§ 366.3 - Exemption from Commission access to books and records; waivers of accounting, record-retention, and reporting requirements.

§ 366.3 Exemption from Commission access to books and records; waivers of accounting, record-retention, and reporting requirements.

(a) Exempt classes of entities. Any person that is a holding company solely with respect to one or more of the following will be exempt from the requirements of §§ 366.2 and 366.21 and any associated service company will be exempt from the requirements of §§ 366.2, 366.22, and 366.23; such person need not make the filings provided in § 366.4(a) or (b):

(1) Qualifying facilities under the Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (16 U.S.C. 2601 et seq.);

(2) Exempt wholesale generators; or

(3) Foreign utility companies.

(b) Exemptions of additional persons and classes of transactions -

(1) Commission authority to exempt additional persons and classes of transactions. The Commission shall exempt a person or class of transactions from the requirements of § 366.2 and the accounting, record-retention, and reporting requirements of §§ 366.21, 366.22, and 366.23 if, upon individual application or upon the motion of the Commission -

(i) The Commission finds that the books, accounts, memoranda, and other records of any person are not relevant to the jurisdictional rates of a public utility or natural gas company; or

(ii) The Commission finds that any class of transactions is not relevant to the jurisdictional rates of a public utility or natural gas company.

(2) Commission exemption of additional persons and classes of transactions. The Commission has determined that the following persons and classes of transactions satisfy the requirements of paragraph (b)(1) of this section, and any person that is a holding company solely with respect to one or more of the following may file to obtain an exemption for that person or class of transactions, as appropriate, from the requirements of §§ 366.2 and 366.21 (applicable to holding companies) and §§ 366.2, 366.22, and 366.23 (applicable to the holding companies' associated service companies), pursuant to the notification procedure contained in § 366.4(b):

(i) Passive investors, so long as the ownership remains passive, including:

(A) Mutual funds,

(B) Collective investment vehicles whose assets are managed by banks, savings and loan associations and their operating subsidiaries, or brokers/dealers; and

(C) Persons that directly, or indirectly through their subsidiaries or affiliates, buy and sell the securities of public-utility companies in the ordinary course of business as a broker/dealer, underwriter or fiduciary, and not exercising operational control over such companies;

(ii) Commission-jurisdictional utilities that have no captive customers and that are not affiliated with any jurisdictional utility that has captive customers, and that do not own Commission-jurisdictional transmission facilities or provide Commission-jurisdictional transmission services and that are not affiliated with persons that own Commission-jurisdictional transmission facilities or provide Commission-jurisdictional transmission services, and holding companies that own or control only such utilities;

(iii) Transactions where the holding company affirmatively certifies on behalf of itself and its subsidiaries, as applicable, that it will not charge, bill or allocate to the public utility or natural gas company in its holding company system any costs or expenses in connection with goods and services transactions, and will not engage in financing transactions with any such public utility or natural gas company;

(iv) Transactions between or among affiliates that are independent of and do not include a public utility or natural gas company;

(v) Electric power cooperatives;

(vi) Local distribution companies that are not regulated as “natural gas companies” pursuant to sections 1(b) or 1(c) of the Natural Gas Act, (15 U.S.C. 717(b), (c)).

(vii) Natural gas companies that distribute natural or manufactured gas at retail to industrial or electric generation customers and/or distribute de minimis amounts of natural or manufactured gas at retail to farmer or rancher customers located adjacent to the natural gas company's rights-of-way.

(c) Waivers. Any person that is a holding company solely with respect to one or more of the following may file to obtain a waiver of the accounting, record-retention, and reporting requirements of § 366.21 (applicable to holding companies) and §§ 366.22 and 366.23 (applicable to the holding companies' associated service companies), pursuant to the notification procedures contained in § 366.4(c):

(1) Single-state holding company systems; for purposes of § 366.3(c)(1), a holding company system will be deemed to be a single-state holding company system if the holding company system derives no more than 13 percent of its public-utility company revenues from outside a single state (for purposes of this waiver, revenues derived from exempt wholesale generators, foreign utility companies and qualifying facilities will not be considered public-utility company revenues);

(2) Holding companies that own generating facilities that total 100 MW or less in size and are used fundamentally for their own load or for sales to affiliated end-users; or

(3) Investors in independent transmission-only companies.

(d) Other requests for exemptions and waivers. Any person seeking an exemption or waiver that is not covered by paragraphs (a), (b)(2) or (c) of this section, shall file a petition for declaratory order pursuant to § 385.207(a) of this chapter justifying the request for exemption or waiver. Any person seeking such an exemption or waiver shall bear the burden of demonstrating that such an exemption or waiver is warranted.

(e) Nothing in paragraphs (a)-(d) of this section shall affect the authority of the Commission under the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 791 et seq.), the Natural Gas Act (15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.), or other applicable law, including the authority of the Commission with respect to rates, charges, classifications, rules, regulations, practices, contracts, facilities, and services under the Federal Power Act and Natural Gas Act and with respect to access to books and records under the Federal Power Act and Natural Gas Act.

[Order 667-A, 71 FR 28457, May 16, 2006, as amended by Order 667-B, 71 FR 42755, July 28, 2006]