FERC-714 OMB # 1902-0140
IC22-6-000
Supporting Statement for
FERC-714, (Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report)
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) requests the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approve the extension of FERC Form No. 714 (also called FERC-714) (Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report; OMB Control No. 1902-0140) for an additional three years.
CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MAKE THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY
The Federal Power Act authorizes the Commission to collect information from electric utility balancing authorities and planning areas in the United States for the purpose of analyzing power system operations. These analyses estimate the effect of changes in power system operations resulting from the installation of a new generating unit, plant, or transmission facilities, as well as the effects of energy transfers between systems and/or new points of interconnection. Also, these analyses assist with evaluating rates and charges, assessing reliability, and other operating attributes in regulatory proceedings, monitoring market trends and behaviors, and determining the competitive impacts of proposed mergers, acquisitions, and dispositions.
HOW, BY WHOM, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE THE INFORMATION IS TO BE USED AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT COLLECTING THE INFORMATION
The Commission uses FERC Form No. 714 data to analyze power system operations. The result of these analyses estimate the effect of changes in power system operations resulting from the installation of a new generating unit or plant, transmission facilities, energy transfers between systems, and/or new points of interconnections. FERC Form No. 714 data assists in providing a broad picture of interconnected balancing authority area operations including comprehensive information of balancing authority area generation, actual and scheduled inter-balancing authority area power transfers, and net energy for load, summer and winter generation peaks and system lambda. The Commission also uses the data to prepare status reports on the electric utility industry including a review of inter-balancing authority area bulk power trade information.
The Commission uses the collected data from planning areas to monitor forecasted demands by electric utilities with fundamental demand responsibilities and to develop hourly demand characteristics.
The consequence of not collecting the information contained within the FERC Form No. 714 would cause a lack of support for the Commission’s regulatory functions associated with the processing of rate applications and cases, proposed mergers and dispositions of jurisdictional facilities, and understanding of the planning and operational needs of the grid. The consequene would cause the Commission, other federal and state regulatory agencies, transmission users, and the public to lose the capability of monitoring the operations of the wholesale electric market for possible abuses of market power and the environment, and prevent the efforts of electric utility entities in ensuring that resource capabilities could sufficiently and reliably meet system peak and forecast loads.
DESCRIBE ANY CONSIDERATION OF THE USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE THE BURDEN AND TECHNICAL OR LEGAL OBSTACLES TO REDUCING BURDEN
The purpose of the Forms Refresh effort is to transition from a software platform which is no longer supported by the vendor to a modern and efficient approach. The use of XBRL should make the information in these forms easier for filers to submit and data users to analyze, and assist in automating regulatory filings.
DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO IDENTIFY DUPLICATION AND SHOW SPECIFICALLY WHY ANY SIMILAR INFORMATION ALREADY AVAILABLE CANNOT BE USED OR MODIFIED FOR USE FOR THE PURPOSE(S) DESCRIBED IN INSTRUCTION NO. 2
As relates to the FERC Form No. 714, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) implemented a data collection of hourly electric power data from all entities in the contiguous United States that are listed in the NERC Compliance Registry as a balancing authority. The EIA-930: Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report, requires the filing of hourly balancing authority operating data including day-ahead demand forecast, actual demand, net generation, and net metered tie line flow to EIA. The data is posted onto a publicly available website1 and can be used to monitor the near-real time status and trends of the electric power industry and to support the enhancement of electric system operations.
However, the EIA-930 does not include more granular data on generating plant capabilities, identification of adjacent interconnections, or system lambda. Also, there are no other Federal agencies responsible for obtaining planning area-level data consisting of forecasted demands and hourly demand characteristics from electric utility entities with fundamental demand responsibilities.
METHODS USED TO MINIMIZE THE BURDEN IN COLLECTION OF INFORMATION INVOLVING SMALL ENTITIES
The Commission requires each balancing authority area and each electric utility with its planning area annual peak demand greater than 200 megawatts (MW) for the reporting year, to file a FERC Form No. 714 as a means of reducing burden for small entities. This 200 MW threshold can result in a slight variation year to year in the number of balancing authorities and planning areas that are required to file the FERC Form No. 714. Small entities may have personnel constraintsand a significant increase in burden may be caused by requiring these entities to submit the FERC Form No. 714 filing. Thus, setting a 200 MW threshold exempts many of these small entities from having to respond to this collection.
CONSEQUENCE TO FEDERAL PROGRAM IF COLLECTION WERE CONDUCTED LESS FREQUENTLY
The FERC-714 information collected is used on a continual basis by: (1) the Commission to review rates and charges, reliability issues and market structure relationships; (2) the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to monitor the environmental impacts of electric generation as the power industry has become more competitive; (3) the U.S. Energy Information Administration to model various electricity markets; and (4) other federal and state regulatory authorities, market participants and the public to access and monitor the wholesale electric market and to determine the competitive impacts of proposed mergers and acquisitions.
Some of the information in particular filings may change markedly from one year to the next. If the information were collected less frequently, the Commission would have difficulty performing its mandated review and oversight in a timely and accurate manner.
EXPLAIN ANY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES RELATING TO THE INFORMATION COLLECTION
There are no special circumstances related to this information.
DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO CONSULT OUTSIDE THE AGENCY: SUMMARIZE PUBLIC COMMENTS AND THE AGENCY’S RESPONSE
The commission issued the 60-day notice on January 11, 2022 to eLibrary and published the notice to the Federal Register on January 18, 2022 (87 FR 2603). No comments were received during the 60-day comment period. The 30-day notice was issued on March 25, 2022 and published on March 31, 2022 ( 87 FR 18783) respectively.
EXPLAIN ANY PAYMENT OR GIFTS TO RESPONDENTS
There are no payments or gifts to respondents.
DESCRIBE ANY ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY PROVIDED TO RESPONDENTS
The Commission does not consider the information collected in filings to be confidential. However, the Commission will consider specific requests for confidential treatment (e.g. Critical Energy/Electric Infrastructure Information [CEII] or non-public) to the extent permitted by law.2 The Commission will review each request for confidential treatment on a case-by-case basis.
PROVIDE ADDITIONAL JUSTIFICATION FOR ANY QUESTIONS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE, SUCH AS SEXUAL BEHAVIOR AND ATTITUDES, RELIGIOUS BELIEFS, AND OTHER MATTERS THAT ARE COMMONLY CONSIDERED PRIVATE.
There are no questions of a sensitive nature.
ESTIMATED BURDEN OF COLLECTION OF INFORMATION
The Commission estimates the annual public reporting burden and cost3 (rounded) for the information collection as follows:
FERC-714 (Annual Electric Balancing Authority Area and Planning Area Report) |
|||||
Number
of Respondents |
Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2) |
Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3) |
Average Burden & Cost Per Response (4) |
Total Annual Burden Hours & Total Annual Cost (3)*(4)=(5) |
Cost per Respondent ($) (5)÷(1) |
176
|
1 |
176 |
93.33 hrs.; $7,279.74 |
16,426.67 hrs.; $1,281,280.26 |
$7,279.74
|
ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS
There are no non-labor costs. All costs are related to burden hours and are addressed in Questions #12.
14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT
|
|
Number of Employees (FTEs) |
Estimated Annual Federal Cost |
Analysis and Processing of filings4
|
|
0.25 |
$36,140.60 |
|
- |
$8,279 |
|
Capital Cost8 |
|
0 |
0 |
FERC Total |
|
|
$44,419.60 |
The Commission bases its estimate of the “Analysis and Processing of filings” cost to the Federal Government on salaries and benefits for professional and clerical support. This estimated cost represents staff analysis, decision making, and review of any actual filings made in response to the information collection.
15. REASONS FOR CHANGES IN BURDEN INCLUDING THE NEED FOR ANY INCREASE
This renewal presented no program or burden changes.
The requirements in FERC Form 714 did not change. The Commission determined the annual number of responses by referencing the NERC Compliance Registry list. The registered entities that possessed either a balancing authority or planning area function were aggregated to determine the total number of responses. The annual number of affected entities and responses is not expected to change.
The following table shows the total burden of the collection of information. The format, labels, and definitions of the table follow the ROCIS submission system’s “Information Collection Request Summary of Burden” for the metadata.
FERC Form714 |
Total Request |
Previously Approved |
Change due to Adjustment in Estimate |
Change Due to Agency Discretion |
Annual Number of Responses |
176 |
176 |
0 |
0 |
Annual Time Burden (Hr.) |
16,427 |
16,427 |
0 |
0 |
Annual Cost Burden ($) |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
16. TIME SCHEDULE FOR PUBLICATION OF DATA
There is no publication of data.
17. DISPLAY OF EXPIRATION DATE
The expiration date is displayed in a table posted on ferc.gov at https://www.ferc.gov/information-collections.
18. EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT
There are no exceptions.
Reference:
EIA-930 Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report
Collects hourly electric system operating data from electricity Balancing Authorities in the contiguous United States. Data collected include system demand, net generation, and interchange and is submitted on an hourly (for demand) and daily (for all data types) basis.
1 The EIA-930: Hourly and Daily Balancing Authority Operations Report
EIA-930 Instructions approved under (OMB# 1902-0129)
References at the end of the Supporting Statement.
2 18 C.F.R. §§ 388.112 and 388.113. More information on the CEII definition, program and requirements is posted at http://www.ferc.gov/legal/ceii-foia/ceii.asp.
3 The hourly cost (for salary plus benefits) uses the figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2021, for the listed reporting requirements. These figures include salary (https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/naics2_22.htm ) and benefits http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecec.nr0.htm) and are:
Management (Code 11-0000), $97.89/hr.
Computer and mathematical (Code 15-0000), $65.73/hr.
Electrical Engineers (Code 17-2071), $72.15/hr.
Economist (Code 19-3011), $75.75/hr.
Computer and Information Systems Managers (Code 11-3021), $103.61/hr.
Accountants and Auditors (Code 13-2011), $57.41/hr.
Transportation, Storage, and Distribution Managers (Code 11-3071), $86.80/hr.
Power Distributors and Dispatchers (Code 51-8012), $63.74/hr.
The average hourly cost (wages plus benefits) for the above wages is $77.89/hour (rounded to $78.00/hour)
4 The cost figure is the 2021 FERC average salary plus benefits ($180,703/year or $87/hour). FERC staff estimates that industry costs for salary plus benefits are similar to Commission costs.
5 The 0.2 FTE analysis and processing of filings and 75% IT work (including maintenance and troubleshooting).
6 Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 (PRA).
7 The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Administrative Cost is a Federal Cost associated with preparing, issuing, and submitting materials necessary to comply with the PRA for rulemakings, orders, or any other vehicle used to create, modify, extend, or discontinue an information collection. This average annual cost includes requests for extensions, all associated rulemakings, and other changes to the collection, as well as necessary publications in the Federal Register.
8 FERC has no additional capital cost because we are not making changes to the current collection or system at this time.
The FERC-714 is part of the Forms Refresh effort in Docket No. RM19-12; that docket and associated changes are addressed separately and not in this renewal request.
| File Type | application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.document |
| File Title | RM19-12-000 Final Rule supporting statement |
| Author | Michele Chambers |
| File Modified | 0000-00-00 |
| File Created | 2022-04-05 |