In accordance
with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved for three
years.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
12/31/2018
36 Months From Approved
07/31/2018
495
0
491
46,943
0
57,803
0
0
0
The business practice standards under
FERC-549C are required to carry out the Commission’s policies in
accordance with the general authority in Sections 4, 5, 7, 8, 10,
14, 16, and 20 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA) (15 U.S.C. 717c-717w),
and sections 311, 501, and 504 of the Natural Gas Policy Act of
1978 (NGPA) (15 U.S.C. 3301-3432). The Commission adopted these
business practice standards in order to update and standardize the
natural gas industry’s business practices and procedures as well as
to improve the efficiency of the gas market and the means by which
the gas industry conducts business across the interstate pipeline
grid. In various orders since 1996 , FERC has adopted regulations
to standardize the business practices and communication
methodologies of interstate natural gas pipelines in order to
create a more integrated and efficient pipeline industry. In
general, when and if NAESB-proposed standards (e.g., consensus
standards developed by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ), an
accredited standards organization under the auspices of the
American National Standards Institute (ANSI)) are approved by FERC,
the Commission incorporates them by reference into its approval.
The process of standardizing business practices in the natural gas
industry began with a Commission initiative to standardize
electronic communication of capacity release transactions. The
outgrowth of the initial Commission standardization efforts
produced working groups composed of all segments of the gas
industry and ultimately, the Gas Industry Standards Board (GISB), a
consensus organization open to all members of the gas industry was
created. GISB was succeeded by the North American Energy Standards
Board (NAESB). NAESB is a voluntary non-profit organization
comprised of members from the retail and wholesale natural gas and
electric industries. NAESB’s mission is to take the lead in
developing standards across these industries to simplify and expand
electronic communication, and to streamline business practices.
Core to its objective is to lead to a seamless North American
marketplace for natural gas, as recognized by its customers, the
business community, industry participants and regulatory bodies.
NAESB has divided its efforts among four quadrants, including two
retail quadrants, a wholesale electric quadrant, and the WGQ. The
NAESB WGQ standards are a product of this effort. Industry
participants seeking additional or amended standards (including
principles, definitions, standards, data elements, process
descriptions, technical implementation instructions) submit a
request to the NAESB office, detailing the change, so that the
appropriate process may take place to amend the standards.
US Code:
15
USC 717-717w Name of Law: Natural Gas Act
US Code: 15
USC 3371 Name of Law: Natural Gas Policy Act
In the Final Rule in
RM96-1-038, the Commission is incorporating by reference changes to
NAESB’s earlier standards applicable to the natural gas industry.
These standards became mandatory enforceable requirements once the
Commission took this action. The resulting burden change is
primarily related to start-up to implement these standards and
regulations. The proposed changes include: • modifying WGQ Standard
4.3.23 to add “Request to Purchase Releasable Capacity” as a
subcategory of information contained in a transportation service
provider’s information posting website • adding new WGQ Standard
5.3.73, containing requirements regarding requests to purchase
capacity that is releasable • using proprietary codes to identify
the location of points of receipt and delivery and requiring
pipelines to post on their websites information on each of the
proprietary points (and no longer using the current common code
database which industry decided is not worth the expense and
effort) that can be used to determine which points are
interconnecting points between pipelines • approving NAESB’s
approach of separately reporting both “Design Capacity” and
“Operating Capacity” as part of the reporting data set, because
they are not synonymous and this will provide shippers and the
Commission with added information. Accordingly, the Commission
proposes to incorporate by reference revised WGQ Standards 0.3.18,
0.3.20, and 0.3.21, and Dataset 0.4.2, as the revised standards and
dataset meet the Commission’s past concerns and no longer conflict
with section 284.13(d) of the Commission’s regulations.
On behalf of this Federal agency, I certify that
the collection of information encompassed by this request complies
with 5 CFR 1320.9 and the related provisions of 5 CFR
1320.8(b)(3).
The following is a summary of the topics, regarding
the proposed collection of information, that the certification
covers:
(i) Why the information is being collected;
(ii) Use of information;
(iii) Burden estimate;
(iv) Nature of response (voluntary, required for a
benefit, or mandatory);
(v) Nature and extent of confidentiality; and
(vi) Need to display currently valid OMB control
number;
If you are unable to certify compliance with any of
these provisions, identify the item by leaving the box unchecked
and explain the reason in the Supporting Statement.
RM96-1-038 Supp State_Final Rule545_549C_11-5-15.docx
USCODE-2011-title15-chap60-subchapIII-partB-sec3371.pdf
Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines