[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 41 (Thursday, March 2, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 13110-13111]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-04307]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC23-7-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725A(1B); 
Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

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-725A(1B), (Mandatory Reliability Standards 
for the Bulk Power System). There are no changes in the requirements of 
the collection.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due May 1, 2023.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC23-7-
000) by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Website: https://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: https://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 https://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.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725A(1B), (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk 
Power System).
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0292.

[[Page 13111]]

    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-725A(1B) 
information collection requirements with no changes to the current 
reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
    Abstract: The FERC-725A(1B) \1\ Under section 215 of the Federal 
Power Act (FPA), the Commission proposes to approve Reliability 
Standards TOP-010-1i (Real-time Reliability Monitoring and Analysis 
Capabilities) submitted by North American Electric Corporation (NERC). 
In this order, the Reliability Standards build on monitoring, real-time 
assessments and support effective situational awareness. The 
Reliability Standards accomplish this by requiring applicable entities 
to: (1) Provide notification to operators of real-time monitoring alarm 
failures; (2) provide operators with indications of the quality of 
information being provided by their monitoring and analysis 
capabilities; and (3) address deficiencies in the quality of 
information being provided by their monitoring and analysis 
capabilities. FERC-725A(1B) addresses situational awareness objectives 
by providing for operator awareness when key alarming tools are not 
performing as intended. These collections will improve real-time 
situational awareness capabilities and enhance reliable operations by 
requiring reliability coordinators, transmission operators, and 
balancing authorities to provide operators with an improved awareness 
of system conditions analysis capabilities, including alarm 
availability, so that operators may take appropriate steps to ensure 
reliability. These functions include planning, operations, data 
sharing, monitoring, and analysis.
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    \1\ The 725(1B) collection was created as a temporary collection 
number originally used at the time of the RD16-6-000, because OMB 
cannot review two pending requests with the same OMB control no. at 
a given time. The FERC 725A is still pending at OMB for an unrelated 
matter, thus we are renewing the temporary number and the related 
collection at this time.
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    Type of Respondent: Balancing Authority (BA), Transmission 
Operations (TOP) and Reliability Coordinators (RC).
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    \2\ ``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.
    \3\ Our estimates are based on the NERC Compliance Registry 
Summary of Entities and Functions as of November 4, 2022, which 
indicates there are 266 entities registered as BA and TOP.
    \4\ The number of respondents is the number of entities in which 
a change in burden from the current standards to the proposed 
standards exists, not the total number of entities from the current 
or proposed standards that are applicable.
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    Estimate of Annual Burden: \2\ The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost for this information collection in the table 
below.
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    \5\ The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based 
on Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information, as of May 2022 (at 
http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm, with updated benefits 
information for March 2022 at http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm), for an electrical engineer (code 17-2071, $77.02/
hour), and for information and record clerks record keeper (code 43-
4199, $42.35/hour). The hourly figure for engineers is used for 
reporting; the hourly figure for information and record clerks is 
used for document retention.
    \6\ Balancing Authority (BA). The following Requirements and 
associated measures apply to balancing authorities: Requirement R1: 
A revised data specification and writing the required operating 
process/operating procedure; and Requirement R2: quality monitoring 
logs and the data errors and corrective action logs.
    \7\ Transmission Operations (TOP). The following Requirements 
and associated measures apply to transmission operators: Requirement 
R1: A revised data specification and writing the required operating 
process/operating procedure; and Requirement R3: alarm process 
monitor performance logs to maintain performance logs and corrective 
action plans.

                                                          FERC-725A(1B)--Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System \3\
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                                                                  Number of     Annual number                                                                                          Cost per
               Entity                       Requirements         respondents    of responses    Total number of     Average burden & cost per     Total annual burden hours & total   respondent
                                                                     \4\       per respondent      responses              response \5\                       annual cost                 ($)
                                                                          (1)             (2)   (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)...........................  (3) * (4) = (5)...................    (5) / (1)
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BA \6\..............................  Annual reporting.......              98               1                98  42 hrs.; $3,234.84............  4,116 hrs.; $317,014.32...........    $3,234.84
TOP \7\.............................  Annual reporting.......             168               1               168  40 hrs.; $3,080.80............  6,720 hrs.; $517,574.40...........     3,080.80
BA/TOP..............................  Annual Record Retention             266               1               266  2 hrs.; $84.70................  532 hrs.; $22,530.20..............        84.70
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  Total Burden Hours Per Year         .......................  ..............  ..............  ................  ..............................  10,836 hrs. $834,588.72...........  ...........
   (Reporting).
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  Total Burden Hours Per Year         .......................  ..............  ..............  ................  ..............................  532 hrs.; $22,530.20..............  ...........
   (Record Retention).
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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: February 24, 2023.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-04307 Filed 3-1-23; 8:45 am]
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