[Federal Register Volume 64, Number 161 (Friday, August 20, 1999)]
[Notices]
[Pages 45520-45522]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 99-21600]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
[Docket No. IC99-714-000, FERC Form No. 714]
Proposed Information Collection and Request for Comments
August 16, 1999.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Notice of proposed information collection and request for
comments.
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SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of Section 3506(c)(2)(a)
of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13), the Federal
Energy
[[Page 45521]]
Regulatory Commission (Commission) is soliciting public comment on the
specific aspects of the information collection described below.
DATES: Consideration will be given to comments submitted on or before
October 19, 1999.
ADDRESSES: Copies of the proposed collection of information can be
obtained from, and written comments may be submitted to, the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Attn: Michael Miller, Office of the Chief
Information Officer, CI-1, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC, 20426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Miller may be reached by
telephone at (202) 208-1415, by fax at (202) 208-2425, and by E-mail at
mike.miller@ferc.fed.us.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The information collected under the
requirements for FERC Form No. 714, ``Annual electric Control and
Planning Area Report'' (OMB No. 1902-0140), is used by the Commission
to implement the statutory provisions of Sections 202, 207, 210, 211-
213 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), as amended (49 Stat. 838; 16 U.S.C.
791a-825r), and particularly Sections 304, 309, and 311. The Commission
describes the Form 714 filing requirements in the Code of Federal
Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR Part 141.51.
FERC Form No. 714 gathers basic utility operating and planning
information, primarily on a control area basis. The Commission staff
uses the Form 714 data for the purpose of evaluating utility operations
related to proposed mergers, interconnections, wholesale rate
investigations, and wholesale market changes and trends under emerging
competitive forces. Such evaluations are made to assess system
reliability, costs and other operating attributes. Other government
agencies use the Form 714 data to monitor power plant emissions.
Electric utilities and other wholesale electric participants use the
Form 714 data to identify and monitor economic and capacity constraints
in the transmission system.
Action
The Commission is requesting a three-year extension of the current
expiration date.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) filed
comments during the last OMB recertification process for the FERC Form
714 recommending the following three modifications:
Development of an electronic filing procedure;
Submission of monthly data along with the annual reporting
of Part II, Schedule 5 information (interchange with neighboring
control areas); and
Change the filing date of Form 714 from June 1, to March
1, in order to provide for a timely analysis of the structural changes
in the industry.
Unfortunately, there was not enough time available during the last
clearance cycle to address EPA's request. During this cycle, the
Commission staff intends to address EPA's suggestions, and invites
comments on them. Specifically, the Commission staff is currently
exploring the filing of Form 714 information electronically (using a
web-based application) in lieu of the present combined system of
mailing paper filings and electronic media (diskettes) to the
Commission. If the Commission decides to propose to convert to
electronic filing of Form 714, a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking will be
issued proposing to amend the Commission's regulations to provide for
the electronic filing of Form 714. Such a proposal may also seek to
eliminate the current signature requirement and simply require the
identification of a representative at each utility responsible for
submitting the data electronically. The representative will be given a
password and identification code to ensure system integrity.
The Commission staff is also considering the adoption of the other
suggestions made by EPA: requiring the submission of monthly scheduled
and actual Interchange energy data in addition to the annual data
reported in Part II, Schedule 5; and moving the filing date to March 1.
Burden Statement
Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated as:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Total annual
Number of Annual responses Average burden burden hours
respondents (1) per respondent hours per (1) x (2) x
(2) response (3) (3)
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237 1 45 10,665
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The reduction of annual respondents from 250 to 237 is due to an
increase in the number of mergers and a corresponding reduction in the
number of Form 714 respondents. In addition, the conversion to
electronic filing is estimated to reduce average burden hours per
respondent (from 50 hours presently, to 45). The estimated cost burden
to respondents: 10,665 hours/2080 hours per year x $109,889 per year
= $563,445. Reporting burden includes the total time, effort, or
financial resources expended to generate, maintain, retain, disclose,
or provide the information including: (1) Reviewing instructions; (2)
developing, acquiring, installing, and utilizing technology and systems
for the purpose of collecting, validating, verifying, processing,
maintaining, disclosing and providing information; (3) adjusting the
existing ways to comply with any previously applicable instructions and
requirements; (4) training personnel to respond to a collection of
information; (5) searching data sources; (6) completing and reviewing
the collection of information; and (7) transmitting, or otherwise
disclosing the information. The estimate of respondent cost is based
upon salaries for professional and clerical support, as well as direct
and indirect overhead costs. Direct costs include all costs directly
attributable to providing this information, such as administrative
costs and the cost for information technology. Indirect or overhead
costs are costs incurred by an organization in support of its mission.
These costs apply to activities which benefit the whole organization
rather than any one particular function or activity.
Comments are invited on: (1) Whether the proposed information
collection, including the EPA proposed modifications, is necessary for
the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including
whether the information will have practical applications; (2) the
accuracy of the Commission's estimate of the burden of the proposed
information collection, including the validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utilization and
clarity of the collected information; (4) ways to minimize the burden
of the information collection on respondents, including the proposed
electronic submission of responses; (5) the magnitude of the impact of
the
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conversion to electronic filing on respondents; (6) the proposed
elimination of the signature requirement; (7) any existence of a
competitive disadvantage caused by publicly providing information in
Form 714 to which competitors would have access (without a
corresponding obligation on its competitors not subject to the
Commission's reporting requirements); (8) the relevancy of the
information currently collected given the current transition from cost-
based to a fully competitive wholesale electric market; (9) whether the
proposed filing date change from June 1 to March 1 is unduly
burdensome; and (10) the burden of requiring monthly control area
scheduled and actual interchange data.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 99-21600 Filed 8-19-99; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-M
