[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 132 (Wednesday, July 10, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 32908-32911]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-14669]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. AD19-16-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-922); Comment 
Request

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction 
Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or 
FERC) staff is soliciting public comment on the reinstatement and 
revision of the FERC-922, Performance Metrics for ISOs, RTOs, and 
Regions Outside ISOs and RTOs.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due September 9, 
2019.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. AD19-16-
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 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: Darren Sheets may be reached at 
Darren.Sheets@FERC.gov by email or telephone at (202) 502-8742.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    Title: FERC-922, Performance Metrics for ISOs, RTOs, and Regions 
Outside ISOs and RTOs.
    OMB Control No: 1902-0262.\1\
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    \1\ The Commission previously had Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) approval for the information collection FERC-922 under 
OMB Control No. 1902-0262. On August 7, 2018, Commission staff 
requested that OMB discontinue this information collection. OMB 
approval for the information collection was discontinued on August 
31, 2018. Commission staff plans to request authority from OMB to 
reinstate the information collection FERC-922, with certain 
revisions, as described in more detail herein. See 44 U.S.C. 3507 
(2012).
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    Type of Request: Reinstatement of the FERC-922 information 
collection, with revisions.
    Abstract: In September 2008, the United States Government 
Accountability Office (GAO) issued a report recommending that the 
Commission, among other actions, work with Regional Transmission 
Organizations (RTOs), Independent System Operators (ISOs), 
stakeholders, and other experts to develop standardized metrics to 
track the performance of RTO/ISO operations and markets and publicly 
report on those metrics.\2\ In accordance with the 2008 GAO Report, 
Commission staff developed a set of standardized metrics (the Common 
Metrics), sought and received OMB approval to collect information on 
those metrics from the RTOs/ISOs, and later non-RTOs/ISOs, and 
ultimately issued five public reports (Common Metrics Reports).\3\
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    \2\ U.S. Gov't Accountability Off., GAO-08-987, Electricity 
Restructuring: FERC Could Take Additional Steps to Analyze Regional 
Transmission Organizations' Benefits and Performance (2008) (2008 
GAO Report).
    \3\ In 2010 and 2011, Commission staff issued reports authored 
by the RTOs/ISOs. In 2012, Commission staff issued a report 
concerning the addition of non-RTO/ISO regions to the common metrics 
effort. In 2014 and 2016, Commission staff issued reports using 
aggregated data on the RTO/ISO and non-RTO/ISO regions. For copies 
of the previous reports, see Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 
RTO/ISO Performance Metrics (last updated Aug. 3, 2017), available 
at http://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/rto/rto-iso-performance.asp (providing links to ISO/RTO Performance Metrics, 
Docket No. AD10-5-000 (Oct. 21, 2010); Report to Congress on 
Performance Metrics for Independent System Operators and Regional 
Transmission Organizations, Docket No. AD10-5-000 (Apr. 2011); 
Performance Metrics in Regions Outside ISOs and RTOs, Docket No. 
AD12-8-000 (Oct. 15, 2012); Common Metrics, Docket No. AD14-15-000 
(Aug. 26, 2014); and Common Metrics Report, Docket No. AD14-15-000 
(Aug. 2016, revised Aug. 2017)).
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    In December 2017, the GAO issued a report on the RTOs/ISOs with 
centralized capacity markets.\4\ Among other recommendations, the GAO 
found that the Commission should take steps to improve the quality of 
the data collected for its Common Metrics Report, such as implementing 
improved data quality checks and, where feasible, ensuring RTOs/ISOs 
are reporting consistent metrics over time by standardizing 
definitions; and that the Commission should develop and document an 
approach to regularly

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identify, assess, and respond to risks that capacity markets face.
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    \4\ U.S. Gov't Accountability Off., GAO-18-131, Electricity 
Markets: Four Regions Use Capacity Markets to Help Ensure Adequate 
Resources, but FERC Has Not Fully Assessed Their Performance, 
(2017), available at https://www.gao.gov/assets/690/689293.pdf (2017 
GAO Report).
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    In response to the 2017 GAO Report, Commission staff has proposed 
changes to the Common Metrics information collection. First, Commission 
staff proposes to improve the data collection process by creating a 
standardized information collection Input Spreadsheet and an updated, 
more detailed User Guide, which will provide guidance on completing the 
information collection, including information about who should respond, 
the timeline for responses, the metrics being collected, including 
important definitions and a description of the types of metrics and 
their structure in the information collection, and how to properly use 
the reporting form. Also, Commission staff proposes to update the list 
of Common Metrics to focus on centrally-organized energy markets and 
capacity markets, which involves adding capacity market metrics. The 
update also involves the elimination of previously collected metrics on 
reliability, RTO/ISO billing controls and customer satisfaction, 
interconnection and transmission processes, and system lambda. 
Commission staff proposes eliminating these metrics because they 
provide limited information, are reported publicly elsewhere, or do not 
significantly help Commission staff or the public draw any conclusions 
regarding the benefits of an RTO/ISO. The revised data collection, 
after additions and deletions, consists of 29 Common Metrics.
    In addition to eliminating certain metrics and adding new ones, the 
Common Metrics are now organized into three groups: Group 1 metrics are 
designed to be collected from all respondents (i.e., all the RTOs/ISOs 
and non-RTO/ISO utilities). There are seven Group 1 metrics: Reserve 
Margins, Average Heat Rates, Fuel Diversity, Capacity Factor by 
Technology Type, Energy Emergency Alerts (EEA Level 1 or Higher), 
Performance by Technology Type during EEA Level 1 or Higher, and 
Resource Availability (Equivalent Forced Outage Rate Demand (EFORd)). 
Group 2 metrics pertain to organized energy markets, and thus are 
designed to be collected only from respondents with such energy markets 
(i.e., all the RTOs/ISOs). There are 12 Group 2 metrics: Number and 
Capacity of Reliability Must-Run Units, Reliability Must-Run Contract 
Usage, Demand Response Capability, Unit Hours Mitigated, Wholesale 
Power Costs by Charge Type, Price Cost Markup, Fuel Adjusted Wholesale 
Energy Price, Energy Market Price Convergence, Congestion Management, 
Administrative Cost, New Entrant Net Revenues, and Order No. 825 
Shortage Intervals and Reserve Price Impacts.\5\ Finally, Group 3, the 
new metrics, pertain to organized capacity markets, and thus are 
designed to be collected only from respondents with such capacity 
markets (i.e., all RTOs/ISOs with capacity markets). There are 10 Group 
3 metrics: Net Cost of New Entry (Net CONE) Value, Resource 
Deliverability, New Capacity (Entry), Capacity Retirement (Exit), 
Forecasted Demand, Capacity Market Procurement and Prices, Capacity 
Obligations and Performance Assessment Events, Capacity Eligible for 
Bonus Payments for Over-Performance, Capacity Facing Penalty Payments 
for Under-Performance, Total Capacity Bonus Payments and Penalties. A 
table showing the revised Common Metrics organized by the three groups 
can be found at the back of this Notice. Also, the updated User Guide 
for the information collection, and the standardized information 
collection reporting form are attached to this Notice. These 
attachments will not be published in the Federal Register, but will be 
available as part of this notice in the Commission's eLibrary system.
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    \5\ Settlement Intervals and Shortage Pricing in Markets 
Operated by Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent 
System Operators, Order No. 825, 155 FERC 61,276 (2016).
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    Commission staff has had informal contact with stakeholders about 
the proposed revisions to the set of Common Metrics, including the 
proposed revisions to improve the quality of data collected and to 
enhance the Common Metrics Report with capacity market metrics. 
Specifically, Commission staff has contacted representatives of the 
ISO/RTO Council, the Edison Electric Institute, American Wind Energy 
Association, American Public Power Association, and the Energy 
Information Administration.
    Commission staff has assured itself, by means of internal review, 
that there is specific, objective support for the burden estimates 
associated with the information collection requirements.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: 6 Commission staff expects 
that respondents will submit information on the Common Metrics every 
two years. Commission staff will request a three-year approval from 
OMB, so the voluntary information collection would happen in Years 1 
and 3.\7\
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    \6\ 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, see 5 CFR 1320.3 (2018).
    \7\ The OMB approval is for a maximum of three years.
    \8\ See generally Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational 
Employment and Wages, May 2017 (last modified Mar. 30, 2018), 
available at: Computer Systems Analysts (15-1121) https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes151121.htm; Lawyers (23-1011) https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes231011.htm; Electrical Engineers (17-
2071) https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes172071.htm; Economists (19-
3011) https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes193011.htm; Chief 
Executives (11-1011) https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes111011.htm. 
See Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employer Costs for Employee 
Compensation, News Release USDL-18-1941 (Dec. 14, 2018), available 
at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm. Those hourly wages 
(plus benefits) are: $107.61 for the Metrics Data Collection and 
Write Performance Analysis categories, and $122.81 for the 
Management Review component which is solely based on the Chief 
Executive wage rates.
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    The following table sets forth the estimated annual burden and cost 
\8\ for this information collection:
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    Explanation of the Table: The Number of Respondents (1) in the 
first column varies by Group, as all respondents do not provide 
information on each of the 29 Common Metrics. Commission staff has 
estimated the number of respondents for the first three Groups based on 
the assumption that the six jurisdictional RTOs/ISOs and the five non-
RTO/ISO utilities (11 total respondents) that previously responded to 
the FERC-922 information collection will provide responses to this 
revised FERC-922 information collection. Therefore, the estimated 
number of respondents in Group 1 is 11, because all respondents report 
on the Group 1 metrics. The estimated number of respondents for Group 2 
is six, because only the jurisdictional RTOs/ISOs with energy markets 
respond to the Group 2 metrics. Likewise, the estimated number of 
respondents in Group 3 is four, because only the jurisdictional RTOs/
ISOs with capacity markets respond to the Group 3 metrics. Finally, the 
table includes a burden estimate for potential new respondents. As all 
the jurisdictional RTOs/ISOs previously responded to FERC-922, any 
potential new respondent would be a utility in a non-RTO/ISO region, 
and thus would only be submitting responses to the Group 1 metrics, but 
for the first time. Commission staff conservatively estimates that, at 
most, one new non-RTO/ISO utility will respond to this revised FERC-922 
information collection.
    The second column, Number of Responses in Years 1 & 3 (2) is 
characterized by the number of Balancing Authority Areas (BAAs) each 
respondent would be reporting on, as the respondent would provide a 
response to each metric for each of its BAAs. Each RTO/ISO is a single 
BAA and therefore will only provide responses to each metric for one 
BAA, but utilities in the non-RTO/ISO regions that previously responded 
have reported metrics for more than one BAA (for instance, Duke Energy 
has multiple BAAs outside of RTOs/ISOs and filed metrics for each BAA 
in the previous information collection). Therefore, the estimated 
number of responses for Group 1 (all RTOs/ISOs and non-RTO/ISO 
utilities) is the number of BAAs in the RTOs/ISOs, i.e., six, plus the 
number of non-RTO/ISO BAAs i.e., 10, which equals 16 total responses. 
The estimated number of responses for Group 2 (all RTOs/ISOs with 
energy markets) is the same as the number of respondents, i.e., six, as 
only the RTOs/ISOs respond and they each only have one BAA. The 
estimated number of responses for Group 3 (all RTOs/ISOs with capacity 
markets) is the same as the number of respondents, i.e., four, as only 
the four RTOs/ISOs with capacity markets respond and they each only 
have one BAA. Finally, there is only estimated to be one non-RTO/ISO 
utility as a potential new respondent, who would only be responding to 
the Group 1 metrics that apply to all respondents.
    The Annual Frequency of Filings (3) is 0.67 for all groups. This 
fraction reflects that there will be two information collections or one 
each during Years 1 and 3 of the three-year OMB authorization period, 
so \2/3\ or 0.67 is the adjustment to reflect a yearly value for the 
burden.
    The Total Number of Annual Responses (4) is the product of the 
second column, Number of Responses in Years 1 and 3 (2), multiplied by 
the third, the Annual Frequency of Filings (3). Thus for the first 
group, this value is 16 x 0.67 or 10.72.
    The Estimated Burden Hours per Response (5) reflects the total 
number of estimated burden hours, separated into the three reporting 
categories (collect, write, review) for all four groups of respondents. 
The total estimated burden hours for the first three groups of 
respondents are the same as the previous FERC-922 information 
collection burden estimates, 401 hours. An increased estimate of the 
burden hours, 427 hours, is for Potential New Respondents, in 
recognition of the fact that the burden on a new respondent is likely 
higher. The number of hours in

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each reporting category has been adjusted in this collection, as 
compared to the previous FERC-922 collection burden estimate, to 
reflect less emphasis on the writing category, as Commission staff has 
developed a structured data collection tool which will decrease the 
amount of written text that respondents will provide in the information 
collection.\9\
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    \9\ The estimated hours per response has increased for: (a) 
Metrics Data Collection component to 271 hours (from 229 hours), and 
(b) Management Review component to 60 hours (from 33 hours). The 
estimated hours per response for Write Performance Analysis has 
decreased to 70 hours (from 139 hours).
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    The Estimated Cost per Response (6) is the product of the three 
variables: The Estimated Burden Hours per Response (5) for a category, 
multiplied by the labor rate (for wages plus benefits) for each 
category (which is not shown in the table), multiplied by the 
proportion of total hours attributable to this Group, to report on a 
category, e.g., the number of metrics in that Group divided by the 
total number of metrics (also not shown in table). An example in the 
first row is that for Group 1, Metrics Data Collection category, the 
$7,039 is the product of 271 hours in column (5) multiplied by the 
weighted average labor rate for that category ($107.61) multiplied by 
0.242 (the ratio of metrics in the first Group, seven, to the total 
number of metrics, 29 or 7 / 29). This fraction is not displayed in the 
table.\10\
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    \10\ The fraction for Group 1 and the Potential New Respondents 
is 0.242 (the seven metrics in the first Group divided by the total 
number of metrics, 29); for Group 2 the fraction is 0.414 (12 
divided by 29); for Group 3 the fraction is 0.345 (10 divided by 
29).
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    The Estimated Total Annual Burden Hours (7) is the product of the 
Total Number of Annual Responses (4) times the Estimated Burden Hours 
per Response (5). For the first row of the first group this value is 
2,905 hours = 10.72 x 271 hours.
    Finally, the Estimated Total Annual Cost (8) reflects the total 
burden to the industry and is calculated by multiplying the Total 
Number of Annual Responses (4) times the Estimated Cost per Response 
(6) for each category for all groups and produces an estimated total 
cost in the last row of the table. The wage rates utilized in this 
burden estimate have been updated to recent Bureau of Labor Statistics 
estimates for the same categories as used in the prior burden estimates 
for the FERC-922 information collection (i.e., Computer Systems 
Analysts, Lawyers, Electrical Engineers, Economists, and the category 
Chief Executive). Wage estimates use the 90th percentile wage from the 
recent Bureau of Labor Employees Benefit Survey, adjusted upward for 
the private industry benefits of 30.3 percent, and are a weighted 
average of those categories.
    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. Further, Commission staff 
requests comments on whether the proposed metrics (attached) will 
effectively track the performance of the RTO/ISO energy and capacity 
markets and the administrative and market functions that are common to 
the RTOs/ISOs and the individual utilities in non-RTO/ISO regions.

    Dated: July 3, 2019.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2019-14669 Filed 7-9-19; 8:45 am]
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