18 CFR Paarts 37 and 38, from eCFR

e-CFR data is current as of November 8, 2019

Title 18: Conservation of Power and Water Resources

PART 37—OPEN ACCESS SAME-TIME INFORMATION SYSTEMS

Contents

§37.1 Applicability.

§37.2 Purpose.

§37.3 Definitions.

§37.4 [Reserved]

§37.5 Obligations of Transmission Providers and Responsible Parties.

§37.6 Information to be posted on the OASIS.

§37.7 Auditing Transmission Service Information.

§37.8 Obligations of OASIS users.

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

Source: Order 889, 61 FR 21764, May 10, 1996, unless otherwise noted.

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§37.1 Applicability.

This part applies to any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce and to transactions performed under the pro forma tariff required in part 35 of this chapter.

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§37.2 Purpose.

(a) The purpose of this part is to ensure that potential customers of open access transmission service receive access to information that will enable them to obtain transmission service on a non-discriminatory basis from any Transmission Provider. These rules provide standards of conduct and require the Transmission Provider (or its agent) to create and operate an Open Access Same-time Information System (OASIS) that gives all users of the open access transmission system access to the same information.

(b) The OASIS will provide information by electronic means about available transmission capability for point-to-point service and will provide a process for requesting transmission service. OASIS will enable Transmission Providers and Transmission Customers to communicate promptly requests and responses to buy and sell available transmission capacity offered under the Transmission Provider's tariff.

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§37.3 Definitions.

(a) Transmission Provider means any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce.

(b) Transmission Customer means any eligible customer (or its designated agent) that can or does execute a transmission service agreement or can or does receive transmission service.

(c) Responsible party means the Transmission Provider or an agent to whom the Transmission Provider has delegated the responsibility of meeting any of the requirements of this part.

(d) Reseller means any Transmission Customer who offers to sell transmission capacity it has purchased.

(e) Wholesale merchant function means the sale for resale of electric energy in interstate commerce.

(f) Affiliate means:

(1) For any exempt wholesale generator, as defined under section 32(a) of the Public Utility Holding Company Act of 1935, as amended, the same as provided in section 214 of the Federal Power Act; and

(2) For any other entity, the term affiliate has the same meaning as given in §161.2(a) of this chapter.

[Order 889, 61 FR 21764, May 10, 1996, as amended by Order 889-A, 62 FR 12503, Mar. 14, 1997]

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§37.4 [Reserved]

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§37.5 Obligations of Transmission Providers and Responsible Parties.

(a) Each Transmission Provider is required to provide for the operation of an OASIS, either individually or jointly with other Transmission Providers, in accordance with the requirements of this Part. The Transmission Provider may delegate this responsibility to a Responsible Party such as another Transmission Provider, an Independent System Operator, a Regional Transmission Group, or a Regional Reliability Council.

(b) A Responsible Party must provide access to an OASIS providing standardized information relevant to the availability of transmission capacity, prices, and other information (as described in this part) pertaining to the transmission system for which it is responsible.

(c) A Responsible Party may not deny or restrict access to an OASIS user merely because that user makes automated computer-to-computer file transfers or queries, or extensive requests for data.

(d) In the event that an OASIS user's grossly inefficient method of accessing an OASIS node or obtaining information from the node seriously degrades the performance of the node, a Responsible Party may limit a user's access to the OASIS node without prior Commission approval. The Responsible Party must immediately contact the OASIS user to resolve the problem. Notification of the restriction must be made to the Commission within two business days of the incident and include a description of the problem. A closure report describing how the problem was resolved must be filed with the Commission within one week of the incident.

(e) In the event that an OASIS user makes an error in a query, the Responsible Party can block the affected query and notify the user of the nature of the error. The OASIS user must correct the error before making any additional queries. If there is a dispute over whether an error has occurred, the procedures in paragraph (d) of this section apply.

(f) Transmission Providers must provide “read only” access to the OASIS to Commission staff and the staffs of State regulatory authorities, at no cost, after such staff members have complied with the requisite registration procedures.

[Order 889, 61 FR 21764, May 10, 1996, as amended by Order 605, 64 FR 34124, June 25, 1999; Order 638, 65 FR 17400, Mar. 31, 2000; Order 676, 71 FR 26212, May 4, 2006]

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§37.6 Information to be posted on the OASIS.

(a) The information posted on the OASIS must be in such detail and the OASIS must have such capabilities as to allow Transmission Customers to:

(1) Make requests for transmission services offered by Transmission Providers, Resellers and other providers of ancillary services, request the designation of a network resource, and request the termination of the designation of a network resource;

(2) View and download in standard formats, using standard protocols, information regarding the transmission system necessary to enable prudent business decision making;

(3) Post, view, upload and download information regarding available products and desired services;

(4) Clearly identify the degree to which transmission service requests or schedules were denied or interrupted;

(5) Obtain access, in electronic format, to information to support available transmission capability calculations and historical transmission service requests and schedules for various audit purposes; and

(6) Make file transfers and automated computer-to-computer file transfers and queries as defined by the Standards and Communications Protocols Document.

(b) Posting transfer capability. The available transfer capability on the Transmission Provider's system (ATC) and the total transfer capability (TTC) of that system shall be calculated and posted for each Posted Path as set out in this section.

(1) Definitions. For purposes of this section the terms listed below have the following meanings:

(i) Posted path means any control area to control area interconnection; any path for which service is denied, curtailed or interrupted for more than 24 hours in the past 12 months; and any path for which a customer requests to have ATC or TTC posted. For this last category, the posting must continue for 180 days and thereafter until 180 days have elapsed from the most recent request for service over the requested path. For purposes of this definition, an hour includes any part of an hour during which service was denied, curtailed or interrupted.

(ii) Constrained posted path means any posted path having an ATC less than or equal to 25 percent of TTC at any time during the preceding 168 hours or for which ATC has been calculated to be less than or equal to 25 percent of TTC for any period during the current hour or the next 168 hours.

(iii) Unconstrained posted path means any posted path not determined to be a constrained posted path.

(iv) The word interconnection, as used in the definition of “posted path”, means all facilities connecting two adjacent systems or control areas.

(v) Available transfer capability or ATC means the transfer capability remaining in the physical transmission network for further commercial activity over and above already committed uses, or such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability Standards.

(vi) Total transfer capability or TTC means the amount of electric power that can be moved or transferred reliably from one area to another area of the interconnected transmission systems by way of all transmission lines (or paths) between those areas under specified system conditions, or such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability Standards.

(vii) Capacity Benefit Margin or CBM means the amount of TTC preserved by the Transmission Provider for load-serving entities, whose loads are located on that Transmission Provider's system, to enable access by the load-serving entities to generation from interconnected systems to meet generation reliability requirements, or such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability Standards.

(viii) Transmission Reliability Margin or TRM means the amount of TTC necessary to provide reasonable assurance that the interconnected transmission network will be secure, or such definition as contained in Commission-approved Reliability Standards.

(2) Calculation methods, availability of information, and requests. (i) Information used to calculate any posting of ATC and TTC must be dated and time-stamped and all calculations shall be performed according to consistently applied methodologies referenced in the Transmission Provider's transmission tariff and shall be based on Commission-approved Reliability Standards as well as current industry practices, standards and criteria.

(ii) On request, the Responsible Party must make all data used to calculate ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM for any constrained posted paths publicly available (including the limiting element(s) and the cause of the limit (e.g., thermal, voltage, stability), as well as load forecast assumptions) in electronic form within one week of the posting. The information is required to be provided only in the electronic format in which it was created, along with any necessary decoding instructions, at a cost limited to the cost of reproducing the material. This information is to be retained for six months after the applicable posting period.

(iii) System planning studies, facilities studies, and specific network impact studies performed for customers or the Transmission Provider's own network resources are to be made publicly available in electronic form on request and a list of such studies shall be posted on the OASIS. A study is required to be provided only in the electronic format in which it was created, along with any necessary decoding instructions, at a cost limited to the cost of reproducing the material. These studies are to be retained for five years.

(3) Posting. The ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM for all Posted Paths must be posted in megawatts by specific direction and in the manner prescribed in this subsection.

(i) Constrained posted paths—(A) For firm ATC and TTC.

(1) The posting shall show ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM for a 30-day period. For this period postings shall be: by the hour, for the current hour and the 168 hours next following; and thereafter, by the day. If the Transmission Provider charges separately for on-peak and off-peak periods in its tariff, ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM will be posted daily for each period.

(2) Postings shall also be made by the month, showing for the current month and the 12 months next following.

(3) If planning and specific requested transmission studies have been done, seasonal capability shall be posted for the year following the current year and for each year following to the end of the planning horizon but not to exceed 10 years.

(B) For non-firm ATC and TTC. The posting shall show ATC, TTC, CBM and TRM for a 30-day period by the hour and days prescribed under paragraph (b)(3)(i)(A)(1) of this section and, if so requested, by the month and year as prescribed under paragraph (b)(3)(i)(A) (2) and (3) of this section. The posting of non-firm ATC and TTC shall show CBM as zero.

(C) Updating posted information for constrained paths.

(1) The capability posted under paragraphs (b)(3)(i)(A) and (B) of this section must be updated when transactions are reserved or service ends or whenever the estimate for the path changes by more than 10 percent.

(2) All updating of hourly information shall be made on the hour.

(3) When the monthly and yearly capability posted under paragraphs (b)(3)(i)(A) and (B) of this section are updated because of a change in TTC by more than 10 percent, the Transmission Provider shall post a brief, but specific, narrative explanation of the reason for the update. This narrative should include, the specific events which gave rise to the update (e.g., scheduling of planned outages and occurrence of forced transmission outages, de-ratings of transmission facilities, scheduling of planned generation outages and occurrence of forced generation outages, changes in load forecast, changes in new facilities' in-service dates, or other events or assumption changes) and new values for ATC on the path (as opposed to all points on the network).

(4) When the monthly and yearly capability posted under paragraphs (b)(3)(i)(A) and (B) of this section remain unchanged at a value of zero for a period of six months, the Transmission Provider shall post a brief, but specific, narrative explanation of the reason for the unavailability of ATC.

(ii) Unconstrained posted paths.

(A) Postings of firm and nonfirm ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM shall be posted separately by the day, showing for the current day and the next six days following and thereafter, by the month for the 12 months next following. If the Transmission Provider charges separately for on-peak and off-peak periods in its tariff, ATC, TTC, CBM, and TRM will be posted separately for the current day and the next six days following for each period. These postings are to be updated whenever the ATC changes by more than 20 percent of the Path's TTC.

(B) If planning and specific requested transmission studies have been done, seasonal capability shall be posted for the year following the current year and for each year following until the end of the planning horizon but not to exceed 10 years.

(iii) Calculation of CBM.

(A) The Transmission Provider must reevaluate its CBM needs at least every year.

(B) The Transmission Provider must post its practices for reevaluating its CBM needs.

(iv) Daily load. The Transmission Provider must post on a daily basis, its load forecast, including underlying assumptions, and actual daily peak load for the prior day.

(c) Posting Transmission Service Products and Prices. (1) Transmission Providers must post prices and a summary of the terms and conditions associated with all transmission products offered to Transmission Customers.

(2) Transmission Providers must provide a downloadable file of their complete tariffs in the same electronic format as the tariff that is filed with the Commission. Transmission Providers also must provide a link to all of the rules, standards and practices that relate to transmission services posted on the Transmission Providers' public Web sites.

(3) Any offer of a discount for any transmission service made by the Transmission Provider must be announced to all potential customers solely by posting on the OASIS.

(4) For any transaction for transmission service agreed to by the Transmission Provider and a customer, the Transmission Provider (at the time when ATC must be adjusted in response to the transaction), must post on the OASIS (and make available for download) information describing the transaction (including: price; quantity; points of receipt and delivery; length and type of service; identification of whether the transaction involves the Transmission Provider's wholesale merchant function or any affiliate; identification of what, if any, ancillary service transactions are associated with this transmission service transaction; and any other relevant terms and conditions) and shall keep such information posted on the OASIS for at least 30 days. A record of the transaction must be retained and kept available as part of the audit log required in §37.7.

(5) Customers choosing to use the OASIS to offer for resale transmission capacity they have purchased must post relevant information to the same OASIS as used by the Transmission Provider from whom the Reseller purchased the transmission capacity. This information must be posted on the same display page, using the same tables, as similar capability being sold by the Transmission Provider, and the information must be contained in the same downloadable files as the Transmission Provider's own available capability.

(d) Posting Ancillary Service Offerings and Prices. (1) Any ancillary service required to be provided or offered under the pro forma tariff prescribed by part 35 of this chapter must be posted with the price of that service.

(2) Any offer of a discount for any ancillary service made by the Transmission Provider must be announced to all potential customers solely by posting on the OASIS.

(3) For any transaction for ancillary service agreed to by the Transmission Provider and a customer, the Transmission Provider (at the time when ATC must be adjusted in response to an associated transmission service transaction, if any), must post on the OASIS (and make available for download) information describing the transaction (including: date and time when the agreement was entered into; price; quantity; length and type of service; identification of whether the transaction involves the Transmission Provider's wholesale merchant function or any affiliate; identification of what, if any, transmission service transactions are associated with this ancillary service transaction; and any other relevant terms and conditions) and shall keep such information posted on the OASIS for at least 30 days. A record of the transaction must be retained and kept available as part of the audit log required in §37.7.

(4) Any other interconnected operations service offered by the Transmission Provider may be posted, with the price for that service.

(5) Any entity offering an ancillary service shall have the right to post the offering of that service on the OASIS if the service is one required to be offered by the Transmission Provider under the pro forma tariff prescribed by part 35 of this chapter. Any entity may also post any other interconnected operations service voluntarily offered by the Transmission Provider. Postings by customers and third parties must be on the same page, and in the same format, as postings of the Transmission Provider.

(e) Posting specific transmission and ancillary service requests and responses—(1) General rules. (i) All requests for transmission and ancillary service offered by Transmission Providers under the pro forma tariff, including requests for discounts, and all requests to designate or terminate a network resource, must be made on the OASIS and posted prior to the Transmission Provider responding to the request, except as discussed in paragraphs (e)(1)(ii) and (iii) of this section. The Transmission Provider must post all requests for transmission service, for ancillary service, and for the designation or termination of a network resource comparably. Requests for transmission service, ancillary service, and to designate and terminate a network resource, as well as the responses to such requests, must be conducted in accordance with the Transmission Provider's tariff, the Federal Power Act, and Commission regulations.

(ii) The requirement in paragraph (e)(1)(i) of this section, to post requests for transmission and ancillary service offered by Transmission Providers under the pro forma tariff, including requests for discounts, prior to the Transmission Provider responding to the request, does not apply to requests for next-hour service made during Phase I.

(iii) In the event that a discount is being requested for ancillary services that are not in support of basic transmission service provided by the Transmission Provider, such request need not be posted on the OASIS.

(iv) In processing a request for transmission or ancillary service, the Responsible Party shall post the same information as required in paragraphs (c)(4) and (d)(3) of this section, and the following information: the date and time when the request is made, its place in any queue, the status of that request, and the result (accepted, denied, withdrawn). In processing a request to designate or terminate the designation of a network resource, the Responsible Party shall post the date and time when the request is made.

(v) For any request to designate or terminate a network resource, the Transmission Provider (at the time when the request is received), must post on the OASIS (and make available for download) information describing the request (including: name of requestor, identification of the resource, effective time for the designation or termination, identification of whether the transaction involves the Transmission Provider's wholesale merchant function or any affiliate; and any other relevant terms and conditions) and shall keep such information posted on the OASIS for at least 30 days. A record of the transaction must be retained and kept available as part of the audit log required in §37.7.

(vi) The Transmission Provider shall post a list of its current designated network resources and all network customers' current designated network resources on OASIS. The list of network resources should include the name of the resource, its geographic and electrical location, its total installed capacity, and the amount of capacity to be designated as a network resource.

(2) Posting when a request for transmission service is denied. (i) When a request for service is denied, the Responsible Party must provide the reason for that denial as part of any response to the request.

(ii) Information to support the reason for the denial, including the operating status of relevant facilities, must be maintained for five years and provided, upon request, to the potential Transmission Customer and the Commission's Staff.

(iii) Any offer to adjust operation of the Transmission Provider's System to accommodate the denied request must be posted and made available to all Transmission Customers at the same time.

(3) Posting when a transaction is curtailed or interrupted. (i) When any transaction is curtailed or interrupted, the Transmission Provider must post notice of the curtailment or interruption on the OASIS, and the Transmission Provider must state on the OASIS the reason why the transaction could not be continued or completed.

(ii) Information to support any such curtailment or interruption, including the operating status of the facilities involved in the constraint or interruption, must be maintained and made available upon request, to the curtailed or interrupted customer, the Commission's Staff, and any other person who requests it, for five years.

(iii) Any offer to adjust the operation of the Transmission Provider's system to restore a curtailed or interrupted transaction must be posted and made available to all curtailed and interrupted Transmission Customers at the same time.

(f) Posting Transmission Service Schedules Information. Information on transmission service schedules must be recorded by the entity scheduling the transmission service and must be available on the OASIS for download. Transmission service schedules must be posted no later than seven calendar days from the start of the transmission service.

(g) Posting Other Transmission-Related Communications. (1) The posting of other communications related to transmission services must be provided for by the Responsible Party. These communications may include “want ads” and “other communications” (such as using the OASIS as a Transmission-related conference space or to provide transmission-related messaging services between OASIS users). Such postings carry no obligation to respond on the part of any market participant.

(2) The Responsible Party is responsible for posting other transmission-related communications in conformance with the instructions provided by the third party on whose behalf the communication is posted. It is the responsibility of the third party requesting such a posting to ensure the accuracy of the information to be posted.

(3) Notices of transfers of personnel shall be posted as described in §358.4(c). The posting requirements are the same as those provided in §37.7 for audit data postings.

(4) Logs detailing the circumstances and manner in which a Transmission Provider or Responsible Party exercised its discretion under any terms of the tariff shall be posted as described in §358.5(c)(4). The posting requirements are the same as those provided in §37.7 for audit data postings.

(h) Posting information summarizing the time to complete transmission service request studies. (1) For each calendar quarter, the Responsible Party must post the set of measures detailed in paragraph (h)(1)(i) through paragraph (h)(1)(vi) of this section related to the Responsible Party's processing of transmission service request system impact studies and facilities studies. The Responsible Party must calculate and post the measures in paragraph (h)(1)(i) through paragraph (h)(1)(vi) of this section for requests for short-term firm point-to-point transmission service, requests for long-term firm point-to-point transmission service, and requests to designate a new network resource or network load. When calculating the measures in paragraph (h)(1)(i) through paragraph (h)(1)(iv) of this section, the Responsible Party may aggregate requests for short-term firm point-to-point service and requests for long-term firm point-to-point service, but must calculate and post measures separately for transmission service requests from Affiliates and transmission service requests from Transmission Customers who are not Affiliates. The Responsible Party is required to include in the calculations of the measures in paragraph (h)(1)(i) through paragraph (h)(1)(vi) of this section all studies the Responsible Party conducts of transmission service requests on another Transmission Provider's OASIS.

(i) Process time from initial service request to offer of system impact study agreement.

(A) Number of new system impact study agreements delivered during the reporting quarter to entities that request transmission service,

(B) Number of new system impact study agreements delivered during the reporting quarter to entities that request transmission service more than thirty (30) days after the Responsible Party received the request for transmission service,

(C) Mean time (in days), for all requests acted on by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, from the date when the Responsible Party received the request for transmission service to when the Responsible Party changed the transmission service request status to indicate that the Responsible Party could offer transmission service or needed to perform a system impact study,

(D) Mean time (in days), for all system impact study agreements delivered by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, from the date when the Responsible Party received the request for transmission service to the date when the Responsible Party delivered a system impact study agreement, and

(E) Number of new system impact study agreements executed during the reporting quarter.

(ii) System impact study processing time.

(A) Number of system impact studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter,

(B) Number of system impact studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter more than 60 days after the Responsible Party received an executed system impact study agreement,

(C) For all system impact studies completed more than 60 days after receipt of an executed system impact study agreement, average number of days study was delayed due to transmission customer's actions (e.g., delays in providing needed data),

(D) Mean time (in days), for all system impact studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, from the date when the Responsible Party received the executed system impact study agreement to the date when the Responsible Party provided the system impact study to the entity who executed the system impact study agreement, and

(E) Mean cost of system impact studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter.

(iii) Transmission service requests withdrawn from the system impact study queue.

(A) Number of transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's system impact study queue during the reporting quarter,

(B) Number of transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's system impact study queue during the reporting quarter more than 60 days after the Responsible Party received the executed system impact study agreement, and

(C) Mean time (in days), for all transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's system impact study queue during the reporting quarter, from the date the Responsible Party received the executed system impact study agreement to date when request was withdrawn from the Responsible Party's system impact study queue.

(iv) Process time from completed system impact study to offer of facilities study.

(A) Number of new facilities study agreements delivered during the reporting quarter to entities that request transmission service,

(B) Number of new facilities study agreements delivered during the reporting quarter to entities that request transmission service more than thirty (30) days after the Responsible Party completed the system impact study,

(C) Mean time (in days), for all facilities study agreements delivered by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, from the date when the Responsible Party completed the system impact study to the date when the Responsible Party delivered a facilities study agreement, and

(D) Number of new facilities study agreements executed during the reporting quarter.

(v) Facilities study processing time.

(A) Number of facilities studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter,

(B) Number of facilities studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter more than 60 days after the Responsible Party received an executed facilities study agreement,

(C) For all facilities studies completed more than 60 days after receipt of an executed facilities study agreement, average number of days study was delayed due to transmission customer's actions (e.g., delays in providing needed data),

(D) Mean time (in days), for all facilities studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, from the date when the Responsible Party received the executed facilities study agreement to the date when the Responsible Party provided the facilities study to the entity who executed the facilities study agreement,

(E) Mean cost of facilities studies completed by the Responsible Party during the reporting quarter, and

(F) Mean cost of upgrades recommended in facilities studies completed during the reporting quarter.

(vi) Service requests withdrawn from facilities study queue.

(A) Number of transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's facilities study queue during the reporting quarter,

(B) Number of transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's facilities study queue during the reporting quarter more than 60 days after the Responsible Party received the executed facilities study agreement, and

(C) Mean time (in days), for all transmission service requests withdrawn from the Responsible Party's facilities study queue during the reporting quarter, from the date the Responsible Party received the executed facilities study agreement to date when request was withdrawn from the Responsible Party's facilities study queue.

(2) The Responsible Party is required to post the measures in paragraph (h)(1)(i) through paragraph (h)(1)(vi) of this section for each calendar quarter within 15 days of the end of the calendar quarter. The Responsible Party will keep the quarterly measures posted on OASIS for three calendar years.

(3) The Responsible Party will be required to post on OASIS the measures in paragraph (h)(3)(i) through paragraph (h)(3)(iv) of this section in the event the Responsible Party, for two consecutive calendar quarters, completes more than twenty (20) percent of the studies associated with requests for transmission service from entities that are not Affiliates of the Responsible Party more than sixty (60) days after the Responsible Party delivers the appropriate study agreement. The Responsible Party will have to post the measures in paragraph (h)(3)(i) through paragraph (h)(3)(iv) of this section until it processes at least ninety (90) percent of all studies within 60 days after it has received the appropriate executed study agreement. For the purposes of calculating the percent of studies completed more than sixty (60) days after the Responsible Party delivers the appropriate study agreement, the Responsible Party should aggregate all system impact studies and facilities studies that it completes during the reporting quarter.

(i) Mean, across all system impact studies the Responsible Party completes during the reporting quarter, of the employee-hours expended per system impact study the Responsible Party completes during reporting period;

(ii) Mean, across all facilities studies the Responsible Party completes during the reporting quarter, of the employee-hours expended per facilities study the Responsible Party completes during reporting period;

(iii) The number of employees the Responsible Party has assigned to process system impact studies;

(iv) The number of employees the Responsible Party has assigned to process facilities studies.

(4) The Responsible Party is required to post the measures in paragraph (h)(3)(i) through paragraph (h)(3)(iv) of this section for each calendar quarter within 15 days of the end of the calendar quarter. The Responsible Party will keep the quarterly measures posted on OASIS for five calendar years.

(i) Posting data related to grants and denials of service. The Responsible Party is required to post data each month listing, by path or flowgate, the number of transmission service requests that have been accepted and the number of transmission service requests that have been denied during the prior month. This posting must distinguish between the length of the service request (e.g., short-term or long-term requests) and between the type of service requested (e.g., firm point-to-point, non-firm point-to-point or network service). The posted data must show:

(1) The number of non-Affiliate requests for transmission service that have been rejected,

(2) The total number of non-Affiliate requests for transmission service that have been made,

(3) The number of Affiliate requests for transmission service, including requests by the transmission provider's merchant function to designate a network resource or to procure secondary network service, that have been rejected, and

(4) The total number of Affiliate requests for transmission service, including requests by the transmission provider's merchant function to designate, or terminate the designation of, a network resource or to procure secondary network service, that have been made.

(j) Posting redispatch data.

(1) The Transmission Provider must allow the posting on OASIS of any third party offer to relieve a specified congested transmission facility.

(2) The Transmission Provider must post on OASIS (i) its monthly average cost of planning and reliability redispatch, for which it invoices customers, at each internal transmission facility or interface over which it provides redispatch service and (ii) a high and low redispatch cost for the month for each of these same transmission facilities. The transmission provider must post this data on OASIS as soon as practical after the end of each month, but no later than when it sends invoices to transmission customers for redispatch-related services.

(k) Posting of historical area control error data. The Transmission Provider must post on OASIS historical one-minute and ten-minute area control error data for the most recent calendar year, and update this posting once per year.

[Order 889, 61 FR 21764, May 10, 1996, as amended by Order 889-A, 62 FR 12503, Mar. 14, 1997; Order 605, 64 FR 34124, June 25, 1999; Order 2004, 68 FR 69157, Dec. 11, 2003; Order 890, 72 FR 12493, Mar. 15, 2007; Order 890-A, 73 FR 3111, Jan. 16, 2008; Order 784, 78 FR 46210, July 30, 2013]

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§37.7 Auditing Transmission Service Information.

(a) All OASIS database transactions, except other transmission-related communications provided for under §37.6(g)(2), must be stored, dated, and time stamped.

(b) Audit data must remain available for download on the OASIS for 90 days, except ATC/TTC postings that must remain available for download on the OASIS for 20 days. The audit data are to be retained and made available upon request for download for five years from the date when they are first posted in the same electronic form as used when they originally were posted on the OASIS.

[Order 889, 61 FR 21764, May 10, 1996, as amended by Order 889-A, 62 FR 12504, Mar. 14, 1997; Order 890, 72 FR 12496, Mar. 15, 2007]

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§37.8 Obligations of OASIS users.

Each OASIS user must notify the Responsible Party one month in advance of initiating a significant amount of automated queries. The OASIS user must also notify the Responsible Party one month in advance of expected significant increases in the volume of automated queries.

[Order 605, 64 FR 34124, June 25, 1999]

PART 38—STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND COMMUNICATIONS

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

§38.2 Communication and information sharing among public utilities and pipelines.

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

Source: Order 676, 71 FR 26212, May 4, 2006, unless otherwise noted.

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

(a) Any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce or for the sale of electric energy at wholesale in interstate commerce and any non-public utility that seeks voluntary compliance with jurisdictional transmission tariff reciprocity conditions must comply with the business practice and electronic communication standards promulgated by the North American Energy Standards Board Wholesale Electric Quadrant that are incorporated by reference in paragraph (b) of this section. The material incorporated by reference in this section was approved by the Director of the Federal Register in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Copies of these standards may be obtained from the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB), 801 Travis Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002, Tel: (713) 356-0060. NAESB's Web site is at http://www.naesb.org/. Copies of these standards may be inspected at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First Street NE., Washington, DC 20426, Tel: (202) 02-8371, http://www.ferc.gov, or at the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability of this material at NARA, call 202-741-6030, or go to: http://www.archives.gov/federal__register/code__of__federal__regulations/ibr__locations.html.

(b) The business practice and electronic communication standards the Commission incorporates by reference are as follows:

(1) WEQ-000, Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB final actions ratified on Oct. 4, 2012, Nov. 28, 2012 and Dec. 28, 2012 (with minor corrections applied Nov. 26, 2013);

(2) WEQ-001, Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS), OASIS Version 2.0, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB final actions ratified on Dec. 28, 2012 (with minor corrections applied Nov. 26, 2013) excluding Standards 001-9.5, 001-10.5, 001-14.1.3, 001-15.1.2 and 001-106.2.5;

(3) WEQ-002, Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) Business Practice Standards and Communication Protocols (S&CP), OASIS Version 2.0, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB final actions ratified on Nov. 28, 2012 and Dec. 28, 2012 (with minor corrections applied Nov. 26, 2013);

(4) WEQ-003, Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) Data Dictionary Business Practice Standards, OASIS Version 2.0, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB final actions ratified on Dec. 28, 2012 (with minor corrections applied Nov. 26, 2013);

(5) WEQ-004, Coordinate Interchange, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012 (with Final Action ratified December 28, 2012);

(6) WEQ-005, Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012;

(7) WEQ-006, Manual Time Error Correction, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012;

(8) WEQ-007, Inadvertent Interchange Payback WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012;

(9) WEQ-008, Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)—Eastern Interconnection, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012 (with minor corrections applied November 28, 2012);

(10) WEQ-011, Gas/Electric Coordination, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012;

(11) WEQ-012, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI), WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012 (with Final Actions ratified on October 4, 2012);

(12) WEQ-013, Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS) Implementation Guide, OASIS Version 2.0, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012, as modified by NAESB final actions ratified on Dec. 28, 2012 (with minor corrections applied Nov. 26, 2013).

(13) WEQ-015, Measurement and Verification of Wholesale Electricity Demand Response, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012; and

(14) WEQ-021, Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency Products, WEQ Version 003, July 31, 2012.

[79 FR 56954, Sept. 24, 2014, as amended at 79 FR 60953, Oct. 9, 2014]

§38.2 Communication and information sharing among public utilities and pipelines.

(a) Any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce is authorized to share non-public, operational information with a pipeline, as defined in §284.12(b)(4) of this chapter, or another public utility covered by this section for the purpose of promoting reliable service or operational planning.

(b) Except as permitted in paragraph (a) of this section, a public utility, as defined in this section, and its employees, contractors, consultants, and agents are prohibited from disclosing, or using anyone as a conduit for the disclosure of, non-public, operational information received from a pipeline pursuant to §284.12(b)(4) of this chapter to a third party or to its marketing function employees as that term is defined in §358.3(d) of this chapter.

[78 FR 70187, Nov. 22, 2013]