[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 67 (Friday, April 7, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 17726-17731]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-8553]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
18 CFR Parts 141 and 388
[Docket No. RM95-9-000]
Real-Time Information Networks; Notice of Technical Conference
and Request for Comments
March 29, 1995
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of Technical Conference and request for comments.
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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission), is
issuing this notice to announce a technical conference to be scheduled
at a later date, and, in preparation for that conference, to request
comments on: whether real-time information networks (RINs) or some
other option is the best method to ensure that potential purchasers of
transmission services receive access to information to enable them to
obtain open access transmission service on a non-discriminatory basis
from public utilities that own and/or control facilities used for the
transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce; and what
[[Page 17727]] standards should be adopted if the Commission requires
such public utilities to institute RINs systems.
DATES: Comments must be received on or before June 6, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to: Office of the Secretary, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, N.E., Washington, D.C.
20426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Gary D. Cohen (Legal Information),
Electric Rates and Corporate Regulation, Office of the General Counsel,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20426, (202) 208-0321
Marvin Rosenberg (Technical Information), Office of Economic Policy,
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol Street, N.E.,
Washington, D.C. 20426, (202) 208-1283
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: In addition to publishing the full text of
this document in the Federal Register, the Commission also provides all
interested persons an opportunity to inspect or copy the contents of
this document during normal business hours in Room 3104 at 941 North
Capitol Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426.
The Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS), an electronic
bulletin board service, provides access to the text of formal documents
issued by the Commission. CIPS is available at no charge to the user
and may be accessed using a personal computer with a modem by dialing
(202) 208-1397. To access CIPS, set your communications software to
19200, 14400, 12000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400, 1200, or 300 bps, full
duplex, no parity, 8 data bits and 1 stop bit. The full text of this
document will be available on CIPS for 60 days from the date of
issuance in ASCII and Wordperfect 5.1 format. After 60 days, the
document will be archived, but still accessible. The complete text on
diskette in WordPerfect format may also be purchased from the
Commission's copy contractor, La Dorn Systems Corporation, also located
in Room 3104, 941 North Capitol Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426.
Introduction
The Commission is considering requiring each public utility (or its
agent) that owns and/or controls facilities used for the transmission
of electric energy in interstate commerce to create a real-time
information network (RIN) to ensure that potential purchasers of
transmission services have access to information to enable them to
obtain open access transmission services on a non-discriminatory basis
from the public utility. This initiative is being taken in conjunction
with the Commission's proposed rules, 1 today being issued, that
would require public utilities to provide open access non-
discriminatory transmission services (Open Access NOPR) and would
permit the recovery of legitimate and verifiable stranded costs in
certain circumstances.
\1\See Promoting Wholesale Competition Through Open Access Non-
discriminatory Transmission Services by Public Utilities & Recovery
of Stranded Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, Docket Nos. RM95-8-000 & RM94-7-001
(1995).
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The Commission's goal in this proceeding is to establish uniform
requirements for a RIN or other communications device at the same time
that the Commission adopts a rule requiring open access non-
discriminatory transmission services. To accomplish this objective, the
Commission invites interested persons to file comments and to
participate in a Technical Conference in which they can make
presentations on their positions. Thereafter, the Commission expects to
hold informal conferences, enlisting working groups to reach consensus
on any remaining issues.
We expect that input from the Technical Conference and informal
conferences will be the basis for subsequent procedures. This notice
sets a timetable to be followed so that requirements on RINS can be in
place no later than the effective date of an open access rule.
Background
In the Open Access NOPR, the Commission is inviting comments on a
proposed rule that would require any public utility that owns and/or
controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in
interstate commerce to have on file an open access transmission tariff.
To be effective, however, non-discriminatory open access
transmission service requires transmission customers to be able to
compete effectively with the public utility that owns or controls the
transmission. Customers must have simultaneous access to the same
information available to the transmission owner. Thus, in this
proceeding, the Commission expects to require RINs or other options to
ensure that potential and actual transmission service customers receive
access to information so that they can obtain service comparable to
that provided by transmission owners (or controllers) to themselves.
Discussion
A. Objectives
As noted above, the Commission expects to undertake further
procedures in this docket after the Technical Conference and informal
conferences are held and input from those conferences is evaluated.
Nevertheless, to help participants focus on the issues, the Commission
here sets out its preliminary views. Any requirement we establish must
have safeguards to ensure that public utilities owning and/or
controlling transmission facilities use the same procedures and meet
the same substantive requirements when they arrange transmission to
support their wholesale sales and purchases as are required for third
parties. Further, we expect that each public utility (or a control area
operator acting as its agent) that provides transmission service must,
at a minimum, give its customers electronic access in real time to
information on transmission capacity availability, ancillary services,
scheduling of power transfers, economic dispatch, current operating and
economic conditions, system reliability, and responses to system
conditions.
This means that public utilities or their agents must give
competitors and other users of the transmission system access to the
same information available to the public utility personnel who trade
(sell or purchase) power in the wholesale market, and at the same time.
Moreover, this information cannot be declared privileged (and kept from
competitors) if it is available to the company's own employees who
trade wholesale power. Thus, if a utility wishes to keep this
information confidential, it must assign control over this information
to employees whose duties do not involve trading in wholesale power,
and it must implement procedures to ensure that the traders do not get
access to the information unless and until that information becomes
public. The Commission invites parties to comment on the best way to
implement these requirements in their comments and in their
presentations at the Technical Conference and informal conferences.
RINs should operate under industry-wide standards; otherwise, each
RIN could contain different information, have different file formats,
or use different means to transfer information between utilities and
customers. We are concerned that some customers (those who need
transmission service across utility boundaries) might be forced to
obtain information in different and perhaps incompatible environments.
Efficient wholesale power markets [[Page 17728]] require that
information formats not impede the ability of parties to make trades in
a timely manner within and across utility boundaries. Such impediments
should be eliminated, or at a minimum, reduced to the maximum extent
possible.
In addition, we request comments on the following questions:
Information availability: What information should be available
on a RIN? Possibilities include transmission availability data,
scheduling information, information on economic dispatch, system
reliability conditions, service interruptions, and other information
that parties might suggest. Would a RIN be appropriate, not only to
report transactions, but to conduct the transactions themselves? If
so, for what kinds of transactions would this be appropriate?
RINs standards: What standard formats would be appropriate for
transferring files containing specific information? What are
appropriate communication protocols? How can a RIN be designed to
accommodate not only today's needs, but also those in the future,
such as an ability to trade power and have real-time price signals?
Attached to this notice is a Staff Discussion Paper that gives
Staff's preliminary views on some of the issues that need to be
addressed in this proceeding. We have attached this document to help
the parties focus on pertinent issues as early in the process as
possible.
B. Timetable for Comments, Technical Conference, and Informal
Conferences
The Commission's experience with Order No. 6362 and electronic
bulletin boards (EBBs) in the natural gas industry3 has taught us
that when industry standards are needed, they should be established as
early as possible. We wish to avoid systems being developed, and
expenses being incurred, before consensus can be reached on the best
way to proceed.
\2\Pipeline Service Obligations and Revisions Governing Self-
Implementing Transportation; and Regulation of Natural Gas Pipelines
After Partial Wellhead Decontrol, 57 Fed. Reg. 13,267 (April 16,
1992), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles para.30,939 (April 8,
1992); order on reh'g, Order No. 636-A, 57 Fed. Reg. 36,128 (August
12, 1992), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles para.30,950 (August 3,
1992).
\3\See Standards For Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under
Part 284 of the Commission's Regulations, Order No. 563, 59 FR 516
(Jan. 5, 1994); III FERC Stats. and Regs., Regulations Preambles
para.30,988 (1993), order on reh'g, Order No. 563-A, 59 FR 23,624
(May 9, 1994); III FERC Stats. and Regs., Regulations Preambles
para.30,994, reh'g denied, Order No. 563-B, 68 FERC para.61,002,
Order No. 563-C, order accepting modifications, Order No. 563-C, 68
FERC para.61,362 (1994).
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These same considerations also persuade us that a case-by-case
approach to setting standards for electronic information transfer is
inappropriate. Public utilities should not be required to invest
extensive capital in a RIN or EBB that might be obsolete in the near
future.4
\4\We note that there is an extensive network already in place
to conduct intercompany transactions reliably. To the maximum extent
possible, we intend to build on the existing institutional
arrangements and ongoing efforts to help better schedule, monitor,
and model transactions involving multiple control areas.
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We intend, therefore, to have requirements in place no later than
the date when we issue any final rules on open access transmission. In
this way, we hope to avoid unnecessary expenditures by public
utilities.
At the Technical Conference, the Commission will focus on
determining exactly what information must be made available to
transmission customers and what standards are needed as to the transfer
of this information on a real-time basis from transmission operators to
their customers, including the public utility itself for its wholesale
transactions.
The Technical Conference will be open to all interested persons.
The exact date, time, and location of the Technical Conference will be
announced in a subsequent notice.
To better organize the Technical Conference, interested persons are
invited to submit written comments. Comments must be received on or
before [insert a date 60 days following the Federal Register
publication date]. The comments should be no more than 25 pages in
length, double spaced on 8\1/2\'' x 11'' paper, with standard margins.
Parties must submit fourteen (14) written copies of their comments. In
addition, commenters are requested to submit a copy of their comments
on a 3\1/2\ inch diskette, formatted for MS-DOS based computers. In
light of our ability to translate MS-DOS based materials, the text need
only be submitted in the format and version in which it was generated
(i.e., MS Word, Wordperfect, ASCII, etc.). It is not necessary to
reformat word processor generated text to ASCII. For Macintosh users,
it would be helpful to save the documents in Macintosh word processor
format and then write them to files on a diskette formatted for MS-DOS
machines. The comments must be submitted to the Office of the
Secretary, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426, and their caption should refer to
Docket No. RM95-9-000.
All written comments will be placed in the Commission's public
files and will be available for inspection or copying in the
Commission's Public Reference Room (Room 3104, 941 North Capitol
Street, N.E., Washington, D.C. 20426), during normal business hours.
The Commission also will make all comments publicly available on its
EBB.
Following the Technical Conference, the Commission's Staff will
promptly schedule a series of informal conferences using, as
appropriate, working groups enlisting the participants at the Technical
Conference.5 The informal conferences are intended to narrow or
resolve issues and to help the Commission determine what information
must be made available, and what standards are needed, for the delivery
of pertinent information on a real-time basis from transmission
operators to their customers, including the public utility itself.
\5\The Commission made use of working groups in drafting the
Commission's standards for EBBs. See, e.g., Standards For Electronic
Bulletin Boards Required Under Part 284 of the Commission's
Regulations, Final Rule, Order No. 563-A, 59 FR 23624 (May 9, 1994);
III FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles para.30,994 (1994).
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Staff will designate what working groups are to be formed, when
they will meet, and what topics they will consider. Staff will work
with these working groups as needed.6 The working groups will be
invited to reach consensus on the issues and report that consensus to
the Commission. The working group reports should identify issues where
no consensus is possible so that the Commission may take appropriate
action to resolve all remaining technical issues.
\6\To promote candor and productivity, Staff will set up and
sponsor these meetings, but, where appropriate, will not attend the
meetings while the parties discuss the issues. The parties are
instructed, however, to brief Staff fully on their progress at any
such meetings.
By direction of the Commission.
Lois D. Cashell,
Secretary.
Staff Discussion Paper Electronic Bulletin Boards and Real-Time
Information Networks
Introduction
The Commission has issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking,
proposing non-discriminatory open access transmission services. The
NOPR proposes that public utilities provide all potential wholesale
transmission users, including the wholesale power marketing department
of the transmission owner, simultaneous access to transmission and
ancillary services. Potential customers' access to information on
transmission capacity and other matters pertaining to transmission
services must be made comparable to the information access
[[Page 17729]] available to the power marketing department of the
transmission owner and its affiliates. Staff believes that electronic
communication is critical to achieving comparable access to
information, which in turn is a cornerstone of comparable access to
transmission service. Comparable access by customers to information as
it becomes available is the key to both a successful comparable access
program and competitive power markets for electricity. Rapid transfer
of information between a transmitting utility's computers and those of
its potential wholesale competitors is necessary to achieve these
goals.
The technical conference begins the process of determining what
information and procedures will be required to achieve comparable
access to information. We request comments or concrete proposals that
address the issues and questions raised in this paper. Areas that need
to be addressed include:
Information Needs. What specific information is required
to ensure that all eligible parties (including the transmission owner)
have comparable access to information needed to conduct wholesale power
transactions over the transmission system?
Type of Information System. What types of information
systems are available to communicate transmission information, and
which of these are most appropriate to achieve comparable access to
information?
Standards and Systems Development. What standard record
formats should be developed to exchange information? What protocols are
needed? Should regional systems, or a national system, be developed?
This paper provides short discussions of Staff's understanding of
the major issues and options in these areas. Each discussion is
followed by a list of questions intended to guide comments.
Information Needed for Comparability
Comparability requires that wholesale transmission customers be
provided with the same information that the transmission owner or
controller has about the availability and price of transmission
services, and that the information be provided at the same time and
cost. A customer, when making wholesale power transactions using
transmission services, should have the same information the
transmission owner has available to make wholesale power transactions.
This includes, but is not necessarily limited to, the following types
of information:
Availability of firm and non-firm transmission services
(including ancillary services), rates for these services and the amount
and terms of any available rate discounts. Information on the
opportunity costs on constrained paths and the incremental cost of
expansion, if known.
Hourly transfer capacities with other interfacing control
areas on a time interval corresponding to the interval that a
transmission owner uses in committing its own units. For example, if
the interval is weekly, hourly transfer capacities should be provided
each week as the transmission owner commits its own units.
Hourly amounts of firm and non-firm power scheduled over
each of the owner's interfaces with other control areas. These
quantities should be the amounts scheduled over the following hour.
They should be provided at some short interval before the start of each
hour (e.g., 15 minutes).
Transmission outages, or planned and forced unit outages
that may affect trans-mission availability, as they become known, as
well as anticipated and actual interruptions of services.
Load flow data that would allow customers to do their own
preliminary review of incremental transfer capability to accommodate
long-term transfers. Updates to load flow information should be made
available to customers whenever the transmission owner updates its load
flow information.
Transaction specific information on all requests for
transmission service (including requests by the transmission owner's
wholesale power marketing personnel). This information should be
sufficient to permit customers to evaluate the current state of
transmission requests on the system and to monitor potential
discrimination. This information should be provided when requests are
received and updated when the status of a request changes.
Transmission capacity available for resale by customers
seeking to resell their rights to transmission service, and
announcements by prospective buyers who are seeking to acquire rights
to transmission service. These requests should be made available when
received.
Staff believes that transmission-owning utilities have such
information available in the normal course of business under today's
current industry practices. We also believe this information is
important for any parties using transmission services to perform
wholesale power transactions. Accordingly, comparability requires that
such information be made available to prospective customers and to the
transmission owner's wholesale power marketing department on the same
basis. However, the list is provided only as an example of our current
understanding of the information. We invite comment on additional
information that is needed, but not included in the list, as well as
information in the list that is not needed.
Current industry practice should not be the sole standard for
judging what information to consider for inclusion in information
networks. Consideration should be given to likely future industry
developments, and how these might affect information needs. In
particular, the role of electronic information in the dispatch function
may change significantly as power markets change. Future networks may
need to provide for the electronic trading of power. The design of
current systems should retain sufficient flexibility to accommodate
these types of future developments. We invite comment on what
developments might affect the design of a current information network,
and how consideration of such developments might be considered in the
design of today's systems.
Questions Regarding Information Needed for Comparability
1. What information about capacity availability is needed? Is this
information needed with respect to interfaces with other control areas
and within a single control area?
2. How often does information on available capacity need to be
updated? What other information is necessary? In designing RINs
requirements, what consideration should the Commission give to NERC's
interest in improving and communicating the calculation of transfer
capability in real-time.1
\1\See Report on Electric Utilities' Response to the Cold Wave
of January 1994, Report by NERC Blue Ribbon Task Force at 10 (Apr.
11, 1994).
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3. What information about transmission constraints should be
included? Is it possible to develop information about anticipated
constraints and their associated opportunity cost? Could information on
interruptions be conveyed after a constraint has occurred?
4. Should the information include requests for transmission
capacity, offers of transmission capacity (from utility and third party
entitlement holders), rates and an index of entitlement holders? How
often does information need to be updated? What other information is
necessary to facilitate the development of a [[Page 17730]] secondary
market for transmission capacity?
5. Can requests for transmission service be submitted
electronically, through an EBB or an information network, rather than
by telephone or FAX? What specific information is needed for electronic
submission of transmission requests?
Systems for Communicating Transmission Information
Many kinds of information systems could support electronic exchange
of transmission information between a transmission-owning public
utility and its customers, potential customers, and the transmission
owner's wholesale marketing department. But there is a tradeoff between
the cost of a system and the capabilities it offers. We would like
comment on the capabilities needed in a system to communicate
transmission information and what type of system will best meet those
needs. In order to provide technical background for this discussion, we
offer the following three categories as general system types, from the
simple to the more complex:
Electronic Bulletin Board (EBB). One simple method of
electronically communicating information is to use EBB displays. A user
of this type of EBB simply connects to (logs onto) the EBB and sees the
information displayed. We believe this simple type of EBB should also
permit a user to post information, such as a transmission request, to
the EBB.
This type of information system may be adequate for small customers
who are not very active in the transmission market and who have only an
occasional need for small amounts of timely information. However, as
information needs increase, the method of EBB displays may become
inadequate. A major disadvantage is that displayed information cannot
be processed directly by the receiving party's own computer. Thus, if
the receiving party wants to use this information in its own computer
displays or as part of an analysis, it must enter it again. Reentering
information is slow, error-prone and costly, particularly for users who
need large amounts of information from several different EBBs. For this
reason, even the simplest form of EBB should provide a capability that
permits users to capture the information presented in the display on
their computer systems.
EBBs with Standardized File Transfer. A second method of
communicating information is to allow users to transfer files between
the EBB and the user's computer system. Downloading (transferring the
file from the EBB to the user's computer system) eliminates the need to
reenter information into a user's computer system when it is already
present on the EBB. Uploading (transferring a file from the user's
system to the EBB) permits information already present in a file on a
user's computer to be sent to the EBB without manual reentry.
Therefore, the capability of transferring files containing relevant
information between the EBB and its users solves the data reentry
problem for large and more sophisticated users.
File transfer capability also makes possible efficient processing
of information from several different EBBs. Computer software can be
programmed to dial each EBB automatically and to transfer files from
(or to) each EBB. The user can then choose how to display the
information, or process it directly in a computer program. Third
parties can aggregate transmission information from multiple EBBs to
provide an information service for customers who prefer to use a single
EBB. Standard file formats and protocols for the transfer of
information are essential for the efficient transfer of this
information. Without standard formats and transfer protocols, a user
must develop separate methods and programs for transferring files to
and from each EBB.
Real-time Information Network (RIN) Connection. This type
of network permits a continuous information connection between the
transmission-owning public utility and users of the transmission
network. In contrast, displays and downloads are means of distributing
information to users who connect intermittently to an EBB specifically
to request information. Continuous connection permits a user to have
all new information as soon as it becomes available, without needing to
make specific requests. A user can directly monitor all new
information, or use a computer program to monitor new information
selectively as it becomes available. The computer program can then
identify time critical information as soon as it is available and alert
key company staff of the need to take action.
To a customer, a RIN means the immediate receipt of information
when it becomes available. Only some customers may need information
immediately, and even these customers will not need all information
immediately. We believe, however, that some customers will need this
type of information connection, and that the number of these customers
will increase over time as markets develop and expand.
RINs would need standardized formats for information and protocols
for its transfer. Such standards may be different, and more complex,
than standards for file downloads and uploads. However, the development
of a RIN could eliminate the need to develop separate file transfer
capabilities through EBB uploads and downloads. Such networks could be
designed to support both continuous connection and intermittent access
using the same formats and transfer protocols.
Questions Regarding the Means of Communicating Information
6. What information is sufficiently time sensitive to require real-
time transmission and receipt? What information is sufficiently
unchanging and time insensitive to permit efficient transmission by
request? Should the amount and timing of real-time information provided
be a user option?
7. Is an EBB requirement necessary at all if transmission-owning
public utilities are required to provide information to, and receive
information and requests from, an information network? Would EBBs be
developed voluntarily, either by utilities or third parties, if data
were available through an information network?
8. What is the minimum acceptable transfer time for the network?
Should it be measured in milli-seconds, seconds or minutes? Should the
transfer time be a function of the information transferred?
9. Should EBBs and/or RINs be developed in several phases? If so,
what phases and timing are appropriate?
10. How can the development of EBBs and RINs be made flexible
enough to accommodate future information needs?
11. Should the network be developed using lines leased or can it
use existing Value Added Networks (VANs)?
Standards and System Development
Standardization of information, record formats, and protocols for
the exchange of information are crucial to computer-to-computer
transfer of information. Without standards, each utility could develop
its own file formats and protocols to govern the transfer of
information. As experience with the development of EBBs in the gas
industry has shown, different formats and communication methods impose
significant costs on using information and provide barriers to trade
across multiple companies. Moreover, once companies design their own
information systems, they understandably tend to resist the imposition
of generic standards. It is therefore especially important to reach
consensus on what [[Page 17731]] standards should govern the operation
of electronic information systems and how information systems should be
developed in accordance with those standards. We would also like
comment on how the cost of system development and use should be
recovered.
Questions Regarding Standards and System Development
12. What standard information should be included in the datasets to
be exchanged electronically? What standard definitions and units should
be used for this information?
13. What standard record formats and identification codes are
needed to exchange the information associated with comparable access?
14. What standard codes should be used to identify facilities,
interconnection points, and other locations?
15. What standard protocol(s) should be developed to download and
upload files, or to exchange information across the information
network?
16. Should a regional or national information system be developed?
17. If some regional development of information systems is
desirable, what regional entities should develop and maintain the
system? Do these entities currently exist? If they do not exist, how
should they be developed?
18. What system development and usage costs should be borne by all
transmission users, and what costs should be paid for only by users of
the information system?
[FR Doc. 95-8553 Filed 4-6-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
