Published Rm05-5-022 Nopr

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Proposed Rules

Federal Register
Vol. 78, No. 144
Friday, July 26, 2013

This section of the FEDERAL REGISTER
contains notices to the public of the proposed
issuance of rules and regulations. The
purpose of these notices is to give interested
persons an opportunity to participate in the
rule making prior to the adoption of the final
rules.

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
18 CFR Part 38
[Docket No. RM05–5–022]

Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.

AGENCY:
ACTION:

Notice of proposed rulemaking.

The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission proposes to
incorporate by reference in its
regulations Version 003 of the Standards
for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities adopted by the Wholesale
Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North
American Energy Standards Board
(NAESB). These standards modify
NAESB’s WEQ Version 002 and Version
002.1 Standards.
DATES: Comments are due September
24, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by
Docket No. RM05–5–022, may be filed
in the following ways:
• Electronic Filing through http://
www.ferc.gov. Documents created
electronically using word processing
software should be filed in native
applications or print-to-PDF format and
not in a scanned format.
• Mail/Hand Delivery: Those unable
to file electronically may mail or handSUMMARY:

deliver comments to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the
Commission, 888 First Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20426.
Instructions: For detailed instructions
on submitting comments and additional
information on the rulemaking process,
see the Comment Procedures Section of
this document.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Tony Dobbins (technical issues), Office
of Energy Policy and Innovation,
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE.,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502–
6630.
Gary D. Cohen (legal issues), Office of
the General Counsel, Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, 888 First
Street NE., Washington, DC 20426,
(202) 502–8321.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Notice of Proposed Rulemaking

TABLE OF CONTENTS
Paragraph
Nos.

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I. Background ............................................................................................................................................................................................
II. Discussion ............................................................................................................................................................................................
A. Revisions to OASIS Standards Made To Comply With Order No. 890 Objectives and Requirements ..................................
1. Service Across Multiple Transmission Systems (SAMTS) .................................................................................................
2. Network Integration Transmission Service (NITS) ..............................................................................................................
3. Rollover Rights for Redirects .................................................................................................................................................
4. Redirect Requests and Available Transfer Capacity (ATC) Credit .....................................................................................
5. OASIS Introduction and Applicability Sections ..................................................................................................................
6. Commission Proposal ............................................................................................................................................................
B. Revisions to OASIS Standards Not Related to Order No. 890 Objectives and Requirements .................................................
C. Other Standards ............................................................................................................................................................................
1. Coordinate Interchange Standards ........................................................................................................................................
2. Gas/Electric Coordination Standards ....................................................................................................................................
3. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Standards ...........................................................................................................................
4. Smart Grid Standards ............................................................................................................................................................
5. Standards Related to Terms, Definition and Acronyms ......................................................................................................
6. Commission Proposal ............................................................................................................................................................
D. Implementation .............................................................................................................................................................................
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards ............................................................................................................................
IV. Information Collection Statement ......................................................................................................................................................
V. Environmental Analysis ......................................................................................................................................................................
VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification ............................................................................................................................................
VII. Comment Procedures ........................................................................................................................................................................
VIII. Document Availability .....................................................................................................................................................................

144 FERC ¶ 61,026
(Issued July 18, 2013.)
1. In this notice of proposed
rulemaking (NOPR), the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (Commission)
proposes to amend its regulations under

the Federal Power Act 1 to incorporate
by reference, with certain enumerated
exceptions, the latest version of the
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities (Version 003) adopted by the
1 16

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Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of
the North American Energy Standards
Board (NAESB) and filed with the
Commission as a package on September
18, 2012 (September 18 Filing), as
modified in a report filed with the
Commission on January 30, 2013.

U.S.C. 791a, et seq.

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2. These revised standards update
earlier versions of these standards that
the Commission previously
incorporated by reference into its
regulations at 18 CFR 38.2. These new
and revised standards include
modifications to support Order Nos.
890, 890–A, 890–B and 890–C,2
including the standards to support
Network Integration Transmission
Service on an Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS), Service
Across Multiple Transmission Systems
(SAMTS), standards to support the
Commissions policy regarding rollover
rights for redirects on a firm basis,
standards that incorporate the
functionality for transmission providers
to credit redirect requests with the
capacity of the parent reservation and
standards modifications to support
consistency across the OASIS-related
standards.
3. The Version 003 Standards also
include modifications to the OASISrelated standards that NAESB states
support Order Nos. 676, 676–A, 676–E
and 717 and add consistency.3 In
addition, NAESB states that it made
modifications to the Coordinate
Interchange standards to compliment
the updates to the e-Tag specifications,4
modifications to the Gas/Electric
Coordination standards to provide
consistency between the two markets 5
and re-organized and revised definitions
to create a standard set of terms,
definitions and acronyms applicable to
all NAESB WEQ standards.6 NAESB
states that the Version 003 Standards
also include standards related to
Demand Side Management and Energy
Efficiency,7 which the Commission
incorporated by reference in Docket No.
2 Preventing Undue Discrimination and
Preference in Transmission Service, Order No. 890,
FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,241 (2007), order on reh’g,
Order No. 890–A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,261
(2007), order on reh’g, Order No. 890–B, 123 FERC
¶ 61,299 (2008), order on reh’g and clarification,
Order No. 890–C, 126 FERC ¶ 61,228 (2009) (Order
No. 890–C). The Version 002 standards also
included revisions made in response to Order No.
890 (see infra P 11).
3 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,216, (2006), reh’g
denied, Order No. 676–A, 116 FERC ¶ 61,255
(2006), Final Rule, Order No. 676–B, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ¶ 31,246 (2007), Final Rule, Order No. 676–
C, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,274 (2008), order
granting clarification and denying reh’g, Order No.
676–D, 124 FERC ¶ 61,317 (2008), Final Rule, Order
No. 676–E, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299 (2009)
(Order No. 676–E); Standards of Conduct for
Transmission Providers, Order No. 717, FERC Stats.
& Regs. ¶ 31,280 (2008) (Order No. 717).
4 September 18 Filing, transmittal at 2 (citing
NAESB WEQ Electronic Tagging—Functional
Specifications, Version 1.8.1).
5 Id.
6 Id.
7 Id.

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RM05–5–020 8 after NAESB filed its
Version 003 report, and Smart Gridrelated standards that NAESB
previously filed with the Commission in
Docket No. RM05–5–021.9
I. Background
4. NAESB is a non-profit standards
development organization established in
January 2002 that serves as an industry
forum for the development and
promotion of business practice
standards that promote a seamless
marketplace for wholesale and retail
natural gas and electricity. Since 1995,
NAESB and its predecessor, the Gas
Industry Standards Board, have been
accredited members of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI),
complying with ANSI’s requirements
that its standards reflect a consensus of
the affected industries.
5. NAESB’s standards include
business practices that streamline the
transactional processes of the natural
gas and electric industries, as well as
communication protocols and related
standards designed to improve the
efficiency of communication within
each industry. NAESB supports all four
quadrants of the gas and electric
industries—wholesale gas, wholesale
electric, retail gas, and retail electric. All
participants in the gas and electric
industries are eligible to join NAESB
and participate in standards
development.
6. NAESB develops its standards
under a consensus process so that the
standards draw support from a wide
range of industry members. NAESB’s
procedures are designed to ensure that
all industry members can have input
into the development of a standard,
whether or not they are members of
NAESB, and each standard NAESB
adopts is supported by a consensus of
the relevant industry segments.
Standards that fail to gain consensus
support are not adopted.
7. In Order No. 676, the Commission
not only adopted business practice
8 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–G, 78 FR 14654 (Mar. 7, 2013), FERC Stats.
& Regs. ¶ 31,343 (Feb. 21, 2013). In this rule, the
Commission incorporated by reference into its
regulations updated business practice standards
adopted by NAESB’s WEQ to categorize various
products and services for demand response and
energy efficiency and to support the measurement
and verification of these products and services in
organized wholesale electric markets. These same
standards are included without revision in the
Version 003 standards.
9 These standards were originally cited in a
NAESB July 2011 report filed with the Commission
and were resubmitted as part of WEQ Version 003.
See Report of the North American Energy Standards
Board on Smart Grid Related Standards, Docket No.
RM05–5–021 (filed July 7, 2011); NAESB September
18 Filing at 2.

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standards and communication protocols
for the wholesale electric industry, it
also established a formal ongoing
process for reviewing and upgrading the
Commission’s OASIS standards and
other wholesale electric industry
business practice standards. In later
orders in this series, the Commission
incorporated by reference: (1) The
Version 001 Business Practice
Standards; 10 (2) the Version 002.1
Business Practice Standards; 11 (3)
business practice standards categorizing
various demand response products and
services; 12 and (4) OASIS-related
Business Practice Standards related to
Demand Side Management and Energy
Efficiency.13
8. In Order No. 890, the Commission
revisited the pro forma Open Access
Transmission Tariff (OATT) first
established in Order No. 888 14 and
adopted a revised pro forma OATT
designed to better achieve the objectives
of preventing undue discrimination and
providing greater specificity and
transparency. In later orders in this
series, the Commission affirmed, with
clarifications, the basic findings that it
made in Order No. 890.
9. A number of the findings made by
the Commission in the Order No. 890
series of orders necessitated revisions to
the Business Practice Standards for
Public Utilities so that there would be
no inconsistency between the
requirements of Order No. 890 and the
Business Practice Standards.
Accordingly, NAESB set up a work
project to review the existing business
practice standards, identify which
standards would need revision to
prevent any inconsistencies with the
Order No. 890 requirements, and
develop and adopt the needed revised
standards. Those revised standards form
10 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–C, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,274, reh’g
denied, Order No. 676–D, 124 FERC ¶ 61,317
(2008).
11 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–E, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299 (2009).
This order also incorporated revisions made in
response to Order Nos. 890, 890–A, and 890–B.
12 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–F, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,309 (2010).
13 Order No. 676–G, see supra n.8.
14 Promoting Wholesale Competition Through
Open Access Non-Discriminatory Transmission
Services by Public Utilities; Recovery of Stranded
Costs by Public Utilities and Transmitting Utilities,
Order No. 888, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,036 (1996),
order on reh’g, Order No. 888–A, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ¶ 31,048 (1997), order on reh’g, Order No.
888–B, 81 FERC ¶ 61,248 (1997), order on reh’g,
Order No. 888–C, 82 FERC ¶ 61,046 (1998), aff’d
in relevant part sub nom. Transmission Access
Policy Study Group v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 (D.C. Cir.
2002), aff’d sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535 U.S.
1 (2002).

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the WEQ–001–9.7 Business Practice
Standard requested in FERC Order No.
890–A18 related to rollover rights to
requests for redirect on a firm basis; (3)
the WEQ–001–9.1.3.1 and WEQ–001–
10.3.1.1 Business Practice standards that
provide for transmission providers to
process redirect requests in a manner in
which the request would be processed
in a manner that counts the available
WEQ 16 Standards & models related to:
transfer capability encumbered by the
parent reservation as available for the
000 ..... Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Defi- redirected request; 19 (4) standards to
nition of Terms, Version 003.
support Network Integration
001 ..... Open Access Same-Time Informa20
tion System (OASIS), Version Transmission Service on the OASIS;
and
(5)
standards
modifications
to
003.
002 ..... OASIS Standards and Communica- support consistency across the NAESB
tion Protocols (S&CP), Version OASIS standards.21
12. In Order No. 717, the Commission
003.
003 ..... OASIS S&CP Data Dictionaries.
made several modifications related to
004 ..... Coordinate Interchange.
the posting requirements associated
005 ..... ACE Equation Special Cases.
with the Standards of Conduct.
006 ..... Manual Time Error Corrections.
Specifically, the Commission
007 ..... Inadvertent Interchange Payback.
discontinued the requirement for public
008 ..... Transmission Loading Relief.
utilities to post standards of conduct
009 ..... Standards of Conduct.
information on their OASIS sites.22 In
010 ..... Contracts Related Standards.
response, WEQ’s Business Practice
011 ..... Gas/Electric Coordination.
Subcommittee modified the WEQ–001,
012 ..... Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
013 ..... OASIS Implementation Guide.
WEQ–002 and WEQ–003 Business
014 ..... WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Stand- Practice Standards to remove reference
ards.
to the standards of conduct-related
015 ..... Measurement and Verification of obligations with the exception of a few
Wholesale Electricity Demand Re- template structures that may be
sponse.
implemented at the option of the
016 ..... Specifications for Common Electricity Product and Pricing Defini- transmission provider. WEQ’s OASIS
Subcommittee also modified standards
tion.
017 ..... Specifications for Common Sched- WEQ–013–2.6.81 and WEQ–013–2.6.82
ule Communication Mechanism to clarify the listing of service types,
for Energy Transactions.
modified standards WEQ–001–14.1.3
018 ..... Specifications for Wholesale Stand- and WEQ–001–15.1.2 regarding the
ard Demand Response Signals.
timing of required postings of
019 ..... Customer Energy Usage Information narratives, and made modifications to
Communication.
standards WEQ–001, WEQ–002 and
020 ..... Smart Grid Standards Data Element
WEQ–003 (concerning standards of
Table.
021 ..... Measurement and Verification of conduct posting requirements) in
response to Order No. 717.
Energy Efficiency Products.
13. The Joint Electric Scheduling
Subcommittee (JESS), a standing joint
11. The Version 003 standards
subcommittee made up of participants
include five categories of standards not
previously incorporated by reference by from NAESB and the North American
the Commission that were developed by Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC),
NAESB in response to the Order No. 890 has been tasked with coordinating
efforts to maintain and modify, as
series of orders. These include: (1)
needed, the coordinate interchange
Standards that NAESB previously
submitted to support SAMTS;17 (2) part business practice standards in WEQ–
004 with their associated reliability
two of the standards modifications to
standards. JESS now leads the effort to
15 All of the standards were filed with the
harmonize the Coordinate Interchange
Commission as a package on September 18, 2012
(WEQ–004) standards with the WEQ–
and were modified on January 30, 2013.
001, WEQ–003 and WEQ–013 Business
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part of the package of revisions included
in the WEQ Version 003 Standards.
These revisions are in addition to the
Order No. 890-related revisions
incorporated by reference in Order No.
676–E.
10. In total, NAESB’s WEQ Version
003 business practice standards include
the following standards: 15

16 With the exception of standards WEQ 009 and
010, which are unchanged from Versions 002 and
002.1, NAESB’s Version 003 Report adopts
revisions to multiple subsections of each of the
WEQ standards listed.
17 See September 18 Filing at 3 & n.13 (citing
submittal of NAESB Standards Development to
Support Coordination of Requests for Transmission
Service Across Multiple Transmission Systems
(Docket No. RM05–5–013) on October 7, 2011, with
minor corrections on January 25, 2012).

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18 See September 18 Filing at 3 (citing NAESB
WEQ Business Practices Standards Crediting
Redirect Requests with the Capacity of the Parent
Reservation).
19 Id. at 3.
20 Id.
21 Id.
22 Order No. 717, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,280 at
PP 213–218 and PP 235–239.

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Practice Standards in light of revisions
made to the Electronic Tagging
Functional Specification, previously
maintained by NERC, and now
maintained and updated, as needed, by
NAESB. The WEQ adopted additional
modifications to the WEQ–004
standards to use abbreviations,
acronyms, definitions and terms
consistent with those in Standard WEQ–
000 and to provide consistency across
all WEQ standards.
14. WEQ adopted modifications to
support consistency between the WEQ
business practice standards and the
Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) Gas/
Electric Coordination standards. In
addition, WEQ made modifications to
the business practice standards to
harmonize the terms and definitions
contained within the WEQ business
practice standards with the definitions
of those terms used in the business
practice standards for other quadrants.
These changes were also coordinated to
be consistent with definitions and terms
contained in the NERC Glossary.
15. Also included in the WEQ Version
003 standards are standards developed
to support Smart Grid applications as
well as standards related to the
measurement and verification of
Demand Response (DR) and Energy
Efficiency (EE) products. These
standards have been referenced in
earlier reports filed with the
Commission before the completion of
the WEQ Version 003 standards. The
Smart Grid application standards had
been referenced in a report filed with
the Commission on July 7, 2011 in
Docket No. RM05–5–021. The DR and
EE measurement and verification
standards were referenced in a report
filed with the Commission on May 2,
2011 in Docket No. RM05–5–021 and
have been the subject of Commission
action.23
16. Finally, NAESB’s September 18
Filing includes an interpretation of
standards WEQ–001–9.1 and WEQ–
001–10.1 and recites the results of a
quadrant wide effort to provide a
common location for all abbreviations,
acronyms and definitions of terms that
created the WEQ–000 Business Practice
Standards and addresses both internal
inconsistencies and inconsistencies
between the standards and terms and
definitions in the NERC Glossary.
II. Discussion
17. As discussed below, with certain
enumerated exceptions, we propose to
23 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–G, 78 FR 14654 (Mar. 7, 2013), FERC Stats.
& Regs. ¶ 31,343 (Feb. 21, 2013).

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incorporate by reference (into the
Commission’s regulations at 18 CFR
38.2) the NAESB WEQ Version 003
standards.24 The Version 003 standards
will update the Version 002.1 standards
currently incorporated by reference into
the Commission’s regulations.25
18. We note that, in a separate
rulemaking (in Docket No. RM13–17–
000) being issued concurrently with this
NOPR, the Commission is proposing
new standards on coordination between
natural gas and electricity markets.
Depending on the outcome of that
proceeding, we are considering situating
the incorporation by reference that we
are proposing in this NOPR in a
different section in Part 38 than section
38.2. This should not, however, affect
the substance of our proposal.
A. Revisions to OASIS Standards Made
To Comply With Order No. 890
Objectives and Requirements
19. In the NAESB WEQ Version 003
standards, NAESB has developed new
standards and revised existing standards
designed to ensure consistency with
certain policies articulated by the
Commission in Order Nos. 890, 890–A
and 890–B.

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1. Service Across Multiple Transmission
Systems (SAMTS)
20. The SAMTS business practice
standards were developed to provide a
process for customers to complete crossregional transactions in response to the
Commission’s requirement that
transmission providers develop
24 Consistent with our past practice, we do not
propose to incorporate by reference into the
Commission’s regulations the following standards:
Standards of Conduct for Electric Transmission
Providers (WEQ–009); Contracts Related Standards
(WEQ–010); and WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related
Standards (WEQ–014). We do not propose to
incorporate by reference standard WEQ–009
because it contains no substantive standards and
merely serves as a placeholder for future standards.
We do not propose to incorporate by reference
standard WEQ–010 because this standard contains
an optional NAESB contract regarding funds
transfers and the Commission does not require
utilities to use such contracts. In addition, we do
not propose to incorporate by reference standard
WEQ–014, eTariff Related Standards, because the
Commission already has adopted standards and
protocols for electronic tariff filing based on the
NAESB standards. See Electronic Tariff Filings,
Order No. 714, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,276 (2008).
Also, we do not propose to incorporate by reference
NAESB’s interpretation of its standards on Gas/
Electric Coordination (WEQ–011). While
interpretations may provide useful guidance,
NAESB’s interpretations are not binding on the
Commission and we will not require utilities to
comply with those interpretations (although we will
require compliance with all the standards that we
incorporate by reference into the Commission’s
regulations). Additionally, as discussed more
specifically the NITS section below, we do not
propose to incorporate by reference certain portions
of WEQ–001.
25 See supra n.11.

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business practice standards in this
area.26 SAMTS-related standards
include modified and added terms in
the Abbreviations, Acronyms and
Definition of Terms (newly created
WEQ–000), OASIS Business Practice
Standards (WEQ–001), OASIS
Standards and Communication
Protocols (WEQ–002), OASIS Data
Dictionary (WEQ–003), and the OASIS
Implementation Guide (WEQ–013). The
SAMTS standards address the
coordination of point-to-point
transmission service and/or network
transmission service requests across
multiple transmission systems. The
process requires each affected provider
to independently evaluate its portion of
the linked request with the opportunity
for reconciliation by the customer once
all evaluations are complete. The
customer communicates reconciled
information to each of the affected
providers.
2. Network Integration Transmission
Service (NITS)
21. Network Integration Transmission
Service allows a Network Customer to
integrate, economically dispatch and
regulate its current and planned
Network Resources to serve its Network
Load in a manner comparable to the
way a Transmission Provider uses its
Transmission System to serve its Native
Load Customers.27 The Commission
required that utilities use OASIS to
request designation of new network
resources and to terminate designation
of network resources.28 In response to
this requirement as well as other
directives within Order No. 890 29 and
subsequent orders,30 NAESB’s WEQ
Executive Committee adopted business
practice standards to support the OASIS
functionality associated with NITS.
These new and revised standards fall
within the WEQ–000, WEQ–001, WEQ–
002 and WEQ–003 Business Practice
Standards.
22. The new/revised standards are
designed to provide functionality that:
• Allows transmission providers to
handle requests (loads, designation of a
network resource, non-designated
resources) on a customer-by-customer
basis,
26 Order

No. 890, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,241 at

P 1377.
27 Order No. 890, Pro Forma OATT, Section III
(Network Integration Transmission Service)
Preamble.
28 Order No. 890, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,241 at
P 385.
29 Id., PP 1477, 1504, 1532, and 1541.
30 Order No. 890–A, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,261
at P 919; Order No. 890–B, 123 FERC ¶ 61,299 at
P 188; Order No. 890–C, 126 FERC ¶ 61,228 at P
17.

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• allows the option of tracking
designated network resource scheduling
rights, and
• allows a customer to designate an
agent to administer OASIS transactions
on its behalf.
23. NAESB has proposed Standard
WEQ–001–106.2.5, which appears to
contemplate a Transmission Provider
refusing a request to terminate a
secondary network service. We request
comment on the purpose of this
standard and on whether the
Commission should incorporate this
standard by reference. We note that, in
Order No. 890–A, the Commission
found that it was not appropriate to
allow a Transmission Provider to deny
requests to terminate network resource
designations, although Order No. 890–A
did not directly address the issue of
terminating secondary network
service.31
3. Rollover Rights for Redirects
24. In Order No. 676, the Commission
incorporated by reference NAESB’s
proposed standards for dealing with
redirects, with the exception of WEQ–
001–9.7 which the Commission viewed
as inconsistent with the pro forma
OATT and Commission policies on
rollover rights.32 In Order No. 676–E,
the Commission incorporated by
reference new and modified NAESB
standards related to rollover rights with
the continued exception of standard
WEQ–001–9.7. The Commission noted
in Order No. 676–E that the filed
NAESB standards represented only the
first part of a two part process through
which NAESB will fully develop
standards that are consistent with the
Commission’s policy on rollover rights
as articulated in Order Nos. 890, 890–
A and 676.33 As explained in Order No.
676–E, NAESB stated that the second
part of this process would include
modifications to Standard 001–9.7, as
directed by Order No. 890.34
25. In the Version 003 standards,
NAESB modified WEQ–001–9.7 so that
it would conform to the Commission’s
policy granting rollover rights to
requests for redirect on a firm basis.35
31 Id.

P 950.
No. 676, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,216 at

32 Order

P 52.
33 Order No. 890, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,241 at
PP 1231–1239; Order No. 890–A, FERC Stats. &
Regs. ¶ 31,261 at PP 644–651; Order No. 676–E,
FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299 at P 94.
34 Order No. 676–E, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299
at P 7 & n.12 (citing NAESB Version 002.1 filing
letter dated Feb. 19, 2009).
35 As we stated in Entergy Services, Inc., 143
FERC ¶ 61,143, at P 25 & n.68 (2013), our guiding
precedent on the issue of when a customer
requesting redirect loses rights on the original path

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NAESB modified the WEQ–001–9
Business Practice Standards and
modified the definition of Unexercised
Rollover Rights and added a definition
for Capacity Eligible for Rollover to
make the NAESB standards consistent
with the Commission’s regulations.
NAESB also made relevant
modifications to standards WEQ–001,
WEQ–002 and WEQ–013 and provided
examples for the conveyance of rollover
rights with a redirect on a firm basis
provided in Appendix B of the WEQ–
001 standards.
4. Redirect Requests and Available
Transfer Capacity (ATC) Credit
26. In the Version 003 Standards,
NAESB added standards WEQ–001–
10.3.1.1 and WEQ–001–9.1.3.1, which
provide that transmission providers are
to process redirect requests in a manner
that considers the available transfer
capability encumbered by the parent
reservation as available for the
redirected request. The revised
standards were designed to avoid
violation of first come, first served
queue priority principles.
5. OASIS Introduction and Applicability
Sections
27. NAESB proposed modifications to
the introduction and applicability
sections of the OASIS standards to
promote consistency within the
standards. The introductory section of
the standards provides a brief
description of the purpose of the
standard, while the applicability section
identifies the entities that are affected
by the standard. In addition,
modifications were made to the
organization and the structure of
standards WEQ–001 and WEQ–013 for
purposes of consistency.
6. Commission Proposal
28. With the exceptions noted, we
propose to incorporate by reference
Version 003 of these standards into the
Commission’s regulations.

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B. Revisions to OASIS Standards Not
Related to Order No. 890 Objectives and
Requirements
29. In Version 003, NAESB also made
modifications to address three issues
not related to the requirements
established in the Order No. 890 and not
was set in Dynegy Power Marketing, Inc., 99 FERC
¶ 61,054, at P 9 (2002), where we held that a
transmission customer receiving firm transmission
service does not lose its rights to its original path
until the redirect request satisfies all of the
following criteria: (1) It is accepted by the
transmission provider; (2) it is confirmed by the
transmission customer; and (3) it passes the
conditional reservation deadline under OATT
section 13.2.

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the subject of a report previously
provided to the Commission. In Order
No. 717, the Commission modified the
posting requirements for waivers and
exercises of discretion as well as some
other posting requirements.36 Of
particular note, the Commission
eliminated the requirement for public
utilities (and pipelines) to post
standards of conduct information on
OASIS and instead required
transmission providers to post that
information on their Web sites.37
NAESB modified WEQ–001, WEQ–002
and WEQ–003 to remove reference to
the standards of conduct related
obligations with the exception of a few
template structures that may be
implemented at the option of the
transmission provider.
30. In Order No. 676–E, the
Commission declined to incorporate
NAESB WEQ–001–14.1.3 and WEQ–
001–15.1.2 (both related to ATC
Narrative) because these standards did
not meet the Commission’s requirement
to post the ATC narrative as soon as
feasible.38 To correct this deficiency,
NAESB modified those two standards to
provide that transmission providers
strive to post narratives within one
business day and requiring a posting
within five business days. NAESB’s
report does not present any reason why
a transmission provider would need five
business days to post an ATC narrative
and we remain concerned that the fivebusiness day requirement does not meet
the Commission’s requirement to post
the ATC narrative as soon as feasible.
We invite comments on the necessity for
taking longer than one day to post the
ATC narrative.
31. In addition, NAESB made minor
modifications to standards WEQ–013–
2.6.8.1 and WEQ–013–2.6.8.2 to clarify
that the listings of service types therein
constitute examples and are not
definitive. With the exceptions noted,
we propose to incorporate by reference
Version 003 of these standards into the
Commission’s regulations.
C. Other Standards
1. Coordinate Interchange Standards
32. As explained above, JESS is
leading efforts to modify the Coordinate
Interchange (WEQ–004) standards and,
additionally, to make related
modifications to WEQ–001, WEQ–003
and WEQ–013 Business Practice
Standards to ensure that the standards

are consistent with current Electronic
Tagging Functional specifications (now
maintained by NAESB) as well as to
incorporate a guideline standardizing
the rounding of partial megawatt hours
schedules.39 Additional modifications
were made to ensure consistency across
all WEQ standards.
2. Gas/Electric Coordination Standards
33. In the Version 003 standards,
NAESB made modifications to eliminate
inconsistencies between definitions
used by the NAESB quadrants as well as
the NERC Glossary.40 This included
changing the terms ‘‘Power Plant
Operator’’ and ‘‘Power Plant Operator’s
Facility’’ to ‘‘Power Plant Gas
Coordinator’’ and ‘‘Power Plant Gas
Coordinator’s Facility,’’ respectively.41
Additionally, a definition for
‘‘Transportation Service Provider’’ was
added and revisions were made to
ensure the consistent application of the
terms ‘‘Balancing Authority’’ and
‘‘Reliability Coordinator.’’ 42 We
propose to incorporate by reference
Version 003 of these standards into the
Commission’s regulations.
3. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
Standards
34. NAESB first developed Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) Standards in 2007
and the Commission incorporated the
PKI standard (Standard WEQ–12),
Version 001, by reference into its
regulations in Order No. 676–C.43 The
NAESB PKI Standards incorporated by
reference by the Commission in Order
No. 676–C were limited to requirements
that an Authorized Certification
Authority (ACA) must meet in order to
issue certificates that are compliant with
the NAESB PKI Standards and the
minimum physical characteristics that a
certificate must meet in order to achieve
compliance with the NAESB PKI
Standards.44 These standards did not
identify business transactions by public
utilities that required the use of PKI.
35. On rehearing, in Order No. 676–
D, the Commission explained that the
NAESB standards apply to Certificate
Authorities seeking certification from
NAESB, but did not require that public
utilities use PKI. The Commission
explained: ‘‘the PKI Standards are
designed to provide uniform standards
for an encryption system that companies
can, but are not required to, use to
enhance security for business
39 See

No. 717, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,280 at
PP 213–218; PP 235–249.
37 Order No. 717, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,280 at
P 247.
38 Order No. 676–E, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299
at P 39.

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40 Id.
41 Id.
42 Id.
43 See Order No. 676–C, FERC Stats. & Regs.
¶ 31,274 at P 75.
44 Id.

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transactions taking place over the
Internet.’’ (emphasis added).45 The
Commission further explained that
‘‘[t]he standards do not require that
public utilities use PKI for all business
transactions over the Internet and the
standards permit public utilities to
conduct business transactions over the
Internet that do not involve the use of
[ACAs].’’ 46
36. In a series of filings, NAESB
reported on its updated PKI standards
for Version 003. The revised standards
are divided into two sections. First,
Standard WEQ–012 specifies those
transactions for which public utilities
need to use PKI. The WEQ–012
standards specify the minimum
authentication requirements that end
entities 47 must meet when conducting
transactions under NAESB Business
Practice Standards defined in Standards
WEQ–000, WEQ–001, WEQ–002, WEQ–
003, WEQ–004 and WEQ–013. This
includes the use of PKI in
communicating with the Electric
Industry Registry (EIR) of commercial
transaction information useful for
electronic tagging.48 Under these
standards, for these specific purposes,
public utilities need to use NAESBcertified ACAs for PKI.
37. Second, NAESB developed ACA
Accreditation Requirements and ACA
Process requirements that ACAs must
meet to receive certification from
NAESB. NAESB has not adopted these
accreditation requirements as standards.
38. NAESB explains 49 that, given the
importance and inter-play of OASIS,
electronic tagging, and the EIR, a
common PKI standard used to secure
access is a significant improvement over
simple user name and password
authentication in common use. NAESB
states that its PKI program provides
assurance that (1) the party initiating a
data exchange is positively identified by
its electronic certificate, (2) the data
exchanged is encrypted and unaltered
in transit, and (3) each party to the
transaction (i.e, the initiating party and
the counter-party) is the intended
recipient of the information exchanged,
through mutual authentication. NAESB
further explains that this mutual
authentication process allows two
entities or computers, in this case, the
end entity and the service provider
45 Order

No. 676–D, 124 FERC ¶ 61,317 at P 7.
P 9.
47 NAESB defines ‘‘end entities’’ as including
utilities and other independent grid operators.
48 NAESB has replaced NERC in supporting the
Electric Industry Registry (EIR) as these data relate
to business transactions rather than reliability.
Under NERC, the registry was referred to as the
Transmission System Information Network (TSIN).
49 January 30, 2013 Filing.
46 Id.

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operating the system, to authenticate the
identities of one another through
challenge-response protocols.
39. Given the improvement
represented by the revised standards
over the Version 002 standards, we
propose to incorporate by reference the
NAESB WEQ–012 standards. These
standards, when adopted, will require
public utilities to conduct transactions
securely when using the internet and
will eliminate confusion over which
transactions involving public utilities
must follow the approved PKI
procedures to secure their transactions.
We also understand the necessity for the
standards to require that all ACAs be
certified under a common set of
certification requirements so that all
participants have a common list of
ACAs from which they can choose.
Having a common list of ACAs
enhances the efficiency of transactions
as each party can be assured that a
counter party’s certificate meets these
minimum requirements.50 While we
find that NAESB’s certification provides
efficiency benefits, we are not proposing
to incorporate by reference the NAESB
ACA Accreditation Requirements and
ACA Process requirements, as NAESB
has not adopted these requirements as
standards and the Commission does not
have jurisdiction over ACAs.51

• NAESB WEQ–018—Specifications
for Wholesale Standard Demand
Response Signals;
• NAESB WEQ–019—Customer
Energy Usage Information
Communication; and
• NAESB WEQ–020—Smart Grid
Standards Data Elements Table.
41. We propose, in this NOPR, to
incorporate by reference standards
WEQ–016, WEQ–017, WEQ–018, WEQ–
019 and WEQ–020 into the
Commission’s regulations. The
Commission notes that NAESB ratified
changes to Standard WEQ–019 on
March 21, 2013. We understand that
this standard provides for energy usage
information and this revision is
consistent with the Green Button
Initiative, promoted by the White House
Office of Science and Technology
Policy,53 which allows consumers
access to their energy usage information.
These standards will not only be used
by the wholesale electric industry, but
also are important initiatives for use in
ongoing utility programs for consumer
data access. We, therefore, invite
comment on whether the Commission
should incorporate by reference the
version of Standard WEQ–019 ratified
by NAESB membership on March 21,
2013, rather than the version contained
in Version 003.

4. Smart Grid Standards

5. Standards Related to Terms,
Definition and Acronyms

40. The NAESB WEQ Version 003
Business Practice Standards include five
wholesale business practice standards
related to Smart Grid that define use
cases, data requirements, and a common
model to represent customer energy
usage: 52
• NAESB WEQ–016—Specifications
for Common Electricity Product and
Pricing Definition;
• NAESB WEQ–017—Specifications
for Common Schedule Communication
Mechanism for Energy Transactions;

42. The Version 003 WEQ Business
Practice Standards create a common
location for all abbreviations, acronyms
and definitions of terms and houses this
information in a newly created standard
WEQ–000. In accordance with
Commission guidance.54 NAESB also
set out to ensure definition
consistencies internally and with the
NERC Glossary and revised the NAESB
definitions accordingly.

proposing to incorporate by reference
Standard WEQ–012, we recognize that while the
electric industry is not insubstantial, it may
represent only a small portion of an ACA’s
clientele, and that NAESB has a legitimate concern
in setting certification standards that provide
potential customers with sufficient competitive
alternatives in choosing suppliers to provide price
competition in PKI services.
51 See Reporting on North American Energy
Standards Board Public Key Infrastructure
Standards,140 FERC ¶ 61,149, at P 13 (2012) (where
the Commission stated it does not have jurisdiction
over NAESB or the Certification Authorities as
public utilities). Since the ACA Accreditation
Requirements and ACA Process apply to nonjurisdictional entities, and we are not proposing to
incorporate these standards as federal regulations,
we will not opine upon these requirements,
including the lifetime of the root keys.
52 See supra n.9.

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6. Commission Proposal
43. With the exceptions noted, we
propose to incorporate by reference
Version 003 of these standards into the
Commission’s regulations.
D. Implementation
44. Consistent with our past practice,
we propose that, once the Commission
incorporates these standards by
reference into its regulations, public
utilities must implement these
53 See http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2012/01/
18/green-button-providing-consumers-access-theirenergy-data.
54 NAESB’s efforts in this regard are in
accordance with the Commission’s findings in
Order No. 676, FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,241 at P
40 and Order No. 676–C, 126 FERC ¶ 61,228 at P
8.

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standards even before they have
updated their tariffs to incorporate these
changes. The Commission is also
proposing, consistent with our
regulation at 18 CFR 35.28(c)(1)(vii), to
require each public utility to revise its
OATT to include the Version 003
standards that we are proposing to
incorporate by reference herein. For
standards that do not require
implementing tariff provisions, the
Commission is proposing to permit the
public utility to incorporate the WEQ
standard by reference in its OATT. We
are not, however, proposing to require a
separate tariff filing to accomplish this
change. Consistent with our prior
practice, we are proposing to give public
utilities the option of including these
changes as part of an unrelated tariff
filing.55
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary
Consensus Standards
45. The NAESB WEQ Version 003
Business Practice Standards were
adopted by NAESB under NAESB’s
consensus procedures.56 As the
Commission found in Order No. 676,
adoption of consensus standards is
appropriate because the consensus
process helps ensure the reasonableness
of the standards by requiring that the
standards draw support from a broad

spectrum of all segments of the
industry. Moreover, since the industry
itself has to conduct business under
these standards, the Commission’s
regulations should reflect those
standards that have the widest possible
support. In section 12(d) of the National
Technology Transfer and Advancement
Act of 1995, Congress affirmatively
requires federal agencies to use
technical standards developed by
voluntary consensus standards
organizations, like NAESB, as means to
carry out policy objectives or activities
unless use of such standards would be
inconsistent with applicable law or
otherwise impractical.57
46. Office of Management and Budget
Circular A–119 (section 11) (February
10, 1998) provides that Federal
Agencies should publish a request for
comment in a NOPR when the agency
is seeking to issue or revise a regulation
proposing to adopt a voluntary
consensus standard or a governmentunique standard. In this NOPR, the
Commission is proposing to incorporate
by reference a voluntary consensus
standard developed by the WEQ.
IV. Information Collection Statement
47. The following collection of
information contained in this proposed
rule is subject to review by the Office of

Data collection

Number of
respondents

Number of
responses per
respondent

Hours per
response

Total number
of hours

(1)

(2)

(3)

(1) × (2) × (3)

FERC–516 59 (tariff filing) ................................................................................
FERC–717 60 (compliance with standards) .....................................................

132
132

1
1

61 30

792
3,960

Totals ........................................................................................................

........................

........................

........................

4,752

• FERC–717: 132 entities * 1 response/
entity * (30 hours/response * $72/
hour) = $285,120.

Costs to Comply with Paperwork
Requirements:
The estimated annual costs are as
follows:
• FERC–516: 132 entities * 1 response/
entity * (6 hours/response * $72/
hour 62) = $57,024.

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Management and Budget (OMB) for
review under section 3507(d) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44
U.S.C. 3507(d). OMB’s regulations
require approval of certain information
collection requirements imposed by
agency rules.58 Upon approval of a
collection(s) of information, OMB will
assign an OMB control number and an
expiration date. Respondents subject to
the filing requirements of this rule will
not be penalized for failing to respond
to these collections of information
unless the collections of information
display a valid OMB control number.
48. The Commission solicits
comments on the Commission’s need for
this information, whether the
information will have practical utility,
the accuracy of the provided burden
estimates, ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected, and any suggested methods
for minimizing respondents’ burden,
including the use of automated
information techniques.
49. The following burden estimate is
based on the projected costs for the
industry to implement the new and
revised business practice standards
adopted by NAESB and proposed to be
incorporated by reference in this NOPR.

55 See Order No. 676, FERC Stats. & Regs.
¶ 31,216 at P 100.
56 Under this process, to be approved a standard
must receive a super-majority vote of 67 percent of
the members of the WEQ’s Executive Committee
with support from at least 40 percent from each of
the five industry segments—transmission,
generation, marketer/brokers, distribution/load
serving entities, and end users. For final approval,
67 percent of the WEQ’s general membership must
ratify the standards.
57 Public Law 104–113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775
(1996), 15 U.S.C. 272 note (1997).
58 5 CFR 1320.11 (2012).

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6

Titles: Electric Rate Schedule Filing
(FERC–516); Open Access Same Time
Information System and Standards for
Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities (FERC–
717).

Action: Proposed collection.
OMB Control Nos.: 1902–0096 (FERC–
516); 1902–0173 (FERC–717).
Respondents: Business or other for
profit (Public Utilities—Generally not
applicable to small businesses).63
Frequency of Responses: One-time
implementation (business procedures,
capital/start-up).

59 ‘‘FERC–516’’ is the Commission’s identifier
that corresponds to OMB control no. 1902–0096
which identifies the information collection
associated with Electric Rate Schedules and Tariff
Filings.
60 ‘‘FERC–717’’ is the Commission’s identifier
that corresponds to OMB control no. 1902–0173
which identifies the information collection
associated with Standards for Business Practices
and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities.
61 The 30-hour estimate was developed in Docket
No. RM05–5–013, when the Commission prepared
its estimate of the scope of work involved in
transitioning to the NAESB Version 002.1 Business
Practice Standards. See Order No. 676–E, FERC

Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,299 at P 134. We have retained
the same estimate here, because the scope of the
tasks involved in the transition to Version 003 of
the Business Practice Standards is very similar to
that for the transition to the Version 002.1
Standards.
62 The estimated hourly loaded cost (salary plus
benefits) is a composite estimate that includes legal,
technical, and support staff rates, based on data
from the Bureau of Labor Statistics at http://bls.gov/
oes/current/naics3_221000.htm. Loaded costs are
BLS rates divided by 0.703 and rounded to the
nearest dollar (http://www.bls.gov/news.release/
ecec.nr0.htm).
63 See infra P 56.

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 144 / Friday, July 26, 2013 / Proposed Rules
50. Necessity of the Information: This
proposed rule, if implemented would
upgrade the Commission’s current
business practice and communication
standards and protocols modifications
to support compliance with
requirements established by the
Commission in Order Nos. 890, 890–A,
890–B and 890–C, as well as
modifications to the OASIS-related
standards to support Order Nos. 676,
676–A, 676–E and 717. In addition,
NAESB made modifications to the
Coordinate Interchange standards to
compliment the updates to the e-Tag
specifications, modifications to the Gas/
Electric Coordination standards to
provide consistency between the two
markets and re-organized and revised
definitions to create a standard set of
terms, definitions and acronyms
applicable to all NAESB WEQ
standards. The Version 003 Standards
also include standards related to
Demand Side Management and Energy
Efficiency, which the Commission
separately acted on in Docket No.
RM05–5–020 after NAESB filed its
Version 003 report, and Smart Gridrelated standards that NAESB
previously filed with the Commission in
Docket No. RM05–5–021 and to increase
the efficiency of the wholesale electric
power grid.
51. Internal Review: The Commission
has reviewed the revised business
practice standards and has made a
preliminary determination that the
proposed revisions that we propose here
to incorporate by reference are both
necessary and useful. In addition, the
Commission has assured itself, by
means of its internal review, that there
is specific, objective support for the
burden estimate associated with the
information requirements.
52. Interested persons may obtain
information on the reporting
requirements by contacting the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Office
of the Executive Director, 888 First
Street NE., Washington, DC 20426 [Attn:
Ellen Brown, email:
[email protected], phone: (202)
502–8663, fax: (202) 273–0873].
53. Comments concerning the
information collections proposed in this
NOPR and the associated burden
estimates should be sent to the
Commission at this docket and may also
by email to the Office of Management
and Budget, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs [Attention: Desk
Officer for the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission]. For security
reasons, comments should be sent by
email to OMB at the following email
address: [email protected].
Please reference the docket number of

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this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking
(Docket No. RM05–5–022) in your
submission.
V. Environmental Analysis
54. The Commission is required to
prepare an Environmental Assessment
or an Environmental Impact Statement
for any action that may have a
significant adverse effect on the human
environment.64 The Commission has
categorically excluded certain actions
from these requirements as not having a
significant effect on the human
environment.65 The actions proposed
here fall within categorical exclusions
in the Commission’s regulations for
rules that are clarifying, corrective, or
procedural, for information gathering,
analysis, and dissemination, and for
sales, exchange, and transportation of
electric power that requires no
construction of facilities.66 Therefore,
an environmental assessment is
unnecessary and has not been prepared
in this NOPR.
VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act
Certification
55. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of
1980 (RFA) 67 generally requires a
description and analysis of proposed
rules that will have significant
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. The RFA
mandates consideration of regulatory
alternatives that accomplish the stated
objectives of a proposed rule and that
minimize any significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities. The Small Business
Administration’s Office of Size
Standards develops the numerical
definition of a small business.68 The
Small Business Administration has
established a size standard for electric
utilities, stating that a firm is small if,
including its affiliates, it is primarily
engaged in the transmission, generation
and/or distribution of electric energy for
sale and its total electric output for the
preceding twelve months did not exceed
four million megawatt hours (MWh).69
56. The Commission seeks comment
on the estimated impact of the proposed
rule on small business entities. The
Commission estimates that 5 of the 132
respondents are small. The Commission
estimates that the impact on these
64 Regulations Implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Order No. 486,
52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. & Regs.,
Regulations Preambles 1986–1990 ¶ 30,783 (1987).
65 18 CFR 380.4.
66 See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5),
380.4(a)(27).
67 5 U.S.C. 601–612.
68 13 CFR 121.101 (2012).
69 13 CFR 121.201, Sector 22, Utilities & n.1.

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entities is consistent with the
paperwork burden of $2,592 per entity
used above.70 The Commission does not
consider $2,592 to be a significant
economic impact.
57. Based on the above, the
Commission certifies that the proposed
Reliability Standards will not have a
significant impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Accordingly,
no initial regulatory flexibility analysis
is required.
VII. Comment Procedures
58. The Commission invites interested
persons to submit comments on the
matters and issues proposed in this
notice to be adopted, including any
related matters or alternative proposals
that commenters may wish to discuss.
Comments are due September 24, 2013.
Comments must refer to Docket No.
RM05–5–022, and must include the
commenter’s name, the organization
they represent, if applicable, and their
address in their comments.
59. The Commission encourages
comments to be filed electronically via
the eFiling link on the Commission’s
Web site at http://www.ferc.gov. The
Commission accepts most standard
word processing formats. Documents
created electronically using word
processing software should be filed in
native applications or print-to-PDF
format and not in a scanned format.
Commenters filing electronically do not
need to make a paper filing.
60. Commenters that are not able to
file comments electronically must send
an original of their comments to:
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,
Secretary of the Commission, 888 First
Street NE., Washington, DC 20426.
61. All comments will be placed in
the Commission’s public files and may
be viewed, printed, or downloaded
remotely as described in the Document
Availability section below. Commenters
on this proposal are not required to
serve copies of their comments on other
commenters.
VIII. Document Availability
62. In addition to publishing the full
text of this document in the Federal
Register, the Commission provides all
interested persons an opportunity to
view and/or print the contents of this
document via the Internet through the
Commission’s Home Page (http://
www.ferc.gov) and in the Commission’s
Public Reference Room during normal
business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Eastern time) at 888 First Street NE.,
Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426.
70 36

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Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 144 / Friday, July 26, 2013 / Proposed Rules

63. From the Commission’s Home
Page on the Internet, this information is
available on eLibrary. The full text of
this document is available on eLibrary
in PDF and Microsoft Word format for
viewing, printing, and/or downloading.
To access this document in eLibrary,
type the docket number excluding the
last three digits of this document in the
docket number field.
64. User assistance is available for
eLibrary and the Commission’s Web site
during normal business hours from the
Commission’s Online Support at 202–
502–6652 (toll free at 1–866–208–3676)
or email at [email protected],
or the Public Reference Room at (202)
502–8371, TTY (202) 502–8659. Email
the Public Reference Room at
[email protected].
List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 38
Conflict of interests, Electric power
plants, Electric utilities, Incorporation
by reference, Reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.
By direction of the Commission.
Nathaniel J. Davis, Sr.,
Deputy Secretary.

In consideration of the foregoing, the
Commission proposes to amend Chapter
I, Title 18, Part 38 of the Code of Federal
Regulations, as follows:
PART 38—BUSINESS PRACTICE
STANDARDS AND COMMUNICATION
PROTOCOLS FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES
1. The authority citation for part 38
continues to read as follows:

■

Authority: 16 U.S.C. 791–825r, 2601–
2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 U.S.C. 7101–7352.

2. In § 38.2, paragraphs (a)(1) through
(13) are revised and paragraphs (a)(14)
and (15) are added to read as follows:

■

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with PROPOSALS

§ 38.2 Incorporation by reference of North
American Energy Standards Board
Wholesale Electric Quadrant standards.

(a) * * *
(1) Abbreviations, Acronyms, and
Definition of Terms (WEQ–000, Version
003, July 31, 2012, as modified by
NAESB final actions ratified on Oct. 4,
2012, Nov. 28, 2012 and Dec. 28, 2012);
(2) Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS), Version
2.0 (WEQ–001, Version 003, July 31,
2012, as modified by NAESB final
actions ratified on Dec. 28, 2012) with
the exception of Standards 001–14.1.3
and 001–15.1.2);
(3) Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS) Business
Practice Standards and Communication
Protocols (S&CP), Version 2.0 (WEQ–
002, Version 003, July 31, 2012, as
modified by NAESB final actions

VerDate Mar<15>2010

17:22 Jul 25, 2013

Jkt 229001

ratified on Nov. 28, 2012 and Dec. 28,
2012);
(4) Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS) Data
Dictionary Business Practice Standards,
Version 2.0 (WEQ–003, Version 003,
July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB
final actions ratified on Dec. 28, 2012);
(5) Coordinate Interchange (WEQ–
004, Version 003, July 31, 2012, as
modified by NAESB final actions
ratified on Dec. 28, 2012);
(6) Area Control Error (ACE) Equation
Special Cases (WEQ–005, Version 003,
July 31, 2012);
(7) Manual Time Error Correction
(WEQ–006, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(8) Inadvertent Interchange Payback
(WEQ–007, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(9) Transmission Loading Relief
(TLR)—Eastern Interconnection (WEQ–
008, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(10) Gas/Electric Coordination (WEQ–
011, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(11) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)
(WEQ–012, Version 003, July 31, 2012,
as modified by NAESB final actions
ratified on Oct. 4, 2012);
(12) Open Access Same-Time
Information System (OASIS)
Implementation Guide, Version 2.0
(WEQ–013, Version 003, July 31, 2012,
as modified by NAESB final actions
ratified on Dec. 28, 2012);
(13) Measurement and Verification of
Wholesale Electricity Demand Response
(WEQ–015, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(14) NAESB Specifications for
Common Electricity Product and Pricing
Definition (WEQ–016, Version 003, July
31, 2012);
(15) Specifications for Common
Schedule Communication Mechanism
for Energy Transactions (WEQ–017,
Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(16) Specifications for Wholesale
Standard Demand Response Signals
(WEQ–018, Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(17) NAESB Customer Energy Usage
Information Communication (WEQ–019,
Version 003, July 31, 2012);
(18) Smart Grid Standards Data
Element Table (WEQ–020, Version 003,
July 31, 2012); and
(19) Measurement and Verification of
Energy Efficiency Products (WEQ–021,
Version 003, July 31, 2012).
*
*
*
*
*
[FR Doc. 2013–17745 Filed 7–25–13; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

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DEPARTMENT OF HOUSING AND
URBAN DEVELOPMENT
24 CFR Parts 3285 and 3286
[Docket No. FR–5631–P–01]
RIN 2502–AJ15

Model Manufactured Home Installation
Standards: Ground Anchor
Installations
Office of the Assistant
Secretary for Housing—Federal Housing
Commissioner, HUD.
ACTION: Proposed rule.
AGENCY:

This proposed rule would
amend the Manufactured Home Model
Installation Standards by adopting
recommendations made by the
Manufactured Home Consensus
Committee to revise existing
requirements for ground anchor
installations and establish standardized
test methods to determine ground
anchor performance and resistance. The
performance of conventional ground
anchor assemblies is critical to the
overall quality and structural integrity
of manufactured housing installations.
While HUD’s Model Manufactured
Home Installation Standards reference a
nationally recognized testing protocol
for ground anchor assemblies, there is
currently no national test method for
rating and certifying ground anchor
assemblies in different soil
classifications. This proposed rule
would establish a uniform test method
that could be used by all states for rating
and certifying the performance of
ground anchor assemblies.
DATES: Comment Due Date: September
24, 2013.
ADDRESSES: Interested persons are
invited to submit comments regarding
this rule to the Regulations Division,
Office of General Counsel, Department
of Housing and Urban Development,
451 Seventh Street SW., Room 10276,
Washington, DC 20410–0500.
Communications must refer to the above
docket number and title. There are two
methods for submitting public
comments. All submissions must refer
to the above docket number and title.
1. Submission of Comments by Mail.
Comments may be submitted by mail to
the Regulations Division, Office of
General Counsel, Department of
Housing and Urban Development, 451
7th Street SW., Room 10276,
Washington, DC 20410–0500.
2. Electronic Submission of
Comments. Interested persons may
submit comments electronically through
the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
www.regulations.gov. HUD strongly
SUMMARY:

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