
[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 24 (Tuesday, February 7, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 9565-9566]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-02448]


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

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD17-1-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is soliciting public comment on the information collection FERC-
725R (Mandatory Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability Standards) which 
will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for 
review of the information collection requirements.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by April 10, 
2017.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. RD17-1-
000) by 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-725R, Mandatory Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability 
Standards.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0268.
    Type of Request: Three-year approval of FERC-725R information 
collection requirement, as modified.
    Abstract: On November 10, 2016, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed a petition for Commission approval 
of retirement, pursuant to section 215(d)(1) of the Federal Power Act 
(FPA) and Section 39.5 of the Commission's regulations, of currently-
effective Reliability Standard BAL-004-0 (Time Error Correction). NERC 
explains that since Reliability Standard BAL-004-0 became effective, 
improvements have been made to mandatory Reliability Standards (such as 
the development of Reliability Standards BAL-003-1.1 and BAL-001-2 and 
the Interconnection Reliability Operations and Coordination (IRO) 
Standards) that help ensure continued adherence to frequency 
approximating 60 Hertz over long-term averages and make Reliability 
Standard BAL-004-0 redundant.
    Type of Respondents: Public utilities.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \1\: The Commission estimates the 
reduction (due to the retirement of Reliability Standard BAL-004-0) in 
the annual public reporting burden for the information collection as 
follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \1\ Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial 
resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or 
disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For 
further explanation of what is included in the information 
collection burden, refer to 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

[[Page 9566]]



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                         Number of
 FERC 725R, reductions due to RD17-1-    Number of  respondents \2\   responses  per   Total number    Average burden hours &     Annual burden hours &
                  000                                                    respondent    of responses    cost per  response \3\       total annual cost
                                        (1).........................             (2)     (1) x (2) =  (4).....................  (3) x (4) = (5)
                                                                                                 (3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Retirement of current standard BAL-004- BA 99; RC 11................              -1            -110  (Eng.) 2 hrs. ($129);     -330 hrs. (-220 Eng., -
 0 currently in (FERC-725R).                                                                           (R.K.) 1 hr. ($38).       110 R.K.); -$18,370 (-
                                                                                                                                 $14,190 Eng., -$4,180
                                                                                                                                 R.K.)
                                                                                     ----------------                          -------------------------
    TOTAL REDUCTION (Rounded).........  ............................  ..............       -110 hrs.  ........................  -110
                                                                                                                                -$18,370
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total annual burden and cost will be reduced by 110 hours and 
$18,370.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \2\ The estimated number of respondents is based on the NERC 
compliance registry as of December 12, 2016. According to the NERC 
compliance registry, there are 99 U.S. balancing authorities (BA) 
and 11 reliability coordinators (RC).
    \3\ The estimates for cost per response are derived using the 
following formula: Burden Hours per Response * $/hour = Cost per 
Response. The $64.29/hour figure for an engineer and the $37.75/hour 
figure for a record clerk (rounded to $38.00) are based on the 
average salary plus benefits data from the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics. (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm), May 
2015, Section 22, Utilities. In the burden table, engineering is 
abbreviated as ``Eng.'' and record keeping is abbreviated as 
``R.K.''.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the collection of 
information are 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 estimates of the 
burden and cost of the collection of information, including the 
validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 
the quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) 
ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those 
who are to respond, including the use of automated collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.

    Dated: February 1, 2017.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2017-02448 Filed 2-6-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


