[Federal Register Volume 83, Number 195 (Tuesday, October 9, 2018)]
[Notices]
[Pages 50652-50655]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2018-21777]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. RD18-7-000]


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

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Comment request.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) is submitting its information collection FERC-725R (Mandatory 
Reliability Standards: BAL Reliability Standards) to the Office of 
Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection 
requirements. Any interested person may file comments with the 
Commission as explained below.
    The North American Electric Reliability Corporation submitted a 
petition (on August 17, 2018) requesting Commission approval of 
proposed Reliability Standard BAL-002-3 and the retirement of currently 
effective Reliability Standard BAL-002-2. On August 24, 2018, the 
Commission issued a Notice in the Federal Register requesting public 
comment on the petition and proposed changes (which would affect the 
FERC-725R) The Commission received no comments and is making this 
notation in its submittal of the FERC-725R to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by December 
10, 2018.

ADDRESSES: Comments should be sent to the Commission, in Docket No. 
RD18-7-000 by either of the following methods:
     eFiling at Commission's website: 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 [email protected], 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 
[email protected], 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: Revision to FERC-725R information collection 
requirements, as discussed in Docket No. RD18-7-000.

[[Page 50653]]

    Abstract: On August 17, 2018, the North American Electric 
Reliability Corporation (NERC) filed a petition seeking approval of 
proposed Reliability Standard BAL-002-3 (Disturbance Control Standard--
Contingency Reserve for Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event) 
and the retirement of currently-effective Reliability Standard BAL-002-
2. NERC submitted proposed Reliability Standard BAL-002-3 in response 
to the Commission's directive in Order No. 835 to develop modifications 
to Reliability Standard BAL-002-2, Requirement R1 to require balancing 
authorities or reserve sharing groups: (1) To notify the reliability 
coordinator of the conditions set forth in Requirement R1, Part 1.3.1 
preventing it from complying with the 15-minute ACE recovery period; 
and (2) to provide the reliability coordinator with its ACE recovery 
plan, including a target recovery time.\1\ The NERC petition states 
``the proposed modifications to Reliability Standard BAL-002-3 also 
intend to clarify that communication with the reliability coordinator 
(RC) should proceed in accordance with Energy Emergency Alert 
procedures within the EOP Reliability Standards.\2\ This communication 
is done under the currently-effective Reliability Standard BAL-002-2. 
The communications (and related burden) are already required, and the 
additional information is de minimis. Therefore the Commission is not 
modifying the burden estimate and is submitting this to OMB as non-
material or non-substantive change to a currently approved collection.
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    \1\ Disturbance Control Standard--Contingency Reserve for 
Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event Reliability Standard, 
Order No. 835, 158 FERC ] 61,030, at P 37 (2017).
    \2\ NERC Petition at 3.
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    The Office of Electric Reliability approved the NERC proposal in a 
Delegated Order on September 25, 2018.
    Type of Respondents: Balancing authorities and reserve sharing 
groups.
    Estimate of Annual Burden \3\: According to the NERC Compliance 
Registry as of 8/24/2018, there are 99 balancing authorities in the 
United States. The Commission bases individual burden estimates on the 
time needed for balancing authorities to develop tools needed to 
facilitate reporting that are required in the Reliability Standard. 
These burden estimates are consistent with estimates for similar tasks 
in other Commission-approved Reliability Standards.
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    \3\ 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 information collection burden, refer to 5 
Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \4\ Reliability Standard BAL-002-2 applies to balancing 
authorities and reserve sharing groups. However, the burden 
associated with the balancing authorities complying with 
Requirements R1 and R3 is not included in this table because that 
burden doesn't change and the Commission already accounted for it 
under Commission-approved Reliability Standard BAL-002-1.
    \5\ The estimated hourly cost (wages plus benefits) is based on 
Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) information (available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm and, for benefits, https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly cost (wages plus 
benefits) for developing and maintaining operating process and plans 
is $105.29 and is an average for an electrical engineer (Occupation 
code 17-2071, $66.90/hour) and Legal (Occupation code 23-0000, $ 
$143.68). The hourly cost (wages plus benefits) for record retention 
is $39.68 for information and record clerks (Occupation code 43-
4199).
    \6\ BA = Balancing Authority; RSG = Reserve Sharing Group.
    \7\ This figure of 8 hours/response is an average of the hourly 
burden per response for Years 1-3. Year 1 burden: 12 hours per 
response; Years 2-3, each: 6 hours/response. The average annual 
burden for Years 1-3 is 8 hours/response (or [12 hours + 6 hours + 6 
hours] / 3).

[[Page 50654]]



 FERC-725R, As Modified by RM16-7-000 Final Rule (BAL-002-2: Disturbance Control Standard--Contingency Reserve for Recovery From a Balancing Contingency
                                                                       Event) 4 5
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                                                         Annual number                                             Total annual burden
                                           Number of     of responses    Total number    Average burden hours &    hours & total annual      Cost per
                                          respondents   per respondent   of responses    cost per response ($)      cost ($) (rounded)    respondent ($)
                                                   (1)             (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4)....................  (3) * (4) = (5)........       (5) / (1)
                                                                                   (3)
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BA/RSG: \6\ Develop and Maintain                    99               1              99  8 \7\ hrs.; $842.32....  792 hrs.; $83,390......         $842.32
 annually, Operating Process and
 Operating Plans.
BA/RSG: Record Retention..............              99               1              99  4 hrs.; $158.72........  396 hrs.; $15,713......          158.72
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    TOTAL.............................  ..............  ..............             198  .......................  1,188 hrs.; $99,103....  ..............
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[[Page 50655]]

    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 28, 2018.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2018-21777 Filed 10-5-18; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


