[Federal Register Volume 89, Number 88 (Monday, May 6, 2024)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 37147-37157]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2024-09438]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

18 CFR Parts 2 and 38

[Docket No. RM05-5-031]


Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for 
Public Utilities

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to amend its 
regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain exceptions, the 
latest version (Version 004) of the Standards for Business Practices 
and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the 
Wholesale Electric Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards 
Board.

DATES: Comments are due July 5, 2024.

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

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

John O. Sillin (technical issues), Office of Energy Policy and 
Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE, 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6548
Veronica Norman (legal issues), Office of the General Counsel, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 
20426, (202) 502-8751

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Table of Contents

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                                                           Paragraph No.
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I. Overview.............................................              1.
II. Background..........................................              2.
III. Discussion.........................................              5.
    A. Modifications to Previous Version of Standards...              9.
    1. Modifications in Response to Commission Order                  9.
     Nos. 676-I and 676-J...............................
    2. Modifications To Support Cybersecurity for the                19.
     Wholesale Electric Industry........................
    3. Modifications To Complement NERC Reliability                  22.
     Standards..........................................
    4. Modifications to the WEQ OASIS Business Practice              24.
     Standards..........................................
    5. Modifications To Coordinate Interchange Standards             34.
    6. Modifications to Abbreviations, Acronyms, and                 36.
     Defined Terms......................................
    7. Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificates Contract.             37.
    8. Minor Corrections................................             38.
B. New Sets of Standards................................             39.
    1. WEQ-024 Cybersecurity............................             39.
    2. WEQ-025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale                    40.
     Electric Interactions..............................
C. Standards the Commission Proposes Not To Incorporate              43.
 by Reference...........................................
    1. WEQ-010 Contracts Related Business Practice                   43.
     Standards..........................................
    2. WEQ-025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale                    44.
     Electric Interactions..............................
    D. Proposed Implementation Procedures...............             45.
IV. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards......             48.
V. Incorporation by Reference...........................             49.
VI. Information Collection Statement....................             75.
VII. Environmental Analysis.............................             80.
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act........................             81.
IX. Comment Procedures..................................             85.
X. Document Availability................................             88.
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I. Overview

    1. The Federal Energy Regulatory (Commission) proposes to amend its 
regulations at 18 CFR 38.1(b) to incorporate by reference, with certain 
enumerated exceptions,\1\ the latest

[[Page 37148]]

version (Version 004) of 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) (WEQ Version 004 Standards) applicable to the wholesale 
electric industry. NAESB is an American National Standards Institute-
accredited, non-profit standards development organization formed for 
the purpose of developing voluntary standards and model business 
practices that promote more competitive and efficient natural gas and 
electric markets. On July 31, 2023, NAESB filed a notice that it had 
approved and published the WEQ Version 004 Standards to replace the 
currently incorporated version (Version 003.3) of those business 
practice standards (Informational Report).\2\ The revisions made by 
NAESB in the WEQ Version 004 Standards are designed to aid public 
utilities with the consistent and uniform implementation of 
requirements promulgated by the Commission as part of the pro forma 
Open Access Transmission Tariff.
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    \1\ In addition to the standards discussed below that are not 
proposed for incorporation by reference, the Commission is not 
proposing to incorporate by reference the following: (1) the WEQ-009 
Standards of Conduct for Electric Transmission Providers, which 
NAESB has eliminated as they duplicate the Commission's regulations; 
and (2) the WEQ-014 WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Business Practice 
Standards, which provide an implementation guide describing the 
various mechanisms, data tables, code values/reference tables, and 
technical specifications used in the submission of electronic tariff 
filings to the Commission, which the Commission has not incorporated 
as these submittals are governed by the Commission's eTariff 
regulations.
    \2\ See NAESB WEQ Business Practice Standards Version 004 
Report, Docket No. RM05-5-31, (filed July 31, 2023).
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II. Background

    2. Since 2006, the Commission has adopted in its regulations 
NAESB's business practice standards and communication protocols for 
public utilities, promulgated in the Order No. 697 series of orders,\3\ 
wherein the Commission incorporated by reference the standards for 
public utilities developed by NAESB's WEQ. Upon incorporation by 
reference, this version of the standard will replace the currently 
incorporated version (Version 003.3) of those business practice 
standards.
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    \3\ This series of orders began with the Commission's issuance 
of Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols for Pub. Utils., 
Order No. 676, 71 FR 26,199 (May 4, 2006), 115 FERC ] 61,102 (2006).
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    3. On July 31, 2023, NAESB filed a report informing the Commission 
that it had approved and published the WEQ Version 004 Standards. NAESB 
states that the WEQ Version 004 Standards include newly created 
standards, as well as modifications to existing standards, developed 
through the NAESB standards development process. WEQ Version 004 
Standards build upon WEQ Version 003.3 Standards and include standards 
developed in response to the directives from Order Nos. 676-I and 676-
J,\4\ business practice standards developed to support cybersecurity 
for the wholesale electric industry, modifications to complement the 
NERC Reliability Standards, the new NAESB Base Contract for Sale and 
Purchase of Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificates (NAESB REC 
Contract), and standards to identify definitions for common grid 
services to support distributed energy resource interactions in 
response to a request submitted by the Department of Energy (DOE), 
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and Pacific 
Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Additionally, WEQ Version 004 
Standards include modifications applied to Open Access Same-Time 
Information Systems (OASIS) Business Practice Standards, the Coordinate 
Interchange Business Practice Standards, and the Abbreviations, 
Acronyms, and Defined Terms.
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    \4\ See Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols for 
Pub. Utils., Order No. 676-I, 85 FR 10571 (Feb. 25, 2020), 170 FERC 
] 61,062 (2020); Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols 
for Pub. Utils., No. 676-J, 86 FR 29,491 (Jun. 2, 2021), 175 FERC ] 
61,139 (2021).
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    4. The Informational Report includes an overview of all standard 
additions, modifications, and reservations applied to Version 004 of 
the WEQ Business Practice Standards and summarizes the deliberations 
that led to the changes. It also identifies changes to the existing 
standards that were considered but not adopted.\5\
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    \5\ Since the publication of WEQ Version 003.3, sixteen 
standards development efforts have resulted in recommendations from 
WEQ subcommittees for no action.
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III. Discussion

    5. In this notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR), we propose to 
incorporate by reference into the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 
38.1(b) the WEQ Version 004 Standards as developed by NAESB, with 
certain exceptions.\6\ In the subsections that follow, we provide the 
summary required by the Office of Federal Register regulations. As an 
initial matter, we note that the WEQ Version 004 Standards include 
modifications, reservations, and additions to the following set of 
existing WEQ Standards, i.e., the Version 003.3 Business Practice 
Standards.
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    \6\ In the discussion below, we identify the NAESB WEQ Version 
004 Standards that we propose not to incorporate by reference.

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                        Standard No.                                      Business practice standards
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WEQ-000.....................................................  Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms.
WEQ-001.....................................................  OASIS.
WEQ-002.....................................................  OASIS Standards and Communication Protocol (S&CP).
WEQ-003.....................................................  OASIS Data Dictionary.
WEQ-004.....................................................  Coordinate Interchange.
WEQ-005.....................................................  Area Control Error Equation Special Cases.
WEQ-006.....................................................  Manual Time Error Correction.
WEQ-008.....................................................  Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)--Eastern
                                                               Interconnection.
WEQ-010.....................................................  Contracts Related Business Practice Standards.
WEQ-012.....................................................  Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
WEQ-013.....................................................  OASIS Implementation Guide.
WEQ-015.....................................................  Measurement and Verification of Wholesale
                                                               Electricity Demand Response.
WEQ-021.....................................................  Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency
                                                               Products.
WEQ-022.....................................................  Electric Industry Registry.
WEQ-023.....................................................  Modeling.
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    6. Additionally, the WEQ Version 004 Business Practice Standards 
include two new sets of standards:

[[Page 37149]]



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WEQ-024.....................................................  Cybersecurity.
WEQ-025.....................................................  Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric
                                                               Interactions.
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    7. As the Commission found in Order No. 676, adoption of consensus 
standards is appropriate because the consensus process helps ensure the 
reasonableness of the standards by requiring that the standards draw 
support from a broad spectrum of all segments of the industry. 
Moreover, since the industry itself conducts business under these 
standards, the Commission's regulations should reflect those standards 
that have the widest possible support. In section 12(d) of the National 
Technology Transfer and Advancement Act of 1995, Congress affirmatively 
requires Federal Agencies to use technical standards developed by 
voluntary consensus standards organizations, such as NAESB, as a means 
of carrying out policy objectives or activities unless use of such 
standards would be inconsistent with applicable law or otherwise 
impractical.\7\
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    \7\ Public Law 104-113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996), 15 U.S.C. 
272 note (1997).
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    8. We discuss below some specific aspects of NAESB's informational 
report. The following paragraphs describe NAESB's proposed 
modifications, reservations, and additions to its existing standards, 
which collectively produce NAESB's proposed WEQ Version 004 Standards. 
The paragraphs also describe relevant background information and 
impetuses for the changes.

A. Modifications to Previous Version of Standards

1. Modifications in Response to Commission Order Nos. 676-I and 676-J
    9. WEQ Version 004 contains modifications made in response to 
directives contained in Order Nos. 676-I and 676-J and related 
industry-submitted standards requests under three separate standards 
development efforts related to standards for redirection of 
transmission, time error correction, and contract path management. As 
part of these efforts, NAESB modified the WEQ-000 Abbreviations, 
Acronyms, and Definition of Terms, WEQ-001 OASIS Business Practice 
Standards, WEQ-003 OASIS Data Dictionary Business Practice Standards, 
WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice Standards, WEQ-
013 OASIS Implementation Guide Business Practice Standards, and WEQ-023 
Modeling Business Practice Standards.
a. Standards for Redirection of Transmission Service
    10. In response to Order No. 676-I,\8\ NAESB revised the WEQ-001, 
WEQ-003, and WEQ-013 standards to provide greater specificity regarding 
the transmission service reservation process that applies to 
redirection of transmission service (redirects) on a firm and non-firm 
basis, consistent with the Commission's Dynegy \9\ policy addressing a 
customer's right to keep its contractual rights to point-to-point firm 
transmission service on the original path it has reserved while the 
customer's request for a redirect is pending.\10\ In Dynegy Power 
Marketing, Inc. v. Southwest Power Pool, Inc., the Commission held that 
a transmission customer receiving firm transmission service does not 
lose its rights to its original path until the redirect request 
satisfies all of the following criteria: (1) it is accepted by the 
transmission provider; (2) it is confirmed by the transmission 
customer; and (3) it passes the conditional reservation deadline under 
section 13.2 of the transmission provider's OATT.
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    \8\ Order No. 676-I, 170 FERC ] 61,062 at PP 35-39.
    \9\ 99 FERC ] 61,054, at P 9 (2002) (Dynegy). This policy was 
retained and clarified in Entergy Services, Inc., 143 FERC ] 61,143, 
at PP 30-33 (2013) (Entergy).
    \10\ Order No. 676-I, 170 FERC ] 61,062 at P 3.
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    11. In Order No. 676-I, the Commission incorporated by reference 
the NAESB standards, except for the preambles in WEQ-001-9 and WEQ 001-
10. The Commission declined to incorporate by reference the two 
preambles because they appeared to permit transmission providers the 
option to implement their own entity-specific procedures, which would 
not have ensured consistency across the bulk power system.\11\ The 
Commission also specified which firm parent reservations would be 
afforded the protection of the Dynegy policy and limited the Dynegy 
policy to redirects from unconditional firm service.\12\
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    \11\ Order No. 676-I, 170 FERC ] 61,062 at PP 37-38.
    \12\ Id. P 36.
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    12. In response to Order No. 676-I, NAESB conducted a full review 
of both the WEQ-001-9 and WEQ-001-10 NAESB Standards to identify any 
shortcomings and modifications needed to comply with the Commission's 
conclusions and with Dynegy. The proposed standards provide additional 
details regarding the treatment of redirects from unconditional and 
conditional parent transmission service reservations, require redirects 
of non-firm transmission service to be from unconditional parent 
transmission service reservations, and require resales of transmission 
service to be from unconditional parent transmission service 
reservations. Further, the modified standards establish a mechanism to 
allow capacity to be returned from a redirect of firm transmission 
service to the parent transmission service reservation.
b. Time Error Correction
    13. In Order No. 676-I, the Commission found that NAESB had not 
provided sufficient justification for retiring the Time Error 
Correction standard (WEQ-006), as it had proposed. The Commission 
instead left in place the incorporation by reference of the time error 
correction standard in the prior version of the standards (WEQ Version 
003.1).\13\ The Commission requested that public utilities work through 
the NAESB business practices development process to revisit the 
rationale for removing the Time Error Correction standards to determine 
whether they should be retained or revised.
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    \13\ Order 676-I, 170 FERC ] 61,062 at P 46.
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    14. In response to the Commission in Order No. 676-I, NAESB revised 
WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice Standards to 
address commercial requirements for entities calling for manual time 
error corrections in accordance with the NERC Time Monitoring Reference 
Document Version 5.\14\ Under the revised standards, Interconnection 
Time Monitors are required to monitor Time Error and make a reasonable 
effort to initiate or terminate corrective action orders according to 
the table in the standards when the time is slow or fast. The standards 
further require that, when any balancing authority has been separated 
from the Interconnection, after reconnection, it is required to adjust 
its Time Error devices to coincide with the Time Error of the 
Interconnection Time Monitor. These requirements do not apply to 
balancing authorities and Interconnection Time

[[Page 37150]]

Monitors that use automatic Time Error Correction procedures.
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    \14\ North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Time 
Monitoring Reference Document, Version 5 (2019).
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c. Contract Path Management
    15. In Order No. 676-J, the Commission incorporated by reference 
all the WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards as included in WEQ 
Version 003.3 Standards, which had two new standards--WEQ-023-1.4 and -
1.4.1--related to contract path management not previously included in 
the NERC MOD A Reliability Standards. Those standards limited the 
amount of firm transmission service granted on an Available Transfer 
Capability (ATC) Path and limited the interchange schedule (both firm 
and non-firm) between balancing authority areas to the contract path 
limit for that given path, respectively. Bonneville Power 
Administration (BPA) and the ISO/RTO Council objected to these 
standards, contending that the standards interfere with the way service 
providers schedule their systems and that the standards may result in 
less efficient use of ATC. Notwithstanding these objections, the 
Commission incorporated these standards by reference, finding that 
declining to adopt these standards could loosen the requirements for 
non-discriminatory calculation of ATC. However, the Commission urged 
NAESB to consider the issues raised as to whether revisions to the 
standards would be warranted.\15\
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    \15\ Order No. 676-J, 175 FERC ] 61,139 at P 30.
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    16. In response, NAESB modified the WEQ-023 Modeling Business 
Practice Standards to allow the contract path limit to be exceeded for 
a certain period of time prior to the start of flow.\16\ Specifically, 
the revisions to WEQ-023-1.4 and WEQ-023-1.4.1 were modified to better 
accommodate individual transmission provider business practices that 
may, for scheduling efficiency purposes, allow a contract path limit to 
be exceeded for a certain period prior to the implementation of the 
interchange schedule.\17\ The modification to WEQ-023-1.4.1 stipulates 
that when a transmission provider is determining whether to approve a 
request for firm transmission service, the transmission provider will 
consider the methodology used by other transmission providers and 
determine whether there is agreement between the methodologies.
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    \16\ Informational Report at 8.
    \17\ Id.
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    17. The modifications to WEQ-023-1.4.1 provide clarity by 
establishing a cutoff time by which transmission providers must ensure 
that the net interchange schedule does not exceed the contract path 
limit. The revisions also include changes to ensure consistency with 
WEQ-023-1.4, as well as changes to clarify that entities using 
conditional firm transmission service may exceed the firm limit 
transfers in accordance with WEQ-001.21.
    18. The revised standards proposed for incorporation by reference 
provide increased flexibility for transmission providers to maximize 
the use of the transmission system while still preventing the 
allocation of firm transmission service that exceeds transfer 
capability.
2. Modifications To Support Cybersecurity for the Wholesale Electric 
Industry
    19. In addition to the addition of a new set of standards, WEQ-024 
Cybersecurity Business Practice Standards (see section III.B.1 below), 
NAESB made modifications to WEQ-012 to support the issuance of server-
side or transport layer security certificates by NAESB Authorized 
Certification Authorities (ACA).
    20. The modifications to WEQ-012 standards incorporate best 
industry practices regarding the issuance of server-side or transport 
layer security server certificates by a certificate authority and allow 
a NAESB ACA to issue code-signing certificates that can be used to 
verify software and other executables in support of the NERC CIP-010 
Security--Configuration Change Management and Vulnerability Assessments 
Reliability Standard. As part of these modifications, any digital 
certificate issued by a NAESB ACA must clearly and uniquely identify 
the organizational affiliation of the certificate holder. 
Identification is done through the inclusion of the company's Entity 
Code, an alphanumeric code that uniquely identifies an entity 
registered in the NAESB Electric Industry Registry (EIR), in the 
Organization Unit field of the certificate. Recent changes to industry 
practices facilitated through the Certification Authority Browser Forum 
have halted use of the Organization Unit field in server-side/transport 
layer security certificates issued by any certificate authority.
    21. Additional modifications were made to the NAESB Accreditation 
Requirements for ACAs. The modifications will allow NAESB ACAs to issue 
code signing certificates that can be used by industry to authenticate 
software and other executable computer files from third parties. The 
modifications are supportive of Reliability Standard CIP-010 Cyber 
Security--Configuration Change Management and Vulnerability Assessments 
Reliability Standards require verification of the identity of a 
software source.
3. Modifications To Complement NERC Reliability Standards
    22. WEQ Version 004 Standards include revisions to complement the 
NERC Reliability Standards, including modifications to be consistent 
with the NERC Glossary. The revisions modified WEQ-005-1.2.1 and WEQ-
005-1.2.2 and created four new standards--WEQ-005-1.2.1.1, WEQ-005-
1.2.1.2, WEQ-005-1.2.2.1, and WEQ-005-1.2.2.2. The changes were made to 
provide further clarity on the incorporation of jointly owned units 
into the ACE equation and to ensure consistency in the use of 
terminology between the WEQ Business Practice Standards and the NERC 
Dynamic Transfer Reference Document, which provides reliability 
guidance on the use of pseudo-ties and dynamic schedules in a balancing 
authority's ACE equations.\18\ Changes ensuring consistency in 
terminology were also made to WEQ-000.
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    \18\ North American Electric Reliability Corporation, Dynamic 
Transfer Reference Document, Version 4 (2019).
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    23. NAESB also modified the definition for System Operating Limit 
in WEQ-000 to ensure consistency with the proposed changes to the 
definition in the NERC Glossary. As the term appears in WEQ-001, WEQ-
004, WEQ-008, and WEQ-023, the review of the modified definition was 
coordinated with four WEQ subcommittees.
4. Modifications to the WEQ OASIS Business Practice Standards
    24. In addition to the OASIS modifications referenced previously, 
NAESB completed nine final actions modifying the OASIS suite of 
Business Practice Standards.
a. Eligibility and Treatment of Rollover Rights
    25. NAESB developed modifications to the WEQ OASIS suite of 
Business Practice Standards to address the eligibility and treatment of 
rollover rights \19\ as part of the standards

[[Page 37151]]

supporting Network Integration Transmission Service (NITS).\20\ The 
recommendation includes new and revised standards that define if and 
when rollover rights are assigned, update posting requirements and 
establish supporting template structures, and create dynamic 
notifications within OASIS for rollover rights. In developing the 
recommendation, one area of major discussion within the subcommittee 
was the impact of a termination of transmission service on rollover 
rights. The subcommittee reached consensus that indefinite termination 
of transmission service will result in an automatic termination of 
rollover rights associated with that service. The resulting standards 
revisions, including template structures, were applied to WEQ-001, WEQ-
002, WEQ-003, and WEQ-013.
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    \19\ A Rollover Right is the option held by an existing firm 
transmission service customer to continue to take transmission 
service after a contract term expires. The contract ``rolls over'' 
or is, in effect, renewed. Promoting Wholesale Competition Through 
Open Access Non-Discriminatory Transmission Servs. by Pub. Utils.; 
Recovery of Stranded Costs by Pub. Utils. & Transmitting Utils., 
Order No. 888, 61 FR 21540 at 21604 (May 10, 1996), FERC Stats. & 
Regs. ] 31,036 (1996) (cross-referenced at 75 FERC ] 61,080), order 
on reh'g, Order No. 888-A, 62 FR 12274 (Mar. 14, 1997), FERC Stats. 
& Regs. ] 31,048 (cross-referenced at 78 FERC ] 61,220), order on 
reh'g, Order No. 888-B, 81 FERC ] 61,248 (1997), order on reh'g, 
Order No. 888-C, 82 FERC ] 61,046 (1998), aff'd in relevant part sub 
nom. Transmission Access Pol'y Study Grp. v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 
(D.C. Cir. 2000), aff'd sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535 U.S. 1 
(2002).
    \20\ The standards addressing rollover rights for point-to-point 
transmission service were included in the WEQ Version 003.2 
Standards publication and were incorporated by reference through 
Order No. 676-I.
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b. Submission of Variables Associated With NITS
    26. Several modifications were made to WEQ-002 and WEQ-003 to allow 
users the ability to submit specific lists of variables associated with 
NITS as part of the query/response functionality in OASIS templates. 
The revisions include changes to standards language in WEQ-002 and the 
addition of five new data elements to WEQ-003. No new NITS query 
variables were developed as part of these revisions.
c. Provide Consistency Between Standards Language
    27. NAESB developed modifications to WEQ-001 to provide greater 
consistency between the standards language included in WEQ-001-9.2 and 
WEQ-001-9.4.3 and WEQ-001-B Appendix B--Redirect Business Practice 
Standards Examples. Specifically, the changes revise several of the 
illustrative examples included as part of the appendix to clarify that 
transmission service? requests submitted before the capacity is 
committed, or outside the time frame of the parent reservation, should 
be denied, consistent with WEQ-001-9.2 and WEQ-001-9.3. The changes 
also ensure consistency between the reservation processes that apply to 
redirects on firm and non-firm bases.
d. Improvements for OASIS Node Users
    28. NAESB revised WEQ-002, WEQ-003, and WEQ-013 to establish a 
mechanism that enables OASIS node users to identify--in a single 
location--all service modifications made to an original transmission 
service request reservation. Specifically, the revisions include 
modifications to WEQ-002-4.3.4.3, the addition of nine new data 
elements in WEQ-003, and revisions to illustrative examples included in 
WEQ-013 Example 8.
e. Better Support Posting Requirements
    29. NAESB developed modifications to WEQ-001 to better support 
posting requirements, included as part of 18 CFR 37.6, by adding 
specificity regarding the treatment of consolidations of transmission 
service requests. Consolidations of transmission service requests allow 
customers to combine capacity from like transmission service requests 
into a single request to promote efficient scheduling activities. When 
transmission service requests are consolidated, the consolidated 
request inherits attributes from the parent reservation, including the 
product code. The revisions to the standards ensure parity between 
consolidated and non-consolidated transmission service requests. The 
modifications are intended to eliminate the potential for a service 
increment to be created through consolidation that would otherwise be 
unavailable under a transmission provider's existing tariff processes, 
such as requests that have been consolidated into a daily transmission 
service request but inherited a monthly product code from one of the 
original parent reservations. The changes modify WEQ-001-24.2.4 and 
include two new standards, WEQ-001-24.2.4.1 and WEQ-001-24.2.4.2.
f. Provide Greater Clarity Regarding Priorities Between a Firm 
Transmission Service Request and a Previously Queued Non-Firm Request
    30. NAESB modified WEQ-001 by modifying Table 25-3, Priorities for 
Competing Reservations or Requests, to better describe how a 
competition is conducted between a firm transmission service request 
and a previously queued non-firm request or reservation.
g. Response Timing Standards
    31. The WEQ OASIS Subcommittee recommended certain modifications to 
extend response times for some functions to account for human 
performance.\21\ As a result, the proposed revisions include revisions 
modifying the timing tables included in WEQ-001-4.13, WEQ-001-25.1.8, 
and WEQ-001-105.1.5 to extend specific timing criteria for instances in 
which systems are not fully automated. These changes will be utilized 
by transmission providers and operators who do not have automated 
systems for responding to transmission service requests. The benefits 
include extending timing requirements that are deemed unreasonably 
strict for non-automated implementations. Subjects covered include 
point-to-point transmission service, right of first refusal response 
processing, and Network Integration Transmission Service requests.
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    \21\ Informational Report at 15.
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h. Provide Greater Clarity for Transmission Customers
    32. NAESB also modified the WEQ OASIS suite of Business Practice 
Standards to provide greater clarity for transmission customers on 
which redirect requests would qualify for the conveyance of rollover 
rights. As part of the revisions, transmission customers are required 
to explicitly indicate their intent to convey rollover rights to the 
redirect path by expressly opting-in or opting-out of the conveyance, 
eliminating the possibility that rollover rights could be 
unintentionally redirected. Prior to ratification of these standards, 
the default option was to grant the conveyance automatically. The 
standards revisions include modifications to WEQ-001-9.7.3.1 and WEQ-
002-4.3.6.2, as well as the creation of three new standards--WEQ-001-
9.7.3.3, WEQ-001-9.7.3.4, and WEQ-001-9.7.3.3--and consistency changes 
to WEQ-003 and WEQ-013.
i. Improve Efficiencies by Creating a Tracking and Audit Mechanism for 
Transmission Service Reservations
    33. Finally, NAESB revised the WEQ OASIS suite of Business Practice 
Standards to improve efficiencies by creating a tracking and audit 
mechanism for transmission service reservations that allows 
transmission providers and customers to easily assess changes that 
occur as a result of the preemption and right-of-first-refusal process. 
The standards revisions modify WEQ-001-25.4.6.5.3, WEQ-002-4.3.6.2, 
WEQ-002-4.3.6.3, and WEQ-013-6.3, and add two new data elements to WEQ-
003.
5. Modifications To Coordinate Interchange Standards
    34. NAESB revised the WEQ-004 Coordinate Interchange Business 
Practice Standards to promote efficiency by streamlining the procedures 
entities should follow in the event of a system failure of the primary 
communication

[[Page 37152]]

method used to manage interchange transactions--electronic tags (e-
Tags). The revised WEQ-004, specifically WEQ-004-2.1 and WEQ-004-A, 
clarify the existing back-up procedures for e-Tagging and remove the 
requirements supporting outdated communication methods.
    35. NAESB also modified the WEQ-000 and WEQ-004 standards. The 
revisions add a new appendix to WEQ-004 to provide guidance and best 
practices to entities in the Eastern Interconnection that automate the 
net scheduled interchange checkout process. The standards are intended 
to support and complement the NERC Reliability Standard INT-009-3 
Implementation of Interchange, which requires balancing authorities to 
communicate net interchange information on a periodic basis with 
adjacent balancing authorities. The WEQ Coordinate Interchange 
Scheduling Subcommittee discussed the development of a data 
specification that would include all data required to automate the net 
scheduled interchange checkout process. The subcommittee's participants 
drafted standards to provide guidance for the implementation of such 
automation. In the recommendation containing the standards revisions, 
the subcommittee noted that the Western Interconnection's use of the 
Western Electricity Coordinating Council Interchange Tool would not be 
impacted by the automation efforts for the Eastern Interconnection.
6. Modifications to Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Defined Terms
    36. In addition to the consistency changes described above 
regarding WEQ-000, the WEQ Version 004 Standards publication includes a 
new cross-reference column displaying the abbreviations, acronyms, and 
definition of terms with their corresponding NAESB WEQ Standards. 
Additional changes to ensure consistency in the use of abbreviations, 
acronyms, and defined terms were made to the WEQ OASIS Suite of 
Standards, WEQ-004 Coordinate Interchange Business Practice Standards, 
WEQ-008 TLR--Eastern Interconnection Business Practice Standards, WEQ-
012 PKI Business Practice Standards, WEQ-022 EIR Business Practice 
Standards, and WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards.
7. Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificates Contract
    37. The Informational Report also includes a newly developed NAESB 
REC Contract, an accompanying Frequently Asked Questions document, and 
associated technical implementation standards containing data 
dictionaries and code values. These documents and standards are 
included in WEQ-010 Contracts Business Practice Standards to support 
the use of the NAESB REC Contract with digital technologies, such as 
blockchain, in the retail and wholesale markets.
8. Minor Corrections
    38. Since the publication of WEQ Version 003.3 standards, NAESB 
processed ten minor corrections applicable to the WEQ Business Practice 
Standards through its Minor Correction Process, and incorporated them 
into the WEQ Version 004 Standards.\22\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \22\ As noted above, NAESB also used its minor correction 
process to compile the existing WEQ Cybersecurity Standards into a 
new book, WEQ-024 Cybersecurity Business Practice Standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. New Sets of Standards

1. WEQ-024 Cybersecurity
    39. In the WEQ Version 004 Standards, NAESB established a new set 
of Cybersecurity-related business practice standards in WEQ-024. This 
new set of standards reorganizes existing NAESB cybersecurity business 
practice standards into a new suite of NAESB standards. NAESB explained 
that it responded to an informal recommendation from DOE and Sandia 
National Laboratories (Sandia Labs) that arose from the 2019 Surety 
Assessment of cybersecurity elements contained in the NAESB Business 
Practice Standards. This consolidation should make the NAESB and 
Commission processes for revising NAESB cybersecurity business practice 
standards easier and faster to help match the fast pace of changes in 
cybersecurity practices. NAESB considered this consolidation a minor 
correction process; no new standards development efforts arose from 
this consolidation.
2. WEQ-025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions
    40. In the WEQ Version 004 Standards, NAESB also established as a 
new suite of standards, WEQ-025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale 
Electric Interactions Business Practice Standards, to promote greater 
consistency in wholesale market interactions and communication 
exchanges by flexible, ``grid-edge'' resources such as distributed 
energy resources and batteries. NAESB developed the standards in 
response to DOE, Berkeley Lab, and PNNL, which proposed that NAESB 
define a common list of grid services for electric market interactions 
in support of the DOE's Grid Modernization Laboratory Consortium 
efforts to modernize the nation's electric grid.
    41. The WEQ-025 standards identify six categories of operations-
based grid services used within the wholesale electric markets: (1) 
Energy Grid Service; (2) Reserve Grid Service; (3) Regulation Grid 
Service; (4) Frequency Response Grid Service; (5) Voltage Management 
Grid Service; and (6) Blackstart Grid Service. The standards also 
describe the types of attributes, such as location, timing, and 
performance determinations, that may be used by System Operators to 
define the unique requirements for services within their wholesale 
electricity markets. Due to regional variation and different markets, 
System Operators have varying names for operational objectives for the 
same or similar grid services. The new standards establish a 
technology-neutral framework that describes the operational objective 
of common types of market services and identifies the different 
physical capabilities to consume and/or inject electricity on the grid 
that a resource must be technically capable of providing.
    42. According to the Informational Report, the framework introduced 
by these standards can enable regulators to easily compare market 
information regarding the use of transmission grid services across 
multiple jurisdictions. The changes are also designed to help market 
participants identify types of market services their resources may be 
able to provide and to create greater consistency in communications 
between resource owners participating in multiple markets and working 
with several System Operators to improve commercial transaction 
efficiencies.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \23\ Informational Report at 12.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

C. Standards the Commission Proposes Not To Incorporate by Reference

1. WEQ-010 Contracts Related Business Practice Standards
    43. We propose to not to incorporate by reference WEQ-010, which 
includes the NAESB REC Contract, the accompanying Frequently Asked 
Questions document, and the associated technical implementation 
standards containing data dictionaries and code values contained in 
WEQ-010. This approach is consistent with our past practice \24\ of not 
incorporating by reference into our regulations any

[[Page 37153]]

optional model contracts and related documents because we do not 
require the use of these contracts.\25\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \24\ See, e.g., Standards for Bus. Practices of Interstate Nat. 
Gas Pipelines, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 86 FR 12879 (Mar. 5, 
2021), 174 FERC ] 61,103, at P 19 (2021) (Version 3.2 NOPR).
    \25\ Id.; Standards for Bus. Practices of Interstate Nat. Gas 
Pipelines, Order No. 587-V, 77 FR 43711 (Jul. 26, 2012), 140 FERC ] 
61,036, at P 11 n.11 (2012).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2. WEQ-025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions
    44. Although we support NAESB's standards development for grid 
services, we do not believe that it is necessary for the Commission to 
incorporate the WEQ-025 standards and the related changes to the WEQ-
000 standards by reference. We note that the proposed NAESB standards 
use terms similar to but different from terms in the pro forma OATT 
that could introduce confusion if the Commission were to incorporate 
these standards by reference. Under the pro forma OATT, a transmission 
provider must provide a set of ancillary services, including reactive 
supply and voltage control (Schedule 2), regulation and frequency 
response (Schedule 3), and spinning and supplemental reserves 
(Schedules 5 & 6). The grid services set forth in the WEQ-025 set of 
standards address similar services; they include voltage, regulation, 
frequency response, and reserves. Also, the WEQ-025 standards are 
discretionary for system operators; thus, consistent with past 
practice,\26\ we will not incorporate these standards by reference into 
our regulations.
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    \26\ See, e.g., Version 3.2 NOPR 174 FERC ] 61,103 at P 19.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

D. Proposed Implementation Procedures

    45. The Commission proposes that transmission providers whose 
tariffs do not automatically incorporate by reference all new NAESB 
standards submit compliance filings on the proposed NAESB standards 
nine months after publication of a final rule in the Federal Register. 
Those compliance filings must reflect the requirements of the final 
rule, any new waiver requests to comply with a part of the final rule, 
and any request to preserve any existing waivers.
    46. The Commission proposes separate implementation schedules for 
the NAESB cybersecurity business practice standards and for all the 
remaining WEQ Version 004 Standards. Transmission providers will be 
required to implement the NAESB cybersecurity business practice 
standards within 12 months from the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of any final rule.\27\ Transmission providers will be required 
to implement all other WEQ Version 004 Standards adopted in a final 
rule within 18 months from the date of publication in the Federal 
Register of any final rule. The Commission proposes implementation of 
the NAESB cybersecurity business practice standards on an expedited 
basis consistent with the Commission's implementation schedule 
previously adopted for the WEQ Version 003.3 Standards.\28\ In that 
order, the Commission noted DOE's request that cybersecurity standards 
in that version be enacted on an expedited basis and that the stand-
alone nature of the standards permitted expedited implementation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \27\ A complete list of the specific cybersecurity business 
practice standards is included at Appendix I.
    \28\ Order No. 676-J, 175 FERC ] 61,139 at P 11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    47. This 18-month implementation timeline for the other WEQ Version 
004 standards is consistent with Business Practice Standards WEQ 002-6, 
which states that transmission providers shall have 18 months from 
publication of a final rule in the Federal Register to implement all 
changes required to support the Business Practice Standards for OASIS 
version 004. Business Practice Standards WEQ 002-6 also state that: (a) 
OASIS Node changes required to support the version 004 OASIS template 
format must be made available to transmission customers no later than 
nine months after publication in the Federal Register and (b) OASIS 
Nodes shall maintain support for version 003.3 format queries and 
uploads for the full 18-month implementation period.

IV. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards

    48. Office of Management and Budget Circular A 119 (section 11) 
(February 10, 1998) provides that federal agencies should publish a 
request for comment in a NOPR when the agency is seeking to issue or 
revise a regulation proposing to adopt a voluntary consensus standard 
or a government-unique standard. In this NOPR, the Commission is 
proposing to incorporate by reference the WEQ Version 004 Standards, 
with the exception of WEQ-010 Contracts Related to Business Practice 
Standards, which includes the NAESB REC Contract, and WEQ-025 Grid 
Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions. The WEQ Version 
004 Standards were adopted by NAESB under NAESB's consensus 
procedures.\29\
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    \29\ Under this process, to be approved a standard must receive 
a super-majority vote of 67% of the members of the WEQ's Executive 
Committee with support from at least 40% from each of the five 
industry segments--transmission, generation, marketer/brokers, 
distribution/load serving entities, and end users. For final 
approval, 67% of the WEQ's general membership must ratify the 
standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

V. Incorporation by Reference

    49. The Office of the Federal Register requires agencies proposing 
to incorporate material by reference to discuss the ways that the 
materials it incorporates by reference are reasonably available to 
interested parties and how interested parties can obtain the 
materials.\30\ The regulations also require agencies to summarize, in 
the preamble of the final rule, the materials that it incorporates by 
reference. The Commission proposes to incorporate by reference 
standards that consist of suites of NAESB WEQ business practice 
standards that address a variety of topics and are designed to aid 
public utilities with the consistent and uniform implementation of 
requirements promulgated by the Commission as part of the pro forma 
Open Access Transmission Tariff. We summarize these standards below.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \30\ 1 CFR 51.5 (2022). See Incorporation by Reference, 79 FR 
66267 (Nov. 7, 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    50. The WEQ-000 Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms 
Business Practice Standards provide a single location for all 
abbreviations, acronyms, and defined terms referenced in the WEQ 
Business Practice Standards. These standards provide common 
nomenclature for terms within the wholesale electric industry, thereby 
reducing confusion and opportunities for misinterpretation or 
misunderstandings among industry participants.
    51. The OASIS suite of business practice standards (WEQ-001 Open 
Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS), WEQ-002 OASIS Standards 
and Communication Protocols, WEQ-003 OASIS Data Dictionary, and WEQ-013 
OASIS Implementation Guide) support the FERC posting and reporting 
requirements that provide information about each transmission 
provider's performance of the requirements of its pro forma OATT. The 
OASIS system is used for scheduling transmission on the bulk power 
system, comprises the computer systems and associated communications 
facilities that public utilities are required to provide for the 
purpose of making available to all transmission users comparable 
interactions, and provides transmission service information and any 
back-end supporting systems or user procedures that collectively 
perform the transaction processing functions for handling requests on 
OASIS. These standards establish business practices and communication 
protocols that provide

[[Page 37154]]

for consistent implementation across OASIS sites as well as consistent 
methods for posting to OASIS.
    52. The WEQ-001 OASIS Business Practice Standards define the 
general and specific transaction processing requirements and related 
business processes required for OASIS. The standards detail 
requirements related to standard terminology for transmission and 
ancillary services, attribute values defining transmission service 
class and type, ancillary and other services definitions, OASIS 
registration procedures, procurement of ancillary and other services, 
path naming, next hour market service, identical transmission service 
requests, redirects, resales, transfers, OASIS postings, procedures for 
addressing ATC or AFC methodology questions, rollover rights, 
conditional curtailment option reservations, auditing usage of Capacity 
Benefit Margin, coordination of requests for service across multiple 
transmission systems, consolidation, preemption and right-of-first 
refusal process, and NITS requests.
    53. The WEQ-002 OASIS Standards and Communication Protocols 
Business Practice Standards define the technical standards for OASIS. 
These standards detail network architecture requirements, information 
access requirements, OASIS and point-to-point interface requirements, 
implementation, and NITS interface requirements.
    54. The WEQ-003 OASIS Data Dictionary Business Practice Standards 
define the data element specifications for OASIS.
    55. The WEQ-004 Coordinate Interchange Business Practice Standards 
define the commercial processes necessary to facilitate interchange 
transactions via Request for Interchange (RFI) and specify the 
arrangements and data to be communicated by the entity responsible for 
authorizing the implementation of such transactions (the entities 
responsible for balancing load and generation).
    56. The WEQ-005 Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases 
Business Practice Standards define commercial-based requirements 
regarding the obligations of a balancing authority to manage the 
difference between scheduled and actual electrical generation within 
its control area. Each balancing authority manages its ACE in 
accordance with the NERC Reliability Standards. These standards detail 
requirements for jointly owned utilities, supplemental regulation 
service, and load or generation transfer by telemetry.
    57. The WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice 
Standards define the commercial based procedures to be used for 
reducing time error to within acceptable limits of true time consistent 
with the guidance in Version 5 of NERC Time Monitoring Reference 
Document.
    58. The WEQ-007 Inadvertent Interchange Payback Business Practice 
Standards define the methods in which inadvertent energy is paid back, 
mitigating the potential for financial gain through the misuse of 
paybacks for inadvertent interchange. Inadvertent interchange is 
interchange that occurs when a balancing authority cannot fully balance 
generation and load within its area. The standards allow for the 
repayment of any imbalances through bilateral in-kind payback, 
unilateral in-kind payback, or other methods as agreed to.
    59. The WEQ-008 Transmission Loading Relief--Eastern 
Interconnection Business Practice Standards define the business 
practices for cutting transmission service during a Transmission 
Loading Relief (TLR) event. These standards detail requirements for the 
use of interconnection-wide TLR procedures, interchange transaction 
priorities for use with interconnection-wide TLR procedures, and the 
Eastern Interconnection procedure for physical curtailment of 
interchange transactions.
    60. The WEQ-011 Gas/Electric Coordination Business Practice 
Standards define communication protocols intended to improve 
coordination between the gas and electric industries in daily 
operational communications between transportation service providers and 
gas-fired power plants. The standards include requirements for 
communicating anticipated power generation fuel for the upcoming day as 
well as any operating problems that might hinder gas-fired power plants 
from receiving contractual gas quantities.
    61. The WEQ-012 Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Business Practice 
Standards establish the cybersecurity framework for parties partaking 
in transactions via a transmission provider's OASIS or e-Tagging 
system. The NAESB PKI framework secures wholesale electric market 
electronic commercial communications via encryption of data and the 
electronic authentication of parties to a transaction using a digital 
certificate issued by a NAESB certified certificate authority. The 
standards define the requirements for parties utilizing the digital 
certificates issued by the NAESB certificate authorities.
    62. The WEQ-013 OASIS Implementation Guide Business Practice 
Standards detail the implementation of the OASIS Business Practice 
Standards. The standards detail requirements related to point-to-point 
OASIS transaction processing, OASIS template implementation, preemption 
and right-of-first-refusal processing, NITS application and 
modification of service processing, and secondary network transmission 
service.
    63. The WEQ-015 Measurement and Verification of Wholesale 
Electricity Demand Response Business Practice Standards define a common 
framework for transparency, consistency, and accountability applicable 
to the measurement and verification of wholesale electric market demand 
response practices. The standards describe performance evaluation 
methodology and criteria for the use of equipment, technology, and 
procedures to quantify the demand reduction value--the measurement of 
reduced electrical usage by a demand resource.
    64. The WEQ-021 Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency 
Products Business Practice Standards define a common framework for 
transparency, consistency, and accountability applicable to the 
measurement and verification of wholesale electric market energy 
efficiency practices. The standards establish energy efficiency 
measurement and verification criteria and define requirements for 
energy efficiency resource providers for the measurement and 
verification of energy efficiency products and services offered in the 
wholesale electric markets.
    65. The WEQ-022 EIR Business Practice Standards define the business 
requirements for entities utilizing the NAESB managed EIR, a wholesale 
electric industry tool that serves as the central repository for 
information needed in the scheduling of transmission through electronic 
transactions. The standards describe the roles within EIR, registration 
requirements, and cybersecurity.
    66. The WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards provide 
technical details concerning the calculation of ATC for wholesale 
electric transmission services. The WEQ-023 standards are intended to 
address the aspects of certain of the NERC MOD A Reliability Standards 
relating to modeling, data, and analysis that are included in NERC's 
proposed retirement of its MOD A Reliability Standards.
    67. The WEQ-024 Cybersecurity Business Practice Standards is a new 
suite to include and maintain all cybersecurity related requirements 
not included within the PKI business standards to be incorporated 
within this

[[Page 37155]]

single suite to better facilitate the incorporation by reference 
process.\31\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \31\ Informational Report at 21.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    68. The following standards are listed for informational purposes 
as non-mandatory guidance:
    69. WEQ-016, Specifications for Common Electricity Product and 
Pricing Definition standards address the business objectives and 
context for capturing the attributes associated with electricity price 
and product signals as part of the Smart Grid implementation, which is 
called for by NIST standards.
    70. WEQ-017, Specifications for Common Schedule Communication 
Mechanism standards contain a set of specifications relating to the use 
of date and time based data elements that are commonly used in 
transactions for Demand Response programs.
    71. WEQ-018, Specifications for Wholesale Standard Demand Response 
Signals standards address the business objectives and context for 
standardizing signals for demand response and distributed energy 
resources as part of the Smart Grid implementation, which is called for 
by NIST standards.
    72. WEQ-019, Customer Energy Usage Information Communication 
standards establish the Business Practice Standards for end-use energy 
usage information communication.
    73. WEQ-020, Smart Grid Standards Data Element Table standards 
contain the list of data elements used in Business Practice Standards 
WEQ-016 and WEQ-018.
    74. Commission regulations provide that copies of the standards 
incorporated by reference may be obtained through purchase or otherwise 
from the North American Energy Standards Board, 801 Travis Street, 
Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002, Phone: (713) 356-0060, website: http://www.naesb.org/. The standards can also be reviewed without purchasing 
them.
    75. The procedures used by NAESB make its standards reasonably 
available to those affected by Commission regulations, which generally 
is comprised of entities that have the means to acquire the information 
they need to effectively participate in Commission proceedings. 
Participants can join NAESB, for an annual membership cost of $8,000, 
which entitles them to full participation in NAESB and enables them to 
obtain these standards at no additional cost. Non-members may obtain 
any of the individual WEQ standards manuals for $250 per manual. Non-
members also may obtain the complete set of Standards Manuals for 
$2,000.
    76. NAESB provides ample opportunities for non-members, including 
agents, subsidiaries, and affiliates of NAESB members, to obtain access 
to the copyrighted standards through a no-cost limited copyright 
waiver. The limited copyright waivers are issued by the NAESB office 
and are granted to non-members on a case-by-case basis for the purpose 
of evaluating standards prior to purchase and/or reviewing the 
standards to prepare comments to a regulatory agency. Following the 
granting of a limited copyright waiver, the non-member is provided with 
read-only access to the standards through the end of the comment period 
or some other set period of time via Locklizard Safeguard Secure 
Viewer.\32\ NAESB will grant one limited copyright wavier per company 
for each set of standards or final actions. Any entity seeking a 
limited copyright waiver should contact the NAESB office.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ For more information on Locklizard, please refer to the 
company's website: https://www.locklizard.com.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VI. Information Collection Statement

    77. The following collection of information contained in this 
proposed rule is subject to review by the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) under section 3507(d) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 
1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(d).\33\ OMB's regulations require approval of 
certain information collection requirements imposed by agency 
rules.\34\ Upon approval of a collection(s) of information, OMB will 
assign an OMB control number and an expiration date. Respondents 
subject to the filing requirements of this rule will not be penalized 
for failing to respond to these collections of information unless the 
collections of information display a valid OMB control number.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \33\ 44 U.S.C. 3507(d).
    \34\ 5 CFR 1320.11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    78. The Commission solicits comments on the Commission's need for 
this information, whether the information will have practical utility, 
the accuracy of the provided burden estimates, ways to enhance the 
quality, utility, and clarity of the information to be collected, and 
any suggested methods for minimizing respondents' burden, including the 
use of automated information techniques.
    79. The following burden estimate is based on the projected costs 
for the industry to implement the new and revised business practice 
standards adopted by NAESB and proposed to be incorporated by reference 
in this NOPR.\35\ The NERC Compliance Registry, as of December 2023, 
identifies approximately 216 entities in the United States that are 
subject to this proposed rulemaking.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \35\ Commission staff estimates that industry is similarly 
situated in terms of hourly cost (wages plus benefits). Based on the 
Commission average cost (wages plus benefits) for 2024, $100.00/hour 
is used.

                                                                 Docket Nos. RM05-5-031
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                     Annual number
                                       Number of      of responses    Total number of   Average burden (hrs.) & cost   Total annual burden hrs. & total
                                      respondents    per respondent      responses            ($) per response                  annual cost ($)
                                               (1)              (2)    (1) * (2) = (3)  (4).........................  (3) * (4) = (5)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERC-516E.........................             216                1                216  6 hrs.; $600................  1,296 hrs.; $129,600.
FERC-717..........................             216                1                216  30 hrs.; $3,000.............  6,480 hrs.; $648,000.
                                   ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
    Total.........................  ..............  ...............  .................  $3,600......................  7,776 hrs.; $777,600.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Costs To Comply With Paperwork Requirements

    The estimated annual costs are as follows:

FERC-516E: 216 entities x 1 response/entity x (6 hours/response x 
$100.00/hour) = $129,600
FERC-717: 216 entities x 1 response/entity x (30 hours/response x 
$100.00/hour) = $648,000

    Titles: FERC-516E, Electric Rate Schedule and Tariff Filings and 
FERC-717, Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols 
for Public Utilities.

[[Page 37156]]

    Action: Proposed amendment to regulations pertaining to the 
existing collections of information FERC-516E and FERC-717.
    OMB Control Nos: 1902-0290 (FERC-516E) and 1902-0173 (FERC-717).
    Respondents: Business or other for-profit, and not-for-profit 
institutions.
    Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
    Necessity of the Information: This proposed rule, if implemented, 
will amend the Commission's regulations to incorporate by reference, 
with certain enumerated exceptions, the NAESB WEQ Version 004 
Standards. The standards include those that were developed in 
accordance with recommendations of the DOE-sponsored cybersecurity 
surety assessment of the NAESB Business Practice Standards that was 
conducted in 2019. Additional standards were developed in response to 
the directives from Order Nos. 676-I and 676-J. NAESB undertook two 
standards development efforts to update the WEQ-004 Coordinate 
Interchange Standards in the WEQ Version 004 Standards publication. The 
first set of modifications clarify existing back-up procedures for e-
Tagging, improve efficiencies by removing requirements that supported 
outdated methods of communication, and streamline the processes 
following system communication failures. Through the second effort, 
NAESB modified WEQ-004 to provide guidance to balancing authorities in 
the Eastern Interconnection seeking to automate their net scheduled 
interchange checkout process. The revisions made by NAESB in the WEQ 
Version 004 Standards are designed to aid public utilities with the 
consistent and uniform implementation of requirements promulgated by 
the Commission as part of the pro forma Open Access Transmission 
Tariff.
    Internal review: The Commission has reviewed NAESB's proposal and 
has made a preliminary determination that the Version 004 standards the 
Commission proposes to adopt by reference are both necessary and 
useful. In addition, the Commission has determined through internal 
review that there is specific, objective support for the burden 
estimates associated with the information requirements.
    80. Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting 
requirements by contacting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
Office of the Executive Director, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 
20426 [Attention: Kayla Williams, email: [email protected], phone: 
(202) 502-8663].
    81. Comments concerning the information collections proposed in 
this NOPR and the associated burden estimates should be sent to the 
Commission at this docket and be emailed to the Office of Management 
and Budget, Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs [Attention: 
Desk Officer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission]. For 
security reasons, comments should be sent by email to OMB at the 
following email address: [email protected]. Please refer to 
the appropriate docket number of this notice of proposed rulemaking, 
Docket No. RM05-5-031, and OMB Control Nos. 1902-0290 (FERC-516E) and 
1902-0173 (FERC-717), in your submission.

VII. Environmental Analysis

    82. The Commission is required to prepare an Environmental 
Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement for any action that may 
have a significant adverse effect on the human environment.\36\ The 
actions proposed here fall within categorical exclusions in the 
Commission's regulations for rules that are clarifying, corrective, or 
procedural, for information gathering, analysis, and dissemination, and 
for sales, exchange, and transportation of electric power that requires 
no construction of facilities.\37\ Therefore, an Environmental 
Assessment is unnecessary and has not been prepared for this NOPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \36\ Reguls Implementing the Nat'l Envt'l Pol'y Act, Order No. 
486, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 30,783 
(1987) (cross-referenced at 41 FERC ] 61,284).
    \37\ See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), 380.4(a)(27) 
(2022).
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VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act

    83. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) \38\ generally 
requires a description and analysis of proposed rules that will have 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The Commission is not required to make such an analysis if proposed 
regulations would not have such an effect.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \38\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    84. The Small Business Administration (SBA) revised its size 
standards (effective January 22, 2014) for electric utilities from a 
standard based on megawatt hours to a standard based on the number of 
employees, including affiliates. Under SBA's standards, some 
transmission owners will fall under the following category and 
associated size threshold: electric bulk power transmission and 
control, at least 500 employees.\39\ The Commission estimates that 24 
of the 216 respondents, or 11% of the respondents affected by this 
NOPR, are small businesses under SBA standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \39\ 13 CFR 121.201, Sector 22 (Utilities), NAICS code 221121 
(Electric Bulk Power Transmission and Control).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    85. The Commission estimates that the impact on these entities is 
consistent with the paperwork burden of $3,600 per entity used 
above.\40\ The Commission does not consider $3,600 to be a significant 
economic impact. Based on the above, the Commission certifies that 
implementation of the proposed Business Practice Standards will not 
have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
Moreover, these requirements are designed to benefit all customers, 
including small businesses that must comply with them. Further, as 
noted above, adoption of consensus standards helps ensure the 
reasonableness of the standards by requiring that the standards draw 
support from a broad spectrum of industry participants representing all 
segments of the industry. Because of that representation and the fact 
that industry conducts business under these standards, the Commission's 
regulations should reflect those standards that have the widest 
possible support.
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    \40\ 36 hours at $100.00/hour = $3,600.
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    86. Accordingly, pursuant to section 605(b) of the RFA,\41\ the 
regulations proposed herein should not have a significant economic 
impact on a substantial number of small entities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \41\ 5 U.S.C. 605(b).
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IX. Comment Procedures

    87. The Commission invites interested persons to submit comments on 
the matters and issues proposed in this notice to be adopted, including 
any related matters or alternative proposals that commenters may wish 
to discuss. Comments are due July 5, 2024. Comments must refer to 
Docket No. RM05-5-031, 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 on this proposal are 
not required to serve copies of their comments on other commenters.
    88. The Commission encourages comments to be filed electronically 
via the eFiling link on the Commission's website at https://www.ferc.gov. The

[[Page 37157]]

Commission accepts most standard word processing formats. Documents 
created electronically using word processing software should 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.
    89. 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.

X. Document Availability

    90. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the 
internet through the Commission's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov).
    91. From the Commission's Home Page on the internet, this 
information is available on eLibrary. The full text of this document is 
available on eLibrary in PDF and Microsoft Word format for viewing, 
printing, and/or downloading. To access this document in eLibrary, type 
the docket number excluding the last three digits of this document in 
the docket number field.
    92. User assistance is available for eLibrary and the Commission's 
website during normal business hours from the Commission's Online 
Support at (202) 502-6652 (toll free at 1-866-208-3676) or email at 
[email protected], or the Public Reference Room at (202) 502-
8371, TTY (202) 502-8659. Email the Public Reference Room at 
[email protected].

List of Subjects

18 CFR Part 2

    Electric utilities, Natural gas, Pipelines, Reporting and 
recordkeeping requirements.

18 CFR Part 38

    Conflicts of interest, Electric power plants, Electric utilities, 
Incorporation by reference, reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    By direction of the Commission.

    (S E A L)

    Issued: April 25, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.

    In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission proposes to 
amends part 2 and part 38, chapter I, title 18, Code of Federal 
Regulations, as follows:

PART 2--GENERAL POLICY AND INTERPRETATIONS

0
1. The authority citation for Part 2 continues to read as follows:

    Authority:  5 U.S.C. 601; 15 U.S.C. 717-717z, 3301-3432; 16 
U.S.C. 792-828c, 2601-2645; 42 U.S.C. 4321-4370h, 7101-7352.

0
2. Revise and republish Sec.  2.27 to read as follows:


Sec.  2.27   Availability of North American Energy Standards Board 
(NAESB) Smart Grid Standards as non-mandatory guidance.

    The Commission informationally lists the following NAESB Business 
Practices Standards as non-mandatory guidance:
    (a) WEQ-016, Specifications for Common Electricity Product and 
Pricing Definition, (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (b) WEQ-017, Specifications for Common Schedule Communication 
Mechanism for Energy Transactions (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023;
    (c) WEQ-018, Specifications for Wholesale Standard Demand Response 
Signals (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023;
    (d) WEQ-019, Customer Energy Usage Information Communication (WEQ 
Version 004, July 31, 2023); and
    (e) WEQ-020, Smart Grid Standards Data Element Table (WEQ Version 
004, July 31, 2023).
    (f) Copies of these standards may be obtained from the North 
American Energy Standards Board, 801 Travis Street, Suite 1675, 
Houston, TX 77002, Phone: (713) 356-0060; https://www.naesb.org/. 
Copies may also be obtained from the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission's website, https://www.ferc.gov.

PART 38--STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND 
COMMUNICATIONS

0
3. The authority citation for Part 38 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 791-825r, 2601-2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 
U.S.C. 7101-7352.

0
4. Amend Sec.  38.1 by revising paragraphs (b)(1) through (17) to read 
as follows:


Sec.  38.1   Incorporation by reference of North American Energy 
Standards Board Wholesale Electric Quadrant standards.

* * * * *
    (b) * * *
    (1) WEQ-000, Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms 
(Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (2) WEQ-001, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) (WEQ 
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (3) WEQ-002, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Business Practice Standards and Communication Protocol (S&CP) (WEQ 
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (4) WEQ-003, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Data 
Dictionary (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (5) WEQ-004, Coordinate Interchange (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 
2023);
    (6) WEQ-005, Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases (WEQ 
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (7) WEQ-006, Manual Time Error Correction (WEQ Version 004, July 
31, 2023);
    (8) WEQ-007 Inadvertent Interchange Payback (WEQ Version 004, July 
31, 2023);
    (9) WEQ-008, Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)--Eastern 
Interconnection (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (10) WEQ-011, Gas/Electric Coordination (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 
2023);
    (11) WEQ-012, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) (WEQ Version 004, 
July 31, 2023);
    (12) WEQ-013, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Implementation Guide (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (13) WEQ-015, Measurement and Verification of Wholesale Electricity 
Demand Response (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (14) WEQ-021, Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency 
Products (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (15) WEQ-022, Electric Industry Registry (EIR) (WEQ Version 004, 
July 31, 2023);
    (16) WEQ-023, Modeling (WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
    (17) WEQ-024, Cybersecurity (Version 004, July 31, 2023).

[FR Doc. 2024-09438 Filed 5-3-24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P