[Federal Register Volume 60, Number 150 (Friday, August 4, 1995)]
[Proposed Rules]
[Pages 39895-39896]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 95-19122]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Part 284
[Docket No. RM93-4-000]
Standards for Electronic Bulletin Boards Required Under Part 284
of the Commission's Regulations
Issued July 28, 1995.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.
ACTION: Proposed rule; Notice of public conference.
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SUMMARY: The Commission has required interstate natural gas pipelines
to provide certain information about capacity, including information
about released capacity, on Electronic Bulletin Boards. In the final
rule in this proceeding, the Commission adopted the recommendation of
Working Groups to require downloads of capacity release information
through files conforming to standards for Electronic Data Interchange.
The Commission is now convening a public conference to consider the
current state, and future development, of electronic communication in
the natural gas industry.
DATES: Public conference: September 21, 1995; requests to participate:
September 1, 1995.
ADDRESSES: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North Capitol
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Michael Goldenberg, Office of the
General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 825 North
Capitol Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-2294.
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, 941 North
Capitol Street NE., Washington DC 20426.
The Commission Issuance Posting System (CIPS), an electronic
bulletin board service, provides access to the texts 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 use 19200, 14400, 12000, 9600, 7200, 4800, 2400, or 1200
bps, full duplex, no parity, 8 data bits, and 1 stop bit. The full text
of this document will be available on CIPS in ASCII and WordPerfect 5.1
format. 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, NE.,
Washington DC 20426.
Notice of Public Conference
July 28, 1995.
Take notice that a public conference in this proceeding will be
held on September 21, 1995, in the Commission Meeting Room, 825 North
Capitol Street NE., Washington, DC 20426. The conference is to consider
the current state, and future development, of electronic communication
in the natural gas industry.
In Order No. 636, the Commission required interstate natural gas
pipelines to provide certain information about capacity, including
information about released capacity, on Electronic Bulletin Boards
(EBBs).1 The Commission subsequently instituted a process to
develop standardized procedures for capacity release information. The
standards were developed by Working Groups consisting of
representatives from all facets of the natural gas industry and other
interested parties such as third-party bulletin board operators and
computer and software firms. In Order No. 563, the Commission adopted
the recommendation of the Working Groups to require downloads of
capacity release information through files conforming to standards for
Electronic Data Interchange (EDI).2
\1\ Pipeline Service Obligations and Revisions to Regulations
Governing Self-Implementing Transportation; and Regulation of
Natural Gas Pipelines After Partial Wellhead Decontrol, Order No.
636, 57 FR 13267 (Apr. 16, 1992), III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles
para. 30,939 (Apr. 8, 1992), appeal re-docketed sub nom., United
Distribution Companies, et al. v. FERC, No. 92-1485 (D.C. Cir. Feb.
8, 1995).
\2\ 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. & Regs. Preambles para. 30,988 (Dec. 23,
1993), order on reh'g, Order No. 563-A, 59 FR 23624 (May 6, 1994),
III FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles para. 30,994 (May 2, 1994), reh'g
denied, Order No. 563-B, 68 FERC para. 61,002 (1994).
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The Working Group 3 has continued to further refine the
capacity release download files. The Working Group also has begun to
develop electronic communication standards in other areas. The Working
Group's nine highest priority data requirements, in order of priority,
are nominations, allocated gas flows, imbalances, gas flow at metered
points, transportation invoices, pre-determined allocation
methodologies, gas payment remittance statements and gas sales
invoices, and uploads of capacity release prearranged deals. Members of
the natural gas industry also have formed a Gas Industry Standards
Board (GISB), whose purpose is to develop standards for electronic
information exchange. The Working Group has transferred ongoing
maintenance of the capacity release EDI data sets to GISB.
\3\ The five initial Working Groups eventually consolidated into
one.
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Members of the Commission intend to participate in the public
conference. The Commission is interested in hearing industry views
about: the current state of EBB operation and the capacity release
downloads, including any third-party services being provided to
supplement the pipeline EBBs; whether standards should be developed for
EBBs (as opposed to file downloads and uploads); the progress being
made in standardizing non-capacity release information, including the
time-table for completion of standards; whether
[[Page 39896]]
additional standardization is necessary to facilitate more robust
capacity trading; whether the Working Group priorities are acceptable;
and how the Commission should be involved in this process. The
Commission also is interested in receiving comment on GISB's current
and future role in developing standards and on the structure of the
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relationship between GISB and the Commission.
Any person who wishes to make a formal presentation to the
Commission should submit a request to the Secretary of the Commission
no later than September 1, 1995. Each request should include the time
anticipated for the presentation and any special equipment
requirements. Every effort will be made to accommodate requests to make
presentations, but, depending on the number of requests received, the
Commission may have to limit participation. To provide a more
productive conference, the Commission encourages interested parties to
coordinate their efforts and choose one spokesperson to make a
statement on behalf of the group. After reviewing the presentation
requests, a subsequent notice of the conference presentation schedule
will be issued.
If sufficient interest is shown, the Commission will attempt to
arrange for broadcast of the conference in the Washington, DC
metropolitan area or nationally. Those interested in the local or
national television broadcast should call The Capitol Connection at
(703) 993-3100 no later than September 7, 1995. Requests from viewers
outside of Washington, DC, should be directed to Julia Morelli or
Shirley Al-Jarani.
All questions concerning the format of the conference should be
directed to: Michael Goldenberg, Office of the General Counsel, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Room 4120-B, 825 North Capitol Street
NE., Washington, DC 20426, (202) 208-2294.
By direction of the Commission.
Linwood A. Watson, Jr.,
Acting Secretary.
[FR Doc. 95-19122 Filed 8-3-95; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
