 
Elec. Tariffs, 87 FR 25,237 (Apr. 21, 2022), 179 FERC ] 61,036 
(2022) (Revised Policy Statement).
    \2\ See FERC-549, NGPA Section 311 Transactions and NGA Blanket 
Certificate Transactions, OMB Control No. 1902-0086.
    \3\ Pol'y Statement on Nat. Gas & Elec. Price Indices, 104 FERC 
] 61,121, clarified, Order on Clarification of Pol'y Statement on 
Nat. Gas & Elec. Price Indices, 105 FERC ] 61,282 (2003), clarified, 
Order Further Clarifying Pol'y Statement on Nat. Gas & Elec. Price 
Indices, 70 FR 41,002 (July 15, 2005), 112 FERC ] 61,040 (2005) 
(prior policy statements).
    \4\ Id.
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    2. We clarify that the term ``burden'' as used in paragraphs 24, 
29, 36, 37, 47, 56, 58, and 97, as well as the header for section II.c 
(following paragraph 47), of the Revised Policy Statement is not 
intended to incorporate the statutory definition of burden contained in 
5 CFR 1320.3(b) (2021).\5\ Rather, the term ``burden'' as used in those 
paragraphs and section header refers to the practical effect of the 
Revised Policy Statement on entities that have been voluntarily 
reporting to the Commission. That is, while the Commission's statements 
on burden properly indicated that changes in the Revised Policy 
Statement would reduce the actual ``burden'' on data providers--as that 
term is commonly understood, those statements did not incorporate the 
statutory definition of the term ``burden.'' Nonetheless, the statutory 
definition of ``burden'' contained in 5 CFR 1320.3(b) (2021) is 
incorporated in paragraph 110 of the Revised Policy Statement and into 
the new FERC-549E.
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    \5\ Revised Policy Statement, 87 FR 25,237, 179 FERC ] 61,036.
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    3. Because we are establishing a new information collection herein, 
this order corrects the Commission's statements in the Revised Policy 
Statement related to burden, due to burden now being implemented and 
reported in the FERC-549E information collection. The Revised Policy 
Statement's effective date remains December 31, 2022.
    4. The burden estimates contained within the burden table labeled 
FERC-549 will now be implemented in FERC-549E. The original table for 
FERC-549 at paragraph 110 of the Revised Policy Statement is being 
replaced with a new table for FERC-549E (below). Although the FERC-549E 
shows no relative reduction in burden, that is because there was no 
burden estimate prepared in 2005. Instead, FERC-549E represents an 
original total burden that incorporates both the unreported burden 
arising from the prior policy statements and any decrease in that 
unreported burden resulting from implementation of the policy changes 
in the Revised Policy Statement. The table reflecting the changes is as 
follows:

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                                                        Implementation of Burden Due to the Revised Policy Statement in Docket No. PL20-3
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                                                               Annual number of
                                               Number of        responses per     Total number of     Average  burden (hrs.)  & cost ($)     Total annual burden hrs. & total annual cost  ($)
                                              respondents         respondent         responses                   per response
                                                         (1)                (2)    (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)..................................  (3) * (4) = (5)
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                                                                                      Burden for FERC-549E
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Data Providers (and their affiliates)--              \6\ 104                 .5                 52  80 hrs.; $6,960......................  4,160 hrs.; $361,920.
 perform biennial self-audit.
Data Providers (and their affiliates)                 \7\ 96            \8\ 249             23,904  4 hrs.; $348.........................  95,616 hrs.; $8,318,592.
 that provide next-day transactions.
Data Providers (and their affiliates)                 \9\ 77            \10\ 12                924  4 hrs.; $348.........................  3,696 hrs.; $321,552.
 that provide next-month transactions.
    Grand Total for Data Providers.......  .................  .................             24,880  .....................................  103,472 hrs.; $9,002,064.
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                                                                                      Burden for FERC-549E
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Price Index Developers--re-certify every                   6               0.14               0.84  320 hrs.; $27,840....................  268.8 hrs.; $23,385.6.
 7 yrs..
Price Index Developers--code of conduct &                  6                  1                  6  80 hrs.; $6,960......................  480 hrs.; $41,760.
 confident.; & inform customers.
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Price Index Developers--identify assessed                  6                  1                  6  80 hrs.; $6,960......................  480 hrs.; $41,760.
 index price vs. calculated.
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    Grand Total for Price Index            .................  .................              12.84  .....................................  1,228.80 hrs.; $106,905.60.
     Developers.
        Total Burden for FERC-549E.......  .................  .................          24,892.84  .....................................  104,700.80 hrs.; $9,108,969.60.
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    5. The Commission is providing the opportunity for an additional 
30-day comment period. The Commission seeks comments on the burden and 
cost as shown in this order related to complying with the Revised 
Policy Statement.
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    \6\ A total of 104 data providers (and their affiliates), 
perform self-audits on the data they provide to price index 
developers. This figure includes data providers (and their 
affiliates) that transact solely in the next-day market, data 
providers (and their affiliates) that transact solely in the next-
month market, and data providers (and their affiliates) that 
transact in both the next-day and next-month market.
    \7\ This figure includes data providers (and their affiliates) 
that transact solely in the next-day market and in both the next-day 
and next-month markets.
    \8\ This figure (249 annual responses per respondent) relates to 
reporting on all non-holiday trading days.
    \9\ This figure includes data providers (and their affiliates) 
that transact solely in the next-month market and in both the next-
day and next-month market.
    \10\ Respondents who report their next-month transactions to 
price index developers report their transactions once a month (or 12 
times a year).
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    Title: FERC-549E, Price Index Data Providers and Developers.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-NEW.
    Respondents: Natural Gas Data Providers (Market Participants That 
Report Transaction).
    6. Comments are due December 2, 2022. Comments must refer to Docket 
No. PL20-3-000, and must include the commenter's name, the organization 
they represent, if applicable, and their address in their comments. All 
comments will be placed in the Commission's public files and may be 
viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely as described in the Document 
Availability section below. Commenters are not required to serve copies 
of their comments on other commenters.
    7. The Commission encourages comments to be filed electronically 
via the eFiling link on the Commission's website at http://www.ferc.gov. The Commission accepts most standard word processing 
formats. Documents created electronically using word processing 
software must be filed in native applications or print-to-PDF format 
and not in a scanned format. Commenters filing electronically do not 
need to make a paper filing.
    8. Commenters that are not able to file comments electronically may 
file an original of their comment by USPS mail or by courier or other 
delivery services. For submission sent via USPS only, filings should be 
mailed to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the 
Secretary, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. Submission of 
filings other than by USPS should be delivered to: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.
    9. No further corrections are warranted pertaining to the Revised

[[Page 66175]]

Policy Statement. FERC-552 remains the same and no changes are needed 
for that collection.

    By the Commission.

    Issued: October 27, 2022.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2022-23846 Filed 11-1-22; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P