2021-13820. Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-716); Comment Request; Extension

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION:

Notice of information collection and request for comments.

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 a renewal of currently approved information collection FERC 716 (Good Faith Requests for Transmission Service and Good Faith Responses by Transmitting Utilities Under Sections 211(a) and 213(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA)), which will be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review.

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due July 29, 2021.

ADDRESSES:

Send written comments on FERC-716 to OMB through www.reginfo.gov/​public/​do/​PRAMain. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. Please identify the OMB Control Number (1902-0170) 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. IC21-15-000) 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.

○ 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, 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: http://www.ferc.gov. For user assistance, contact FERC Online Support by email at [e-mail], or by phone at: [phone] (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 https://www.ferc.gov/​ferc-online/​overview.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Brown may be reached by email at [e-mail], telephone at [phone].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC-716, Good Faith Requests for Transmission Service and Good Faith Responses by Transmitting Utilities Under Sections 211(a) and 213(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA).

OMB Control No.: 1902-0170.

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-716 information collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting requirements.

Abstract: The Commission uses the information collected under the requirements of FERC-716 to implement the statutory provisions of sections 211 and section 213 of the Federal Power Act as amended and added by the Energy Policy Act 1992. FERC-716 also includes the requirement to file a section 211 request if the negotiations between the transmission requestor and the transmitting utility are unsuccessful. For the initial process, the information is not filed with the Commission. However, the request and response may be analyzed as a part of a section 211 action. The Commission may order transmission services under the authority of FPA 211.

The Commission's regulations in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), 18 CFR 2.20, provide standards by which the Commission determines if and when a valid good faith request for transmission has been made under section 211 of the FPA. By developing the standards, the Commission sought to encourage an open exchange of data with a reasonable degree of specificity and completeness between the party requesting transmission services and the transmitting utility. As a result, 18 CFR 2.20 identifies 12 components of a good faith estimate and 5 components of a reply to a good faith request. The 60-day Federal Register Notice ^[1] published on April 21, 2021 and no comments were received during the comment period.

Type of Respondents: Transmission Requestors and Transmitting Utilities.

Estimate of Annual Burden ^[2] : The Commission estimates the annual public reporting burden for the information collection as:

FERC-716 (Good Faith Requests for Transmission Service and Good Faith Responses by Transmitting Utilities Under Sections 211(a) and 213(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA))

	Number of respondents	Annual number of responses per respondent	Total number of responses	Average burden & cost per response 3	Total annual burden hours & total annual cost ($)	Cost per respondent ($)
	(1)	(2)	(1) * (2) = (3)	(4)	(3) * (4) = (5)	(5) ÷ (1)
Information exchange between parties	6	1	6	100 hrs.; $8,300	600 hrs.; $49,800	$8,300
Application submitted to FERC if parties' negotiations are unsuccessful	6	1	6	2.5 hrs.; 207.50	15 hrs.; 1,245	207.50
Total			12		615 hrs.; 51,045	8,507.50

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: June 23, 2021.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  86 FR 20685.

2.  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 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

3.  The estimates for cost per response are derived using the following formula: Average Burden Hours per Response × $83/hour = Average Cost per Response. The cost per hour figure is the FERC 2020 average salary plus benefits. Subject matter experts found that industry employment costs closely resemble FERC's regarding the FERC-716 information collection.