In accordance
with 5 CFR 1320, the information collection is approved for three
years.
Inventory as of this Action
Requested
Previously Approved
02/28/2022
36 Months From Approved
02/28/2019
545
0
495
48,250
0
46,943
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. The
Final Rule in RM96-1-041 requires interstate natural gas pipelines
to make a one-time tariff filing to reflect the changes in the
updated NAESB standards in FERC-545. The Commission reviews the
FERC-549C materials to determine whether proposed transportation
and sales rates and terms and conditions of service are just and
reasonable. The Commission uses the information to monitor rates
and terms and conditions of service related to jurisdictional
transportation, natural gas storage, and unbundled sales activities
of jurisdictional companies. In addition to fulfilling the
Commission’s obligations under the NGA, the information enables the
Commission to monitor the activities and evaluate transactions of
the natural gas industry to ensure competitiveness and improved
efficiency of the industry’s operations.
US Code:
15
USC 717-717w Name of Law: Natural Gas Act
US Code: 15
USC 3371 Name of Law: Natural Gas Policy Act
The Final Rule in RM96-1-041
amends the Commission’s regulations at 18 CFR 284.12(a) to
incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 3.1) of seven
business practice standards applicable to interstate natural gas
pipelines adopted by NAESB’s WGQ. By incorporating these standards
by reference into the Commission’s regulations the Commission has
made compliance mandatory and enforceable. Non-compliance, absent a
specific waiver, violates the Commission’s regulations as well as
the terms of each pipeline’s tariff. The final rule revises and
replaces the existing incorporated business practices standards
(the Version 3.0 standards) to make two substantive revisions to
its Nominations Related Standards, one to establish a standard
rounding process for elapsed-prorated-scheduled quantity
calculations, and a second to revise the specifications for the
information to be included in a nomination request. NAESB also
adopted three revisions to the Quadrant Electronic Delivery
Mechanism Related Standards. First, it has increased the allowable
field length in ASCII Comma Separated Value Files to 3000
characters. Second, it has adopted new Standard 4.3.106 to allow
checkboxes and radio buttons in the Transmission Service Providers’
Electronic Bulletin Boards. Third, NAESB modified its standards to
update the operating systems and web browsers that entities should
support on behalf of users. Additionally, clarifying language was
added to the Secure Sockets Layer/Transport Layer Security
protocols. Other changes adopted by NAESB to the business practice
standards included changes to the NAESB WGQ data sets and other
technical implementation documentation as well as revisions to the
Flowing Gas Related data sets and technical implementation.
Further, NAESB revised the Imbalance Trade data set and revised two
Senders Option data elements. In addition, NAESB adopted revisions
to the Capacity Release Related data sets and technical
implementation. NAESB also revised Standard 6.3.1 (i.e., the NAESB
Base Contract for Sale and Purchase of Natural Gas) to add language
directing users to NAESB’s copyright disclaimer posted on the NAESB
website. Identical language was added to three additional NAESB WGQ
Contracts. Lastly, NAESB added a self-identification provision that
assists end users in determining whether counterparties are
commercial market participants as defined by the United States
Commodity Futures Trading Commission. As mentioned in Question #12,
FERC staff is removing a one-time requirement that is outside of
its implementation period, has been completed, and should no longer
apply the FERC-549C reporting burden: • Implementation of New
Standards and 1 Added Intraday Nomination Cycle: 80 responses and
13,200 hours annually (averaged over Years 1-3) FERC subject-matter
experts revised the organization and labelling for the reporting
requirements based on their actual organization in FERC
regulations. This more granular approach allowed a more thorough
review of the FERC-549C information collection. The existing
FERC-549 reporting burden experienced changes: 1) a small decrease
in annual filers (5 less responses per year) and 2) revised burden
per response as related to each reporting requirement (which
resulted in an additional 13,297 hours per year industry wide).
Also, in ROCIS, the IC containing this one-time requirement also
contained ongoing requirements in the amounts of 250 responses and
30,113 hours annually.
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.
RM96-1-041 Final Rule FERC-549C supporting statement.docx
FERC 545 549C 30-day notice.pdf
RM96-1-041 Final Rule (Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines) averaged Years 1-3