60-day Notice, issued by FERC

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. IC18-14-000]

COMMISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES (FERC-552);

COMMENT REQUEST; EXTENSION

(June 29, 2018)

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of information collection and request for comments.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collection, FERC- 552, Annual Report of Natural Gas Transactions.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due [Insert date 60 days after date of publication in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments (identified by Docket No. IC18-14-000) 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 e-mail 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/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail at [email protected], telephone at (202) 502-8663, and fax at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC- 552, Annual Report of Natural Gas Transactions

OMB Control No.: 1902-0242

Type of Request: Three-year extension of the FERC-552 information collection requirements with no changes to the current reporting requirements.

Abstract: The Commission uses the information collected in the FERC-552¹ to provide greater transparency into the size of the physical natural gas market and the types of transactions market participants use to make physical natural gas purchases and sales. The collection includes transactions that contribute to, or may contribute to natural gas price indices. Many market participants rely on indices as a way to reference market prices without taking on the risks of active trading.

FERC-552 had its genesis in the Energy Policy Act of 2005², which added section 23 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA). Section 23 of the NGA, among other things, directs the Commission “to facilitate price transparency in markets for the sale or transportation of physical natural gas in interstate commerce, having due regard for the public interest, the integrity of those markets, and the protection of consumers.”³

Type of Respondents: Wholesale natural gas market participants

Estimate of Annual Burden⁴: The Commission estimates the total annual burden and cost⁵ for this information collection as follows.

FERC-552, Annual Report of Natural Gas Transactions
Category	Number of Respondents (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3)	Average Burden Hrs. & Cost ($) Per Response (4)	Total Annual Burden Hrs. & Cost ($) (3)*(4)=(5)	Annual Cost per Respondent ($) (5)÷(1)
Wholesale natural gas market participants	675	1	675	20 hrs.;6 $1,683.60	13,500 hrs.; $1,136,430	$1,683

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.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

1 FERC-552 is prescribed in 18 CFR (Code of Federal Regulations) 260.401.

2 Pub. L. 109-58

3 15 USC 717t-2

4 “Burden” is 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, refer to Title 5 CFR 1320.3.

5 Costs (for wages and benefits) are based on wage figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) for May 2017 (at https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm) and benefits information (for December 2017, issued March 20, 2018, at https://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm). The staff estimates that 75% of the work is done by a financial analyst (code 13-2051) at an hourly cost of $64.35 (for wages plus benefits), and 25% of the work is done by legal staff members (code 23-0000) at an hourly cost of $143.68 (for wages plus benefits). Therefore the average cost (for wages plus benefits) is rounded to $84.18/hour [or ($64.35/hour * 0.75)+($143.68/hour * 0.25)].

6 The staff thinks that the average estimated burden per filing should be 20 hours (rather than the current estimate of 10 hours). There are no changes to the reporting requirements.