[Federal Register Volume 86, Number 217 (Monday, November 15, 2021)]
[Notices]
[Pages 63010-63015]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2021-24860]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

[Docket No. IC22-2-000]


Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-519, FERC-545, 
FERC-546, FERC-549C, and FERC-732); Comment Request; Extension

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) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved 
information collection, FERC-519, (Application under Federal Power Act 
Section 203); FERC-545, (Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal)); 
FERC-546, (Certification of Qualifying Facility (QF) Status for a Small 
Power Production or Cogeneration Facility); FERC-549C, (Standards for 
Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines); FERC-732, 
(Electric Rate Schedule and Tariffs: Long-Term Firm Transmission Rights 
in Organized Electricity Markets). The above five collections are a 
part of a combined notice only and are not being combined into one OMB 
Collection number.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due January 14, 
2022.

ADDRESSES: You may submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket 
No. IC22-2-000) by one of the following methods:
    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.
    Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in 
accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov. For user 
assistance, contact FERC Online Support by email at 
[email protected]ferc.gov, or by phone at (866) 208-3676 (toll-free).
    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.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Ellen Brown may be reached by email at 
[email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

1. FERC-519

    Title: FERC-519, Application under Federal Power Act Section 
203.\1\
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    \1\ 16 U.S.C. 824b.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0082.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-519 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: The Commission requires that public utility officers must 
seek authorization under amended section 203(a)(1)(B) of the Federal 
Power Act (FPA) to merge or consolidate, directly or indirectly, its 
facilities subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission, or any part 
thereof, with the facilities of any other person, or any part thereof, 
that are subject to the jurisdiction of the Commission and have a value 
in excess of $10 million, by any means

[[Page 63011]]

whatsoever. In addition, as required by the Act, the Commission 
establishes a requirement to submit a notification filing for mergers 
or consolidations by a public utility if the facilities to be acquired 
have a value in excess of $1 million and such public utility is not 
required to secure Commission authorization under amended section 
203(a)(1)(B). The information collected under the FERC-519 enables the 
Commission to meet its statutory responsibilities regarding public 
utility disposition, merger, consolidation of facilities, purchase, or 
acquisition oversight and enforcement in accordance with the FPA as 
referenced above. Without this information, FERC would be unable to 
meet these responsibilities. The required information includes 
descriptions of corporate attributes of the party or parties to the 
proposed transaction (e.g. a sale, lease, or other disposition, merger, 
or consolidation of facilities, or purchase of other acquisition of the 
securities of a public utility and the facilities or other property 
involved in the transaction), statements about effect of the 
transaction, and the applicant's proof that the transaction will be 
consistent with the public interest. It will enable the Commission to 
meet its statutory responsibilities regarding its FPA section 203 
oversight of public utility dispositions, mergers, or consolidation of 
facilities, and associated oversight and enforcement responsibilities 
under the FPA as referenced above. The required information to be 
collected in the notification filing (established by the addition of 18 
CFR part 33.12) for certain transactions includes descriptions of 
corporate attributes of the party or parties to the transaction and the 
facilities involved. FPA section 203 requires a filing on the occasion 
that a public utility proposes to dispose of jurisdictional facilities, 
merge such facilities, or acquire the securities of another public 
utility. Public Utilities consist of:

 Corporate;
 Information Technology Management;
 General Accounting;
 Personnel and Payroll;
 Transportation;
 Tariffs and Rates;
 Insurance;
 Operations and Maintenance;
 Plant and Depreciation;
 Purchase and Stores;
 Revenue Accounting and Collection;
 Tax;
 Treasury; and
 Miscellaneous.

    Type of Respondents: Public utility officers regulated by the FPA.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \2\ The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost \3\ for this information collection as follows:
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    \2\ ``Burden'' is 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 Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.
    \3\ Commission staff estimates that the industry's skill set and 
cost (for wages and benefits) for FERC-519 are approximately the 
same as the Commission's average cost. The FERC 2021 average salary 
plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is $180,703/
year (or $87.00/hour).

                                                FERC-519: Application Under Federal Power Act Section 203
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                                                Annual
                                              number of
                                 Number of    responses    Total number       Average burden & cost per        Total annual burden hours       Cost per
                                respondents      per       of responses               response                    (total annual cost)         respondent
                                              respondent
                                        (1)          (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).............................  (3) * (4) = (5)................    (5) / (1)
                                                                     (3)
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FERC-519 (FPA Section 203               131            1             131  324.43 hr.\5\; $28,225.41.......  42,500.33 hrs.; $3,697,528.71..   $28,225.41
 Filings) \4\.
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2. FERC-545

    Title: FERC-545, Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal)
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    \4\ Commission staff estimates that approximately 26 section 203 
filings will change from full section 203 filings to the 
notification filing described above and will take one burden hour to 
complete. The number of respondents and responses is based on 
Commission staff's estimate that 13 percent of the approximately 200 
section 203 filings received will be affected. This represents a 
significant reduction in burden hours.
    \5\ With this amendment each of the 26 affected entities and 
their related filings (i.e., the entities that now only have to file 
the section 203 notification filings) is reduced to 1 hour.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0154.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-545 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: FERC-545 is required to implement Sections 4, 5, and 16 
of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), (15 U.S.C. 717c, 717d, and 717o). NGA 
Sections 4, 5, and 16 authorize the Commission to inquire into rate 
structures and methodologies and to set rates at a just and reasonable 
level. Specifically, a natural gas company must obtain Commission 
authorization for all rates and charges made, demanded, or received in 
connection with the transportation or sale of natural gas in interstate 
commerce.
    Under the NGA, a natural gas company's rates must be just and 
reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential. The 
Commission may act under different sections of the NGA to effect a 
change in a natural gas company's rate. When the Commission reviews 
rate increases that a natural gas company has proposed, it is subject 
to the requirement of Section 4(e) of the NGA. Under Section 4(e), the 
natural gas company bears the burden of proving that its proposed rates 
are just and reasonable. On the other hand, when the Commission seeks 
to impose its own rate determination, it must do so in compliance with 
Section 5(a) of the NGA. Under Section 5, the Commission must first 
establish that its alternative rate proposal is both just and 
reasonable.
    Section 16 of the NGA states that the Commission ``shall have the 
power to perform any and all acts, and to prescribe, issue, make, 
amend, and rescind such orders, rules, and regulations as it may find 
necessary or appropriate to carry out provisions of [the NGA].'' In 
other words, Section 16 of the NGA grants the Commission the power to 
define accounting, technical and trade terms, prescribe forms, 
statements, declarations or reports and to prescribe rules and 
regulations.
    Pipelines adjust their tariffs to meet market and customer needs. 
The Commission's review of these proposed changes is required to ensure 
rates remain just and reasonable and that services are not provided in 
an unduly or preferential manner. The Commission's regulations in 18 
CFR part 154 specify what changes are

[[Page 63012]]

allowed and the procedures for requesting Commission approval.
    The Commission uses information in FERC-545 to examine rates, 
services, and tariff provisions related to natural gas transportation 
and storage services. The following filing categories are subject to 
FERC-545: (1) Tariff Filings--filings regarding proposed changes to a 
pipeline's tariff (including Cost Recovery Mechanisms for Modernization 
of Natural Gas Facilities filings in Docket No. PL15-1) and any related 
compliance filings; (2) Rate Filings--rate-related filings under NGA 
sections 4 and 5 and any related compliance filings and settlements; 
(3) Informational Reports; (4) Negotiated Rate and Non-Conforming 
Agreement Filings; (5) North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) 
(RM96-1-042) Version 3.2; and (6) Market-Based Rates for Storage 
Filings (Part 284.501-505).
    Type of Respondents: Natural gas pipelines under the jurisdiction 
of NGA.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \6\ The public reporting burden has 
increased for this information collection due to normal fluctuations in 
industry and the inclusion of tariff filings in compliance with Order 
No. 587-Z. On July 15, 2021, in Docket No. RM96-1-042, the Commission 
amended its regulations to incorporate by reference the North American 
Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Wholesale Quadrant Version 3.2 
standards. The revisions made by NAESB Version 3.2 are designed to 
enhance the natural gas industries' cyber security measures.
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    \6\ The Commission defines burden 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.
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    The Commission estimates the annual public reporting burden and 
cost for the information collection as follows:

                                                 FERC-545: Gas Pipeline Rates: Rate Change (Non-Formal)
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                                               Average
                                              number of                                                                                        Cost per
                                 Number of    responses    Total  number    Average  burden and cost  per    Total annual  burden hours and   respondent
                                respondents      per       of  responses            response \7\                   total annual cost             ($)
                                              respondent
                                        (1)          (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).............................  (3) * (4) = (5)................    (5) / (1)
                                                                     (3)
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Tariff Filings................          109        2.768         301.712  211 hrs.; $20,467...............  63,661.232 hrs.; $6,175,139.50.   $56,652.66
Rate Filings..................           32            2              64  354 hrs.; $34,338...............  22,656 hrs.; $2,197,632........       56,980
Informational Reports.........          100        1.770             177  235 hrs.; $22,795...............  41,595 hrs.; $4,034,715........    40,347.15
Negotiated Rates & Non-                  69           11             759  233 hrs.; $22,601...............  176,847 hrs.; $17,154,159......      248,611
 Conforming Agreement Filings.
Market-Base Rates for Storage             2            1               2  230 hrs.; $22,310...............  460 hrs.; $44,620..............       22,310
 Filings.
NAESB (version 3.2) one time            178            1             178  3.33 hrs.; $323.01..............  592.74 hrs.; $57,495.78........       323.01
 over 3 years carried over
 from RM96-1-42.
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    Total.....................  ...........  ...........           1,482  ................................  305,811.97 hrs.; $29,663,761.28  ...........
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3. FERC-546

    Title: FERC-546, Certificated Rate Filings: Gas Pipeline Rates.
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    \7\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided in 
this section is based on the salary figures for May 2021 posted by 
the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector (available 
at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm) and scaled to 
reflect benefits using the relative importance of employer costs for 
employee compensation from June 2021 (available at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly estimates for 
salary plus benefits are:
    Computer and Information Systems Manager (Occupation Code: 11-
3021), $103.61.
    Computer and Information Analysts (Occupation Code: 15-
1120(1221), $67.99.
    Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2071), $72.15.
    Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000), $142.25.
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits), weighting all of 
these skill sets evenly, is $96.50. We round it to $97/hour.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0155.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-546 information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: The Commission reviews the FERC-546 materials to decide 
whether to approve rates and tariff changes associated with an 
application for a certificate under Natural Gas Act (NGA) section 7(c) 
(15 U.S.C. 717). Additionally, FERC reviews FERC-546 materials in NGA 
section 4(f) (15 U.S.C. 717), storage applications, to evaluate an 
applicant's market power and determine whether to grant market-based 
rate authority to the applicant. The Commission uses the information in 
FERC-546 to monitor jurisdictional transportation, natural gas storage, 
and unbundled sales activities of interstate natural gas pipelines and 
Hinshaw \8\ pipelines. In addition to fulfilling the Commission's 
obligations under the NGA, the FERC-546 enables the Commission to 
monitor the activities and evaluate transactions of the natural gas 
industry, ensure competitiveness, and improve efficiency of the 
industry's operations. In summary, the Commission uses the information 
to:
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    \8\ Hinshaw pipelines are those that receive all out-of-state 
gas from entities within or at the boundary of a state if all the 
natural gas so received is ultimately consumed within the state in 
which it is received, 15 U.S.C. 717(c). Congress concluded that 
Hinshaw pipelines are ``matters primarily of local concern,'' and so 
are more appropriately regulated by pertinent state agencies rather 
than by FERC. The Natural Gas Act section 1(c) exempts Hinshaw 
pipelines from FERC jurisdiction. A Hinshaw pipeline, however, may 
apply for a FERC certificate to transport gas outside of state 
lines.
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     ensure adequate customer protections under NGA section 
4(f);
     review rate and tariff changes filed under NGA section 
7(c) for certification of natural gas pipeline transportation and 
storage services;
     provide general industry oversight; and
     supplement documentation during the pipeline audits 
process.
    Failure to collect this information would prevent the Commission 
from monitoring and evaluating transactions and operations of 
jurisdictional pipelines and performing its regulatory functions.
    Type of Respondents: Jurisdictional pipeline companies and storage 
operators.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \9\ The Commission estimates the burden 
and cost for this information collection as follows:
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    \9\ ``Burden'' is 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 Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

[[Page 63013]]



                                                FERC-546 (Certificated Rate Filings: Gas Pipeline Rates)
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                                                Annual
                                   Annual     number of    Total  number                                                                       Cost per
                                 number of    responses    of  responses    Average  burden and cost  per    Total annual burden hours and    respondent
                                respondents      per         (rounded)        response \10\  (rounded)        total annual cost (rounded)        ($)
                                              respondent                                                                                      (rounded)
                                        (1)          (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).............................  (3) * (4) = (5)................    (5) / (1)
                                                                     (3)
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Pipeline Certificate Filings             47   \11\ 1.595          74.965  500 hrs.; $41,652...............  37,482.50 hrs.; $3,122,442.18..   $66,434.94
 and Storage Applications.
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4. FERC-549C

    Title: FERC-549C, Standards for Business Practices of Interstate 
Natural Gas Pipelines.
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    \10\ The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures 
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2021, for positions 
involved in the reporting and recordkeeping requirements. These 
figures include salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) and are:
     Electrical Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2071; $72.15/hour).
     Management Analyst (Occupation Code: 13-1111; $68.39/hour).
     Accounting (Occupation Code: 13-2011; $57.41/hours).
     Computer and Mathematical (Occupation Code: 15-0000; $65.73/
hour).
     Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000; $142.25/hour).
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is calculated 
weighting each of the previously mentioned wage categories as 
follows: $72.15/hour (0.4) + $68.39/hour (0.2) + $57.41/hour (0.1) + 
$65.73/hour (0.1) + $142.25/hour (0.2) = $83.304/hour. The 
Commission rounds this figure to $83/hour.
    \11\ This figure was calculated by dividing the total number of 
responses ( ) by the total number of respondents (47). The resulting 
figure was then rounded to the nearest thousandth place.
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    OMB Control No.: 1902-0174.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-549C information 
collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: The business practice standards under FERC-549C are 
required to carry out the Commission's policies in accordance with the 
general authority in sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 10, 14, 16, and 20 of the 
Natural Gas Act (NGA),\12\ and sections 311, 501, and 504 of the 
Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 (NGPA).\13\ The Commission adopted these 
business practice standards in order to update and standardize the 
natural gas industry's business practices and procedures in addition to 
improving the efficiency of the gas market and the means by which the 
gas industry conducts business across the interstate pipeline grid.
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    \12\ 15 U.S.C. 717c-717w.
    \13\ 15 U.S.C. 3301-3432.
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    In various orders since 1996, the Commission has adopted 
regulations to standardize the business practices and communication 
methodologies of interstate natural gas pipelines proposed by the North 
American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) in order to create a more 
integrated and efficient pipeline industry.\14\ Generally, when and if 
NAESB-proposed standards (e.g. consensus standards developed by the 
Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) \15\) are approved by the Commission, the 
Commission incorporates them by reference into its approval. The 
process of standardizing business practices in the natural gas industry 
began with a Commission initiative to standardize electronic 
communication of capacity release transactions. The outgrowth of the 
initial Commission standardization efforts produced working groups 
composed of all segments of the natural gas industry and, ultimately, 
the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB), a consensus organization open 
to all members of the gas industry was created. GISB was succeeded by 
NAESB.
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    \14\ This series of orders began with the Commission's issuance 
of Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas 
Pipelines, Order No. 587, FERC Stats. & Regs. ] 31,038 (1996).
    \15\ An accredited standards organization under the auspices of 
the American National Standards Institute (ANSI).
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    NAESB is a voluntary non-profit organization comprised of members 
from the retail and wholesale natural gas and electric industries. 
NAESB's mission is to take the lead in developing standards across 
these industries to simplify and expand electronic communication and to 
streamline business practices. NAESB's core objective is to facilitate 
a seamless North American marketplace for natural gas, as recognized by 
its customers, the business community, industry participants, and 
regulatory bodies. NAESB has divided its efforts among four quadrants 
including two retail quadrants, a wholesale electric quadrant, and the 
WGQ. The NAESB WGQ standards are a product of this effort. Industry 
participants seeking additional or amended standards (to include 
principles, definitions, standards, data elements, process 
descriptions, and technical implementation instructions) must submit a 
request to the NAESB office, detailing the change, so that the 
appropriate process may take place to amend the standards.
    Failure to collect the FERC-549C data would prevent the Commission 
from monitoring and properly evaluating pipeline transactions and/or 
meeting statutory obligations under both the NGA and NGPA.
    On August 17, 2020, NAESB filed a report informing the Commission 
that it had adopted and ratified WGQ Version 3.2 of its business 
practice standards applicable to interstate natural gas pipelines. 
Version 3.2 of the WGQ includes business practice standards developed 
and modified in response to industry requests and directives from the 
NAESB Board of Directors. This version also includes the standards 
developed in response to the recommendations of Sandia National 
Laboratory (Sandia),\16\ which in 2019 issued a cybersecurity surety 
assessment of the NAESB standards sponsored by DOE (Sandia Surety 
Assessment),\17\ and the standards developed to enable the use of 
distributed ledger technologies when transacting the NAESB Base 
Contract for Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas. The NAESB report 
identifies all the changes made to the WGQ Version 3.1 Standards and 
summarizes the deliberations that led to the changes being made. It 
also

[[Page 63014]]

identifies changes to the existing standards that were considered but 
not adopted due to a lack of consensus or other reasons.
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    \16\ Sandia is a multidisciplinary national laboratory and 
federally funded research and development center for the U.S. 
Department of Energy's (DOE) National Nuclear Security 
Administration that supports numerous federal, state, and local 
government agencies, companies, and organizations.
    \17\ In April 2017, NAESB announced that Sandia, through funding 
provided by DOE, would be performing a surety assessment of the 
NAESB standards. As determined by Sandia and DOE, the purpose of the 
surety assessment was to analyze cybersecurity elements within the 
standards, focusing on four areas: (1) The NAESB Certification 
Program for Accredited Certification Authorities, including the 
Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ)-012 Public Key Infrastructure 
Business Practice Standards, the NAESB Accreditation Requirements 
for Authorized Certificate Authorities, and the Authorized 
Certification Authority Process; (2) the WEQ Open Access Same-Time 
Information Systems suite of standards; (3) the WGQ and Retail 
Markets Quadrant internet Electronic Transport (IET) and Quadrant 
Electronic Delivery Mechanism (EDM) Related Standards Manual; and 
(4) a high-level dependency analysis between the gas and electric 
markets to evaluate the different security paradigms the markets 
employ.
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    Type of Respondents: Natural gas pipelines under the jurisdiction 
of NGA and NGPA.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \18\ The Commission estimates the total 
annual burden and cost \19\ for this information collection as follows:
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    \18\ ``Burden'' is 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 Title 5 Code of Federal Regulations 
1320.3.
    \19\ Commission staff estimates that the industry's skill set 
and cost (for wages and benefits) for FERC-549C are approximately 
the same as the Commission's average cost. The FERC 2021 average 
salary plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is 
$180,703/year (or $87.00/hour) posted by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics for the Utilities sector (available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm).

                                     FERC-549C: Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines
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                                               Average
                                              number of                                                                                        Cost per
                                 Number of    responses    Total  number     Average  burden & cost  per      Total annual  burden hours &    respondent
                                respondents      per       of  responses            response \20\                  total annual cost             ($)
                                              respondent
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                                        (1)          (2)     (1) * (2) =  (4).............................  (3) * (4) = (5)................    (5) / (1)
                                                                     (3)
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Standards for Business                  178            1             178  33.33 hrs.; $3,135.39...........  5,932.74 hrs.; $558,098.78.....    $3,135.39
 Practices of Interstate
 Natural Gas Pipelines.
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5. FERC-732
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    \20\ The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) provided 
in this section is based on the salary figures for May 2021 posted 
by the Bureau of Labor Statistics for the Utilities sector 
(available at http://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm#13-0000) 
and scaled to reflect benefits using the relative importance of 
employer costs in employee compensation from June 2021 (available at 
https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm). The hourly estimates 
for salary plus benefits are:
    Petroleum Engineer (Occupation Code: 17-2171), $74.20.
    Computer Systems Analysts (Occupation Code: 15-1120), $67.99.
    Legal (Occupation Code: 23-0000), $142.25.
    Economist (Occupation Code: 19-3011), $75.75.
    The average hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is calculated 
weighting each of the aforementioned wage categories as follows: 
$74.20 (0.3) + $142.25 (0.3) + $67.99 (0.15) + $75.75 (0.25) = 
$94.07. The Commission rounds it to $90/hour.
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    Title: FERC-732, Electric Rate Schedule and Tariffs: Long-Term Firm 
Transmission Rights in Organized Electricity Markets.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0245.
    Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-732 information 
collection requirement with no changes to the current reporting 
requirements.
    Abstract: 18 CFR part 42 provides the reporting requirements of 
FERC-732 as they pertain to long-term transmission rights. To implement 
section 1233 \21\ of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005),\22\ 
the Commission requires each transmission organization that is a public 
utility with one or more organized electricity markets to make 
available long-term firm transmission rights that satisfy each of the 
Commission's guidelines.\23\
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    \21\ 16 U.S.C. 824.
    \22\ 16 U.S.C. 824q.
    \23\ 18 CFR 42.1(d).
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    The FERC-732 regulations require that transmission organizations 
(that are public utilities with one or more organized electricity 
markets) choose one of two ways to file:
     File tariff sheets making long-term firm transmission 
rights available that are consistent with each of the guidelines 
established by FERC.
     File an explanation describing how their existing tariffs 
already provide long-term firm transmission rights that are consistent 
with the guidelines.
    Additionally, the Commission requires each transmission 
organization to make its transmission planning and expansion procedures 
and plans available to the public. FERC-732 enables the Commission to 
exercise its wholesale electric rate and electric power transmission 
oversight and enforcement responsibilities in accordance with the FPA, 
the Department of Energy Organization Act (DOE Act), and EPAct 2005.
    Type of Respondents: Public utility with one or more organized 
electricity markets.
    Estimate of Annual Burden: \24\ The Commission estimates the total 
burden and cost \25\ for this information collection as follows.
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    \24\ 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 CFR 1320.3.
    \25\ FERC staff estimates that industry costs for salary plus 
benefits are similar to Commission costs. The FERC 2021 average 
salary plus benefits for one FERC full-time equivalent (FTE) is 
$180,703/year (or $87.00/hour) posted by the Bureau of Labor 
Statistics for the Utilities sector (available at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm.)

                   FERC-732, Electric Rate Schedules and Tariffs: Long-Term Firm Transmission Rights in Organized Electricity Markets
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                 Annaul
                                                               number of                                                                       Cost per
                                                  Number of    responses    Total  number   Total annual  burden hours &  total annual cost   respondent
                                                 respondents      per       of  responses                         ($)                            ($)
                                                               respondent
                                                         (1)          (2)     (1) * (2) =  (3) * (4) = (5).................................    (5) / (1)
                                                                                      (3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Public utility with one or more organized                  1            1          \26\ 1  1,180 hrs.; $102,660............................     $102,660
 electricity markets.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    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;

[[Page 63015]]

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.
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    \26\ The ``1'' Tariff filing is a placeholder for future 
fillers.

    Dated: November 1, 2021.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2021-24860 Filed 11-12-21; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P


