[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 210 (Wednesday, November 1, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74991-74993]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-24097]


-----------------------------------------------------------------------

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC24-2-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725R); Comment 
Request; Extention

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of revision of information collection and request for 
comments.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

SUMMARY: In compliance with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public 
comment on revisions of the information collection FERC-725R (Mandatory 
Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: BAL Reliability 
Standards).

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due January 2, 
2024.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be submitted to the Commission, in Docket 
No. IC24-2-000, by one of the following methods:
    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.
    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/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725R, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-
Power System: BAL Reliability Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0268.
    Type of Request: OMB renewal of the FERC-725R information 
collection requirements, with no changes to the requirements.
    Abstract: The FERC 725R information collection includes four 
reliability standards.

 BAL-001-2, Real Power Balancing Control Performance; 
(effective July 1, 2016)
 BAL-002-3, Disturbance Control Standard--Contingency Reserve 
for Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event; (effective April 1, 
2019)
 BAL-003-2, Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting; 
(effective December 1, 2020)
 BAL-005-1, Balancing Authority Control. (effective January 1, 
2019)

    On August 8, 2005, Congress enacted into law the Electricity 
Modernization Act of 2005, which is title XII, subtitle A, of the 
Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).\1\ EPAct 2005 added a new 
section 215 to the Federal Power Act (FPA), which required a 
Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop 
mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards, which are subject to 
Commission review and approval. Once approved, any Reliability Standard 
may be enforced by the ERO subject to Commission oversight, or the 
Commission may independently enforce Reliability Standards.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109-58, title XII, 
subtitle A, 119 Stat. 594, 941 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 824o).
    \2\ 16 U.S.C. 824o(e)(3).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    On February 3, 2006, the Commission issued Order No. 672, 
implementing section 215 of the FPA.\3\ Pursuant to

[[Page 74992]]

Order No. 672, the Commission certified one organization, North 
American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), as the ERO.\4\ The 
Reliability Standards developed by the ERO and approved by the 
Commission apply to users, owners and operators of the Bulk-Power 
System as set forth in each Reliability Standard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability 
Organization; and Procedures for the Establishment, Approval, and 
Enforcement of Electric Reliability Standards, Order No. 672, FERC 
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,204, order on reh'g, Order No. 672-A, FERC 
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,212 (2006).
    \4\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ] 
61,062, order on reh'g and compliance, 117 FERC ] 61,126 (2006), 
order on compliance, 118 FERC ] 61,190, order on reh'g, 119 FERC ] 
61,046 (2007), aff'd sub nom. Alcoa Inc. v. FERC, 564 F.3d 1342 
(D.C. Cir. 2009).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    This collection was last revised beginning on December 19, 2019 
when NERC submitted for approval the proposed Reliability Standard BAL-
003-2.
    Types of Respondents: Balancing authorities and a Frequency 
Response Sharing Group (FRSG).
    Estimate of Annual Burden: 5 The estimated burdens of 
the FERC 725R includes the Reliability Standards: BAL-001-2, BAL-002-3, 
BAL-003-2, and BAL-005-1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ Burden is defined as 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. See 5 
CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition of information 
collection burden.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The requirements for each Reliability Standard go as follows:
    BAL-001-2: Real Power Balancing Control Performance. Reliability 
Standard BAL-001-2 is designed to ensure that applicable entities 
balance generation and load by maintaining system frequency within 
narrow bounds around a scheduled value, and it improves reliability by 
adding a frequency component to the measurement of a Balancing 
Authority's Area Control Error (ACE).\6\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \6\ Area Control Error is the ``instantaneous difference between 
a Balancing Authority's net actual and scheduled interchange, taking 
into accounts the effects of Frequency Bias, correction for meter 
error, and Automatic Time Error Correction (ATEC), if operating in 
the ATEC mode. ATEC is only applicable to Balancing Authorities in 
the Western Interconnection.'' NERC Glossary.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    BAL-002-3: Disturbance Control Standard--Contingency Reserve for 
Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event. This standard ensures that 
a responsible entity, either a balancing authority or reserve sharing 
group, is able to recover from system contingencies by deploying 
adequate reserves to return their Area Control Error to defined values 
and replacing the capacity and energy lost due to generation or 
transmission equipment outages.
    BAL-003-2: Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting. This 
standard requires sufficient Frequency Response from the Balancing 
Authority (BA) to maintain Interconnection Frequency within predefined 
bounds by arresting frequency deviations and supporting frequency until 
the frequency is restored.
    BAL-005-1: Balancing Authority Control. This standard establishes 
requirements for acquiring data necessary to calculate Reporting Area 
Control Error (Reporting ACE). The standard also specifies a minimum 
periodicity, accuracy, and availability requirement for acquisition of 
the data and for providing the information to the System Operator. It 
requires balancing authorities to maintain minimum levels of annual 
availability of 99.5% for each balancing authority system for 
calculating Reporting ACE.
    Our estimates are based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of 
September 22, 2023, which indicates that there are for unique US only 
98 registered balancing authorities, 8 registered reserve sharing group 
(RSG) and 1 frequency response sharing group (FRSG).\7\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \7\ NERC Compliance Registry (September 22, 2023), available at 
https://www.nerc.com/pa/comp/Registration%20and%20Certification%20DL/NERC_Compliance_Registry_Matrix_Excel.xlsx.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimates for the average annual burden and cost \8\ follow.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ The hourly cost estimates are based on wage data from the 
Bureau of Labor Statistics for May 2022 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits data for Dec. 2022 (issued March 
2023, at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly 
costs (for wages and benefits) for reporting are: Electrical 
Engineer (Occupation code 17-2071), $77.29. The hourly costs (for 
wages and benefits) for evidence retention are: Information and 
Record Clerk (Occupation code 43-4199), $56.14.

                                                                        FERC-725R
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                      Number of annual   Total number
              Function                Number & type    responses per       of annual    Average burden hours & cost ($)    Total annual burden hours &
                                     of respondents      respondent        responses              per response                total annual cost ($)
                                                (1)                (2)     (1) x (2) =  (4)............................  (3) x (4) = (5)
                                                                                   (3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        BAL-001-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BA Reporting Requirements..........              98                  1              98  8 hrs.; $618.32................  784 hrs.; $60,595.36.
BA Recordkeeping Requirements......              98                  1              98  4 hrs.; $224.56................  392 hrs.; $22,006.88.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        BAL-002-3
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BA & RSG Reporting Requirements....             106                  1             106  8 hrs.; $618.32................  848 hrs.; $65,541.92.
BA & RSG Recordkeeping Requirements             106                  1             106  4 hrs.; $224.56................  424 hrs.; $23,803.36.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        BAL-003-2
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BA & FRSG Reporting Requirements...              99                 28           2,772  8 hrs.; $618.32................  22,176 hrs.; $1,713,983.04.
BA & FRSG Recordkeeping                          99                  1              99  2 hrs.; $112.28................  198 hrs.; $11,115.72.
 Requirements.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                        BAL-005-1
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BA Reporting Requirements..........              98                  1              98  1 hr.; $77.29..................  98 hrs.; $7,574.42.

[[Page 74993]]

 
BA Recordkeeping Requirements......              98                  1              98  1 hr.; $56.14..................  98 hrs.; $5,501.72.
                                    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SUB-TOTAL FOR REPORTING          ..............  .................  ..............  ...............................  23,906 hrs.; $1,847,694.74.
     REQUIREMENTS.
                                    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    SUB-TOTAL FOR RECORDKEEPING      ..............  .................  ..............  ...............................  1,112 hrs.; $62,427.68.
     REQUIREMENTS.
                                    --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        TOTAL FOR FERC-725R          ..............  .................  ..............  ...............................  25,018 hrs.; $1,910,122.42.
         (rounded).
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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: October 26, 2023.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-24097 Filed 10-31-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P