[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 244 (Thursday, December 21, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 88383-88386]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2023-28130]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC23-14-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-717); Comment 
Request; Extension

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of extension 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 extension to the 
information collection, FERC-717 (Standards for Business Practices and 
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities) (OMB Control No. 1902-
0173), which will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget 
(OMB) for review.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due [INSERT DATE 
30 DAYS AFTER DATE OF PUBLICATION IN THE FEDERAL REGISTER].

ADDRESSES: Send written comments on the information collections to OMB 
through www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control 
Number (1902-0173) in the subject line of your comments. Comments 
should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to 
www.reginfo.gov/public/do/PRAMain.

[[Page 88384]]

    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in 
Docket No. IC23-14-000 by any of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's website: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
     U.S. Postal Service Mail: Persons unable to file 
electronically may mail similar pleadings to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.
     Effective July 1, 2020, delivery of filings other than by 
eFiling or the U.S. Postal Service should be delivered to Health and 
Human Services, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, Maryland 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: Jean Sonneman may be reached by email 
at [email protected], telephone at (202) 502-6362.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-717, Standards for Business Practices and Communication 
Protocols for Public Utilities.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0173.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of the FERC-717 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: This notice pertains to a requirement that Transmission 
Providers \1\ provide certain information regarding their transmission 
operations on an Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS). This 
requirement was established because the Commission has determined that 
Transmission Customers \2\ must have simultaneous access to the same 
information available to the Transmission Provider in order to receive 
nondiscriminatory transmission services in accordance with section 205 
of the Federal Power Act.\3\
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    \1\ Under 18 CFR 37.3(a), a ``Transmission Provider'' is any 
public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used for 
the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.
    \2\ Under 18 CFR 37.3(b), a ``Transmission Customer'' is any 
eligible customer (or its designated agent) that can or does execute 
a transmission service agreement or can or does receive transmission 
service.
    \3\ 16 U.S.C. 824d.
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    Section 205 of the Federal Power Act (FPA) requires that all rates 
and charges for the transmission or sale of electric energy and all 
rules and regulations affecting or pertaining to such rates and charges 
be just and reasonable. Section 206 of the FPA (16 U.S.C. 824e) 
authorizes FERC to initiate a proceeding to address any ``rate, charge 
or classification'' related to the transmission or sale of electricity 
that the agency determines is ``unjust, unreasonable, unduly 
discriminatory or preferential.''
    Commission regulations at 18 CFR 35.28 and 18 CFR part 37 are in 
accordance with FPA Sections 205 and 206. The regulation at 18 CFR 
35.28 applies to any public utility that owns, operates, or controls 
interstate transmission facilities and any non-public utility seeking 
voluntary compliance with jurisdictional transmission tariff 
reciprocity conditions. These entities must offer transmission service 
on an open and non-discriminatory basis pursuant to a pro forma Open 
Access Transmission Tariff (OATT).
    Part 37 applies to any public utility that owns, operates, or 
controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in 
interstate commerce and to transactions performed under the pro forma 
OATT established under 18 CFR 35.28. As stated at 18 CFR 37.2, the 
purpose of 18 CFR part 37 is to ensure that potential customers of open 
access transmission service receive access to information that will 
enable them to obtain transmission service on a non-discriminatory 
basis from any Transmission Provider.\4\ The regulations in 18 CFR part 
37 provide standards of conduct and require the Transmission Provider 
(or its agent) to create and operate an Open Access Same-Time 
Information System (OASIS) that gives all users of the open access 
transmission system access to the same information.
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    \4\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.3(a), a ``Transmission Provider'' is 
any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used 
for the transmission of electricity in interstate commerce.
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    Regulations at 18 CFR part 37 authorize Transmission Providers to 
operate an OASIS either individually or jointly with other Transmission 
Providers. These regulations also provide that a Transmission Provider 
may delegate this responsibility to a Responsible Party \5\ such as 
another Transmission Provider, an Independent System Operator, a 
Regional Transmission Group, or a Regional Reliability Council.
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    \5\ Under 18 CFR 37.3(c), a ``Responsible Party'' is a 
Transmission Provider or an agent to whom the Transmission Provider 
has delegated the responsibility of meeting any of the requirements 
of 18 CFR part 37.
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    The collection of information in accordance with FERC-717 is 
necessary for the implementation of OASIS. The regulation at 18 CFR 
37.6 lists the information that Transportation Providers or Responsible 
Parties must calculate and post on OASIS. Paragraph (a) of section 37.6 
provides that the information posted on OASIS must be in such detail 
and the OASIS must have such capabilities as to allow Transmission 
Customers \6\ to:
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    \6\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.3(b), a ``Transmission Customer'' is 
any eligible customer (or its designated agent) that can or does 
execute a transmission service agreement or can or does receive 
transmission service.
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    (1) Make requests for transmission services offered by Transmission 
Providers, Resellers \7\ and other providers of ancillary services, 
request the designation of a network resource, and request the 
termination of the designation of a network resource;
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    \7\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.3(d), a ``Reseller'' is any 
Transmission Customer who offers to sell transmission capacity it 
has purchased.
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    (2) View and download in standard formats, using standard 
protocols,\8\ information regarding the transmission system necessary 
to enable prudent business decision making;
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    \8\ The standard protocols are included in the Standards for 
Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities 
adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North 
American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). The Commission adopted the 
protocols by reference in 18 CFR 38.1(b)(2)(iv) in a final rule at 
86 FR 29491 (June 2, 2021). The protocols remain effective at 
present.
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    (3) Post, view, upload and download information regarding available 
products and desired services;
    (4) Clearly identify the degree to which transmission service 
requests or schedules were denied or interrupted;
    (5) Obtain access, in electronic format, to information to support 
available transmission capability calculations and historical 
transmission service requests and schedules for various audit purposes; 
and
    (6) Make file transfers and automated computer-to-computer file 
transfers and queries as defined by the Standards and Communications 
Protocols Document.

[[Page 88385]]

Calculation Methods, Availability of Information, and Requests

    The regulation at 18 CFR 37.6(b)(2) provides that information used 
to calculate any posting of ATC and TTC \9\ must be dated and time-
stamped and all calculations shall be performed according to 
consistently applied methodologies referenced in the Transmission 
Provider's transmission tariff and shall be based on Commission-
approved Reliability Standards, business practice and electronic 
communication standards, and related implementation documents, as well 
as current industry practices, standards and criteria. Such 
calculations shall be conducted in a manner that is transparent, 
consistent with anticipated system conditions and outages for the 
relevant timeframe, and not unduly discriminatory or preferential.
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    \9\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.6(b)(1): (1) ATC is the transfer 
capability remaining in the physical transmission network for 
further commercial activity over and above already committed uses, 
or such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability 
Standards. (2) TTC is the amount of electric power that can be moved 
or transferred reliably from one area to another area of the 
interconnected transmission systems by way of all transmission lines 
(or paths) between those areas under specified system conditions, or 
such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability 
Standards.
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    On request, the Responsible Party must make all data used to 
calculate ATC, TTC, Capacity Benefit Margin,\10\ and Transmission 
Reliability Margin \11\ for any constrained posted paths publicly 
available in electronic form within one week of the posting. The 
information is required to be provided only in the electronic format in 
which it was created, along with any necessary decoding instructions, 
at a cost limited to the cost of reproducing the material. This 
information is to be retained for six months after the applicable 
posting period.
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    \10\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.6(b)(1)(vii), ``Capacity Benefit 
Margin'' means the amount of TTC preserved by the Transmission 
Provider for load-serving entities, whose loads are located on that 
Transmission Provider's system, to enable access by the load-serving 
entities to generation from interconnected systems to meet 
generation reliability requirements, or such definition as contained 
in Commission-approved Reliability Standards.
    \11\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.6(b)(1)(viii), ``Transmission 
Reliability Margin'' is the amount of TTC necessary to provide 
reasonable assurance that the interconnected transmission network 
will be secure, or such definition as contained in Commission-
approved Reliability Standards.
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    System planning studies, facilities studies, and specific network 
impact studies performed for customers or the Transmission Provider's 
own network resources are to be made publicly available in electronic 
form on request and a list of such studies must be posted on the OASIS. 
A study is required to be provided only in the electronic format in 
which it was created, along with any necessary decoding instructions, 
at a cost limited to the cost of reproducing the material. These 
studies are to be retained for five years.

Posting Requirements

    Paragraph (b)(3) of 18 CFR 37.6 requires Transmission Providers to 
calculate and post the ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM in megawatts for each 
Posted Path.\12\ Paragraph (c) of 18 CFR 37.6 requires Transmission 
Providers to post prices and a summary of the terms and conditions 
associated with all transmission products offered to Transmission 
Customers. Paragraph (d) of 18 CFR 37.6 requires Transmission Providers 
to post any ancillary service required to be provided or offered under 
the pro forma OATT.
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    \12\ As defined at 18 CFR 37.6(b)(1)(i), ``Posted Path'' means 
any control area to control area interconnection; any path for which 
service is denied, curtailed, or interrupted for more than 24 hours 
in the past 12 months; and any path for which a customer requests to 
have ATC or TTC posted. For this last category, the posting must 
continue for 180 days and thereafter until 180 days have elapsed 
from the most recent request for service over the requested path. 
For purposes of this definition, an hour includes any part of an 
hour during which service was denied, curtailed, or interrupted.
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Standards of Conduct

    The Commission established Standards of Conduct at 18 CFR 37.4 
requiring that personnel engaged in transmission system operations 
function independently from personnel engaged in marketing functions. 
The Standards of Conduct were designed to prevent employees of a public 
utility (or any of its affiliates) engaged in marketing functions from 
preferential access to OASIS-related information or from engaging in 
unduly discriminatory business practices. Companies were required to 
separate their transmission operations/reliability functions from their 
marketing/merchant functions and prevent system operators from 
providing merchant employees and employees of affiliates with 
transmission-related information not available to all customers at the 
same time through public posting on the OASIS.
    The information that must be posted at OASIS sites is listed at 18 
CFR 37.6. The required postings include business practices, 
communication protocols, transfer capacity, transmission service 
products, and prices. Some of the required business practices and 
communication protocols are incorporated by reference at 18 CFR 
38.1(b).
    The 60-day notice was published on October 13, 2023 (88 FR 70967) 
and no comments were received during the comment period.
    Type of Respondents: Transmission Providers and Responsible 
Parties.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \13\: The previous information collection 
request (ICR Reference No. 202002-1902-006) in the year 2020 was 
approved by OMB with a one-time burden that was expected to be 
completed in Year One. As averaged over a three-year period, the annual 
responses were estimated as 165 annually, 10 hours per response, and 
total hours of 1,650 hours. These burdens are not included in this 
information collection request because all respondents have complied 
with that one-time burden. The removal of those burdens constitutes a 
program change.
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    \13\ 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. For 
further explanation of what is included in the information 
collection burden, refer to 5 CFR 1320.3.
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    The estimated annual number of responses for the ongoing 
information collection activity are adjusted in this information 
collection request from 162 to 216, an increase of 54 responses. Based 
on a review of the information collection since our last submission, we 
have determined this change in number of responses is due to changes in 
the regulated industry.
    The current burden estimates are shown in the following table.
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    \14\ The Commission staff thinks that the average respondent for 
this collection is similarly situated to the Commission, in terms of 
salary plus benefits. Based upon FERC's FY 2022 annual average of 
$199,867 (for salary plus benefits), the average hourly cost is $96/
hour.

[[Page 88386]]



                    Burden Estimates for FERC-717, Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities
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                                                       Annual number
 Information collection requirement     Number of       of responses   Total number of   Average burden hours and cost    Total annual burden hours and
                                       respondents     per respondent     responses            per response \14\                total annual cost
                                                (1)              (2)   (1) * (2) = (3)  (4)............................  (3) * (4) = (5)
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Open Access Same-Time Information               216                1              216   30 hrs.; $2,880................  6,480 hrs.; $622,080
 (OASIS).
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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: December 15, 2023.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Deputy Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2023-28130 Filed 12-20-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P