
[Federal Register Volume 78, Number 184 (Monday, September 23, 2013)]
[Notices]
[Pages 58295-58296]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2013-23004]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD13-3-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.

ACTION: Comment request.

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

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information 
collection FERC-725A, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk 
Power System, to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review 
of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may 
file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those 
comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission solicited 
public comments on the information collection analysis associated with 
its approval of Reliability Standard EOP-004-2, in an order published 
in the Federal Register (78 FR 420064, 7/15/2013).\1\ FERC received no 
comments in response to that solicitation and is making this notation 
in its submission to OMB.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ North American Electric Reliability Corp., 143 FERC ]61,252 
(2013).

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by October 23, 
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2013.

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by collection FERC-725A, 
should be sent via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory 
Affairs: oira_submission@omb.gov. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be reached via 
telephone at 202-395-4718.
    A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission, identified by the Docket No. RD13-3-000, by 
either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.
     Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., 
Washington, DC 20426.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support 
by email at ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 
(toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.
    Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of 
activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and 
issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
DataClearance@FERC.gov, by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at 
(202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: 
    Title: FERC-725A, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk 
Power System.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0244.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of the FERC-725A information 
collection requirements.
    Abstract: The change in this information collection relates to 
FERC-approved Reliability Standard EOP-004-2--Event Reporting. Rather 
than creating entirely new obligations to report a system disturbance, 
the revised Reliability Standard, EOP-004-2, primarily clarifies the 
thresholds that can trigger a reporting obligation, and reduces the 
reporting burden for certain individual respondents due to the use of a 
simplified form in Attachment 2. However, the revised Reliability 
Standard would increase the reporting burden for some individual 
entities, because it would apply for the first time to transmission 
owners and generator owners. We do not anticipate a large increase in 
the number of respondents because the existing Reliability Standard 
applies to transmission operators and generator operators, which 
includes the majority of the entities registered as transmission owners 
and generator owners.
    Our estimate below regarding the number of respondents is based on 
the NERC compliance registry as of March 2013. According to the 
registry, there are 7 transmission owners that are not also 
transmission operators, 128 generator owners that are not also 
generator operators, and 101 distribution providers that are not also 
registered as another functional entity covered by the current event 
reporting standards. Thus, we estimate that a total of 236 entities may 
be subject to the event reporting requirements of EOP-004-2 for the 
first time.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ Although distribution providers are included as responsible 
entities under the revised Reliability Standard, their reporting 
obligations will be de minimis, as explained in the Guidelines and 
Technical Basis attached to the revised standard. See NERC Petition, 
Ex. B at 13, Docket No. RD13-3-000 (Dec. 31, 2012). For purposes of 
this analysis, however, we included distribution providers as part 
of the assumed number of reports per year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The number of annual reports required could vary widely based on 
the individual entity and the extent of its facilities. The estimate 
below is based on an assumption that, on average, 25 percent of the 
entities covered by EOP-004-2 will have one reportable event per year. 
As demonstrated below, the primary increase in cost associated with the 
revised standard is expected in Year 1, when newly covered entities 
must develop an operating plan for reporting. In Years 2 and 3, an 
overall reduction in reporting and recordkeeping burden is expected, 
due to the simplified reporting form.
    Type of Respondents: Reliability Coordinator, Balancing Authority, 
Transmission Owner, Transmission Operator, Generator Owner, Generator 
Operator, and Distribution Provider.\3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \3\ These entity types are contained in the North American 
Electric Reliability Corporation's compliance registry. See http://
www.nerc.com/page.php?cid=3[bond]25 for more information.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Estimate of Annual Burden:\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \4\ 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, reference 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

[[Page 58296]]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                            Number of                    Average burden     Estimated
       Type of  respondent              Reporting/          Number of     responses per   Total number      hours per     total annual   Estimated total
                                   recordkeeping  req't    respondents     respondent     of responses      response         burden        annual cost
                                                                    (A)             (B)     (A)x(B)=(C)          (D)         (C)x(D)         (see below)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
New Entities (GO, TO, DP)........  Developing Operating             236               1             236            8           1,888        $113,280.00
                                    Plan (Yr 1 Only).
                                   Reporting Event (Yr               59               1              59            0.17           10.03          601.80
                                    1, 2, and 3).
Entities Subject to Existing       Conforming Operating            1164               1            1164            2           2,328         139,680.00
 Reporting Requirements.            Plan to New
                                    Thresholds (Yr 1
                                    Only).
                                   Reporting Event                  291               1             291           -0.33          -96.03       (5,761.80)
                                    (using new form)
                                    (Yrs 1, 2, and 3).
    Total for Year 1 \5\.........  ....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............        4,130            247,800
    Total for each of Years 2 & 3  ....................  ..............  ..............  ..............  ..............      -86 \6\             (5,160)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    The estimated breakdown of annual cost is as follows:

 Year 1
    [cir] New Entities, Development of Operating Plan: 236 entities * 1 
response/entity * (8 hours/response * $60/hour \7\) = $113,280.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \5\ Year 1 costs include implementation costs for entities that 
must comply with the standard for the first time, plus the cost for 
entities that are currently subject to NERC event reporting 
requirements to review and make changes to their existing plans. The 
Year 1 total also includes the savings from the reduction in 
reporting time due to the new Event Reporting Form.
    \6\ In the Order approving the EOP Reliability Standard we 
incorrectly used ``-81'' in this cell.
    \7\ For the burden categories above, the estimated hourly loaded 
cost (salary plus benefits) for an engineer was assumed to be $60/
hour, based on salaries as reported by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics (BLS) (http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm). Loaded 
costs are BLS rates divided by 0.703 and rounded to the nearest 
dollar (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    [cir] New Entities, Event Reporting: 59 entities * 1 response/
entity * (.17 hours/response * $60/hour) = $601.80.
    [cir] Current Responsible Entities, Conforming Operating Plan: 1164 
entities * 1 response/entity * (2 hours/response * $60/hour) = 
$139,680.
    [cir] Current Responsible Entities, Event Reporting Using New Event 
Reporting Form: 291 entities * 1 response/entity * [(.17 hours/
response--.5 hours/response) \8\ * $60/hour] = ($5,761.80).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \8\ It is estimated that the average time to complete the 
required event report under Reliability Standard EOP-004-1 is 30 
minutes, versus an estimated 10 minutes under Reliability Standard 
EOP-004-2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

 Year 2 and ongoing
    [cir] New Entities, Using ``Event Reporting Form'': 59 entities * 1 
response/entity * (.17 hours/response * $60/hour) = $601.80.
    [cir] Old Entities, Using ``Event Reporting Form'': 291 entities * 
1 response/entity * [(.17 hours/response--.5 hours/response) * $60/
hour] = ($5,761.80).

    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: September 16, 2013.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2013-23004 Filed 9-20-13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


