2014-20764. Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-519); Comment Request

AGENCY:

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, FERC.

ACTION:

Comment request.

SUMMARY:

In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting its information collection FERC-519 (Application under Federal Power Act Section 203) to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection requirements. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission previously issued a Notice in the Federal Register (79 FR 30598, 5/28/2014) requesting public comments. The Commission received no comments on the FERC-519 and is making this notation in its submittal to OMB.

DATES:

Comments on the collection of information are due by October 2, 2014.

ADDRESSES:

Comments filed with OMB, identified by the OMB Control No. 1902-0082, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: [e-mail]. Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be reached via telephone at 202-395-4718.

A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Commission, in Docket No. IC14-14-000, by either of the following methods:

• eFiling at Commission's Web site: http://www.ferc.gov/​docs-filing/​efiling.asp.
• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.

Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/​help/​submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support by email at [e-mail], or by phone at: [phone] (toll-free), or [phone] for TTY.

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:

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

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC-519, Application under Federal Power Act Section 203.

OMB Control No.: 1902-0082.

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-519 information collection requirements with no changes to the reporting requirements.

Abstract: The FERC-519 (Application under Federal Power Act Section 203) is necessary to enable the Commission to carry out its responsibilities in implementing the statutory provisions of Section 203 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 16 U.S.C. 824b. Section 203 authorizes the Commission to grant approval of transactions in which a public utility disposes of jurisdictional facilities, merges such facilities with the facilities owned by another person or acquires the securities of another public utility. Under this statute, the Commission must find that the proposed transaction will be consistent with the public interest.

Under Section 203 of the FPA, FERC must review proposed mergers, acquisitions and dispositions of jurisdictional facilities by public utilities, if the value of the facilities exceeds $10 million, and must approve these transactions if they are consistent with the public interest. One of FERC's overarching goals is to promote competition in wholesale power markets, having determined that effective competition, as opposed to traditional forms of price regulation, can best protect the interests of ratepayers. Market power, however, can be exercised to the detriment of effective competition and customers, making it necessary for FERC to review and approve or disapprove all jurisdictional mergers, dispositions and acquisitions. The Commission implements these filing requirements in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) under 18 CFR Part 33.

Type of Respondents: Public utilities subject to the FPA.

Estimate of Annual Burden: ^[1] The Commission estimates the annual public reporting burden for the information collection as:

FERC-519

[Application under Federal Power Act Section 203]

	Number of respondents	Annual number of responses per respondent	Total number of responses	Average burden & cost per response 2	Total annual burden hours & total annual cost	Cost per respondent ($)
	(1)	(2)	(1)*(2)=(3)	(4)	(3)*(4)=(5)	(5)÷(1)
FERC-519	141	1	141	395 $27,847.5	55,695 $3,926,498	$27,847.5

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: August 21, 2014.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

Footnotes

1.  The Commission defines burden 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, reference 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

2.  The estimates for cost per response are derived using the following formula: Average Burden Hours per Response * $70.50 per Hour = Average Cost per Response. The hourly cost figure of $70.50 is the average FERC employee wage plus benefits. We assume that respondents earn at a similar rate.