Explanation of data fields on e-Tag and additional background

Background on what is included on an E-Tag.

Order No. 771 requires certain entities to ensure Commission access to e-Tags using existing, largely automated procedures. As explained in Order No. 771, we expect that the burden associated with effectuating this requirement to be minimal.¹

The electronic data contained in e-Tags provides the details associated with an interchange schedule. Regional Balancing Authorities are responsible for maintaining the reliability of the power grid in their specified area. When someone wants to send electricity from one Balancing Authority area to another, it needs an interchange schedule to assure that the Balancing Authority area where the electricity is going (and other Balancing Authorities that may be located along the transmission path) can handle the imported electricity. The e-Tag tells relevant parties the details of the interchange schedule, including volume information and the particular parties involved in transactions. E-Tags can be used by Balancing Authorities to relieve transmission congestion by providing the information necessary to identify which specific transactions may need to be curtailed, when appropriate, to alleviate the congestion.

We have included an example from a NERC publication that shows a simple example of a generic e-Tag as a separate supplementary document. As the attached example shows, e-Tags contain multiple sections (generation, transmission, load, market path, energy profiles, and transmission allocation profiles). Unlike the included example, however, in a real e-Tag, these sections can change many times and the real e-Tag contains a history of those changes.

The following describes the different sections of the e-Tag:

• Generation – identifies the entity (purchasing selling entity, or PSE) that is responsible for providing generation.

• Transmission – identifies the transmission providers (TP) responsible for providing service. More detailed transmission information is found in the transmission allocation profiles section (below).

• Load – identifies the PSE that is responsible for serving load.

• Market path – identifies the entities that hold title to electricity. This will include the generation and load PSEs as well as intermediary marketers.

• Energy profile – identifies when the energy schedule will begin and end as well as associated MW amounts.

• Transmission allocation profiles - states the transmission reservation that is used (OASIS #), priority of transmission (Product) as well as details on how that transmission is being used (duration and MWs). Transmission reservation(s) are necessary when scheduling an e-Tag and are purchased prior to the e-Tag being created.

The e-Tag will also contain a distribution list that includes all parties with whom the e-Tag should be shared (not included in the attached example). All parties identified in the e-Tag are included in the distribution of the e-Tag. Additionally, the parties involved in the e-Tag may optionally include others parties not directly involved in the interchange schedule in the e-Tag CC list (the CC list is used, in part, to build the distribution list).

Order 771 does not require changes to the e-Tag data structure (the CC list existed prior to Order No. 771). Rather, the Order requires certain entities to ensure the Commission has access to e-Tag data.

1 The data on an e-Tag is not part of the burden the Commission is imposing. E-Tag creation is an existing business practice. Rather, the Commission requires entities only to include the Commission on the ‘CC’ list (described further in this document).