2024-01038. Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725r); Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy.

ACTION:

Notice of revision of information collection and request for comments.

SUMMARY:

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

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due February 20, 2024.

ADDRESSES:

Send written comments on FERC–725R to OMB through www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control Number (1902–0268) in the subject line of your comments. Comments should be sent within 30 days of publication of this notice to www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain.

Please submit copies of your comments to the Commission. You may submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. IC24–2–000) by one of the following methods: Electronic filing through https://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.

○ Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only: Addressed to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426.

○ Hand (Including Courier) Delivery: Deliver to: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852.

Instructions: OMB submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Using the search function under the “Currently Under Review” field, select Federal Energy Regulatory Commission; click “submit,” and select “comment” to the right of the subject collection.

FERC submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: https://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance, contact FERC Online Support by email at [e-mail], 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/​docs-filing/​docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Jean Sonneman may be reached by email at [e-mail], and telephone at (202) 502–6362.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC–725R, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: BAL Reliability Standards.

OMB Control No.: 1902–0268.

Type of Request: OMB renewal of the FERC–725R information collection requirements, with no changes to the requirements.

Abstract: The FERC 725R information collection includes four reliability standards.

• BAL–001–2, Real Power Balancing Control Performance; (effective July 1, 2016)
• BAL–002–3, Disturbance Control Standard—Contingency Reserve for Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event; (effective April 1, 2019)
• BAL–003–2, Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting; (effective December 1, 2020)
• BAL–005–1, Balancing Authority Control. (effective January 1, 2019)

On August 8, 2005, Congress enacted into law the Electricity Modernization Act of 2005, which is title XII, subtitle A, of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005).^[1] EPAct 2005 added a new section 215 to the Federal Power Act (FPA), which requires a Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards, which are subject to Commission review and approval. Once approved, any Reliability Standard may be enforced by the ERO subject to Commission oversight, or the Commission may independently enforce Reliability Standards.^[2]

On February 3, 2006, the Commission issued Order No. 672, implementing section 215 of the FPA.^[3] Pursuant to Order No. 672, the Commission certified one organization, North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), as the ERO.^[4] The Reliability Standards developed by the ERO and approved by the Commission apply to users, owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System as set forth in each Reliability Standard.

This collection was last revised beginning on December 19, 2019 when NERC submitted for approval the proposed Reliability Standard BAL–003–2.

Types of Respondents: Balancing authorities and a Frequency Response Sharing Group (FRSG).

Estimate of Annual Burden: ^[5] The estimated burdens of the FERC 725R include the Reliability Standards: BAL–001–2, BAL–002–3, BAL–003–2, and BAL–005–1.

The requirements for each Reliability Standard—are as follows:

BAL–001–2: Real Power Balancing Control Performance. Reliability Standard BAL–001–2 is designed to ensure that applicable entities balance generation and load by maintaining system frequency within narrow bounds around a scheduled value, and it improves reliability by adding a frequency component to the measurement of a Balancing Authority's Area Control Error (ACE).^[6]

BAL–002–3: Disturbance Control Standard—Contingency Reserve for Recovery from a Balancing Contingency Event. This standard ensures that a responsible entity, either a balancing authority or reserve sharing group, is able to recover from system contingencies by deploying adequate reserves to return their Area Control Error to defined values and replacing the capacity and energy lost due to generation or transmission equipment outages.

BAL–003–2: Frequency Response and Frequency Bias Setting. This standard requires sufficient Frequency Response from the Balancing Authority (BA) to maintain Interconnection Frequency within predefined bounds by arresting frequency deviations and supporting frequency until the frequency is restored.

BAL–005–1: Balancing Authority Control. This standard establishes requirements for acquiring data necessary to calculate Reporting Area Control Error (Reporting ACE). The standard also specifies a minimum periodicity, accuracy, and availability requirement for acquisition of the data and for providing the information to the System Operator. It requires balancing authorities to maintain minimum levels of annual availability of 99.5% for each balancing authority system for calculating Reporting ACE.

Our estimates are based on the NERC Compliance Registry as of September 22, 2023, which indicates that in the United States there are 98 registered balancing authorities, 8 registered reserve sharing group (RSG) and 1 frequency response sharing group (FRSG).^[7]

Estimates for the average annual burden and cost ^[8] follow.

FERC–725R

Function	Number & type of respondents	Number of annual responses per respondent	Total number of annual responses	Average burden hours & cost ($) per response	Total annual burden hours & total annual cost ($)
	(1)	(2)	(1) × (2) = (3)	(4)	(3) × (4) = (5)
BAL–001–2:
BA Reporting Requirements	98	1	98	8 hrs.; $618.32	784 hrs.; $60,595.36.
BA Recordkeeping Requirements	98	1	98	4 hrs.; $224.56	392 hrs.; $22,006.88.
BAL–002–3:
BA & RSG Reporting Requirements	106	1	106	8 hrs.; $618.32	848 hrs.; $65,541.92.
BA & RSG Recordkeeping Requirements	106	1	106	4 hrs.; $224.56	424 hrs.; $23,803.36.
BAL–003–2:
BA & FRSG Reporting Requirements	99	28	2,772	8 hrs.; $618.32	22,176 hrs.; $1,713,983.04.
BA & FRSG Recordkeeping Requirements	99	1	99	2 hrs.; $112.28	198 hrs.; $11,115.72.
BAL–005–1:
BA Reporting Requirements	98	1	98	1 hr.; $77.29	98 hrs.; $7,574.42.
BA Recordkeeping Requirements	98	1	98	1 hr.; $56.14	98 hrs.; $5,501.72.
Sub-Total for Reporting Requirements					23,906 hrs.; $1,847,694.74.
Sub-Total for Recordkeeping Requirements					1,112 hrs.; $62,427.68.
Total for FERC–725R					25,018 hrs.; $1,910,122.42.

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: January 12, 2024.

Debbie-Anne A. Reese,

Acting Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109–58, Title XII, Subtitle A, 119 Stat. 594, 941 (codified at 16 U.S.C. 824 o).

2.  16 U.S.C. 824 o (e)(3).

3.   Rules Concerning Certification of the Electric Reliability Organization; and Procedures for the Establishment, Approval, and Enforcement of Electric Reliability Standards, Order No. 672, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,204, order on reh'g, Order No. 672–A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,212 (2006).

4.   North American Electric Reliability Corp., 116 FERC ¶ 61,062, order on reh'g and compliance, 117 FERC ¶ 61,126 (2006), order on compliance, 118 FERC ¶ 61,190, order on reh'g, 119 FERC ¶ 61,046 (2007), aff'd sub nom. Alcoa Inc. v. FERC, 564 F.3d 1342 (D.C. Cir. 2009).

5.  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. See 5 CFR 1320 for additional information on the definition of information collection burden.

6.  Area Control Error is the “instantaneous difference between a Balancing Authority's net actual and scheduled interchange, taking into accounts the effects of Frequency Bias, correction for meter error, and Automatic Time Error Correction (ATEC), if operating in the ATEC mode. ATEC is only applicable to Balancing Authorities in the Western Interconnection.” NERC Glossary.

7.  NERC Compliance Registry (September 22, 2023), available at https://www.nerc.com/​pa/​comp/​Registration%20and%20Certification%20DL/​NERC_​Compliance_​Registry_​Matrix_​Excel.xlsx.

8.  The hourly cost estimates are based on wage data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics for May 2022 (at https://www.bls.gov/​oes/​current/​naics2_​22.htm) and benefits data for Dec. 2022 (issued March 2023, at https://www.bls.gov/​news.release/​ecec.nr0.htm). The hourly costs (for wages and benefits) for reporting are: Electrical Engineer (Occupation code 17–2071), $77.29. The hourly costs (for wages and benefits) for evidence retention are: Information and Record Clerk (Occupation code 43–4199), $56.14.