FERC-598 30-day notice

Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 17, 2015 / Notices
the collection of information on those
who are to respond, including the use
of automated collection techniques or
other forms of information technology.
Dated: February 9, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015–03106 Filed 2–13–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
[Docket No. IC15–1–000]

Commission Information Collection
Activities (FERC–598 & FERC–716);
Comment Request
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Comment request.
AGENCY:

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
collections FERC–598 (Self-Certification
for Entities Seeking Exempt Wholesale
Generator Status or Foreign Utility
Company Status) and 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)] 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 68424, 11/17/
2014) requesting public comments. The
Commission received no comments on
either the FERC–598 or the FERC–716
and is making this notation in its
submittal to OMB.
DATES: Comments on the collection of
information are due by March 19, 2015.
ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB,
identified either by the OMB Control
No. 1902–0166 (FERC–598) or 1902–
0170 (FERC–716) should be sent via
email to the Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs: oira_submission@
omb.gov. 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

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SUMMARY:

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No. IC15–1–000, 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/submissionguide.asp. For user assistance contact
FERC Online Support by email at
[email protected], or by phone
at: (866) 208–3676 (toll-free), or (202)
502–8659 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/docsfiling/docs-filing.asp.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:

Ellen Brown may be reached by email
at [email protected], by
telephone at (202) 502–8663, and by fax
at (202) 273–0873.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Type of Request: Three-year extension
of the information collection
requirements for all collections
described below with no changes to the
current reporting requirements. Please
note that each collection is distinct from
the next.
Comments: Comments are invited on:
(1) Whether the collections of
information are 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
estimates of the burden and cost of the
collections of information, including the
validity of the methodology and
assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance
the quality, utility and clarity of the
information collections; and (4) ways to
minimize the burden of the collections
of information on those who are to
respond, including the use of automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
FERC–598 (Self-Certification for
Entities Seeking Exempt Wholesale
Generator Status or Foreign Utility
Company Status)
OMB Control No.: 1902–0166.
Abstract: The Commission uses the
data in the FERC–598 information
collection to implement the statutory
provisions of Title XII, subchapter F of

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8301

the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct
2005).1
EPAct 2005 repealed the Public
Utility Holding Company Act of 1935
(PUHCA 1935) in its entirety, and
adopted in its place the Public Utility
Holding Company Act of 2005 (PUHCA
2005). This change enabled the
Commission to exempt from the
requirements of PUHCA 2005 the
holding companies that hold
responsibility over wholesale generators
from PUHCA 2005 on a case-by-case
basis. The Commission amended its
regulations (in Order No. 667 2) to add
procedures for self-certification by
entities seeking exempt wholesale
generator (EWG) and Foreign Utility
Company (FUCO) status. This selfcertification is similar to the process
available to entities that seek qualifying
facility status.
An EWG is a ‘‘person engaged
directly, or indirectly through one or
more affiliates . . . and exclusively in
the business of owning or operating, or
both owning and operating, all or part
of one or more eligible facilities and
selling electric energy at wholesale.’’ 3 A
FUCO is a company that ‘‘owns or
operates facilities that are not located in
any state and that are used for the
generation, transmission, or distribution
of electric energy for sale or the
distribution at retail of natural or
manufactured gas for heat, light, or
power, if such company: (1) Derives no
part of its income, directly or indirectly,
from the generation, transmission, or
distribution of electric energy for sale or
the distribution at retail of natural or
manufactured gas for heat, light, or
power, within the United States; and (2)
neither the company nor any of its
subsidiary companies is a public-utility
company operating in the United
States.’’
An EWG, FUCO, or its representative
seeking to self-certify its status must file
with the Commission a notice of selfcertification demonstrating that it
satisfies the definition of EWG or FUCO.
In the case of EWGs, the person filing
a notice of self-certification must also
file a copy of the notice of selfcertification with the state regulatory
authority of the state in which the
facility is located and that person must
also represent to the Commission in its
1 Energy Policy Act of 2005, Public Law 109–58,
119 Stat. 594 (2005).
2 Repeal of the Public Utility Holding Company
Act of 1935 and Enactment of the Public Utility
Holding Company Act of 2005, 70 FR 75592 (2005),
order on rehearing, Order 667–A, 71 FR 28446
(2006), order on rehearing, Order 667–B, 71 FR
42750 (2006), order on rehearing, Order 667–C, 118
FERC 61133 (2007).
3 18 CFR 366.1.

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Federal Register / Vol. 80, No. 31 / Tuesday, February 17, 2015 / Notices

submission that it has filed a copy of the
notice with the appropriate state
regulatory authority.4
Submission of the information
collected by FERC–598 is necessary for
the Commission to carry out its
responsibilities under EPAct 2005.5 The

Commission implements its
responsibilities through the Code of
Federal Regulations (CFR) Title 18 Part
366. These filing requirements are
mandatory for entities seeking to selfcertify their EWG or FUCO status.

Type of Respondent: EWGs and
FUCOs.
Estimate of Annual Burden: The
Commission estimates the annual public
reporting burden for the information
collection as:

FERC–598 (SELF-CERTIFICATION FOR ENTITIES SEEKING EXEMPT WHOLESALE GENERATOR STATUS OR FOREIGN UTILITY
COMPANY STATUS)
Number of
respondents

Annual number of
responses per
respondent

Total number of
responses

Average burden
& cost per
response 6

Total annual
burden hours &
total annual cost

Cost per
respondent
$

(1)

(2)

(1)*(2) = (3)

(4)

(3)*(4) = (5)

(5) ÷ (1)

EWGs/FUCOs ......

102

1

102

6
$423

612
$43,146

$423

6 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 cost per hour figure is the FERC average salary plus benefits. Subject matter experts
found that industry employment costs closely resemble FERC’s regarding the FERC–598 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) 7]
OMB Control No.: 1902–0170.
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.
Type of Respondent: Transmission
Requestors and Transmitting Utilities.
Estimate of Annual Burden: 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 and
cost per
response 8

Total annual
burden hours
and total
annual cost

Cost per
respondent
($)

(1)

(2)

(1)*(2)=(3)

(4)

(3)*(4)=(5)

(5)÷(1)

Information exchange between parties ....

3

1

3

100
$7050

300
$21,150

7050

Application submitted to FERC if parties’
negotiations are unsuccessful ..............

3

1

3

2.5
$176.25

7.5
$528.75

176.25

Total ..................................................

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

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

6

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

307.5
$21,678.75

7,226.25

tkelley on DSK3SPTVN1PROD with NOTICES

Dated: February 11, 2015.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
[FR Doc. 2015–03146 Filed 2–13–15; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

4 18

CFR 366.7.
U.S.C. 16451 et seq.
7 Previously titled ‘‘Transmission Services (Good
Faith Request, Response by Transmitting Utility,
5 42

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and Application) under Sections 211 and 213a of
the Federal Power Act’’.
8 The estimates for cost per response are derived
using the following formula: Average Burden Hours
per Response * $70.50 per Hour = Average Cost per

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Response. The cost per hour figure is the FERC
average salary plus benefits. Subject matter experts
found that industry employment costs closely
resemble FERC’s regarding the FERC–716
information collection.

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