RM05-5-31 NOPR (Published)

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Proposed Rules
(i) Transport Canada AD CF–2023–67,
dated October 4, 2023.
(ii) [Reserved]
(3) For Transport Canada AD CF–2023–67,
contact Transport Canada, Transport Canada
National Aircraft Certification, 159 Cleopatra
Drive, Nepean, Ontario K1A 0N5, Canada;
telephone 888–663–3639; email
[email protected]. You
may find this Transport Canada AD on the
Transport Canada website at tc.canada.ca/
en/aviation.
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Issued on April 26, 2024.
James D. Foltz,
Deputy Director, Compliance & Airworthiness
Division, Aircraft Certification Service.
[FR Doc. 2024–09506 Filed 5–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 4910–13–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
18 CFR Parts 2 and 38
[Docket No. RM05–5–031]

Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission.
ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.
AGENCY:

The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission proposes to
amend its regulations to incorporate by
reference, with certain exceptions, the
latest version (Version 004) of the
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities adopted by the Wholesale
Electric Quadrant of the North
American Energy Standards Board.
DATES: Comments are due July 5, 2024.
ADDRESSES: Comments, identified by
docket number, may be filed in the
following ways. Electronic filing
through http://www.ferc.gov, is
preferred.
• Electronic Filing: Documents must
be filed in acceptable native
SUMMARY:

37147

applications and print-to-PDF, but not
in scanned or picture format.
• For those unable to file
electronically, comments may be filed
by USPS mail or by hand (including
courier) delivery.
Æ Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only:
Addressed to: Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the
Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426.
Æ Hand (Including Courier) Delivery:
Deliver to: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue,
Rockville, MD 20852.
The Comment Procedures Section of
this document contains more detailed
filing procedures.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
John O. Sillin (technical issues), Office
of Energy Policy and Innovation,
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street, NE,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502–
6548
Veronica Norman (legal issues), Office
of the General Counsel, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Washington, DC
20426, (202) 502–8751
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
Paragraph No.

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I. Overview ...........................................................................................................................................................................................
II. Background ......................................................................................................................................................................................
III. Discussion ......................................................................................................................................................................................
A. Modifications to Previous Version of Standards ......................................................................................................................
1. Modifications in Response to Commission Order Nos. 676–I and 676–J ...............................................................................
2. Modifications To Support Cybersecurity for the Wholesale Electric Industry ..........................................................................
3. Modifications To Complement NERC Reliability Standards ....................................................................................................
4. Modifications to the WEQ OASIS Business Practice Standards .............................................................................................
5. Modifications To Coordinate Interchange Standards ...............................................................................................................
6. Modifications to Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Defined Terms ..............................................................................................
7. Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificates Contract .................................................................................................................
8. Minor Corrections .....................................................................................................................................................................
B. New Sets of Standards ...................................................................................................................................................................
1. WEQ–024 Cybersecurity .......................................................................................................................................................
2. WEQ–025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions ..................................................................................
C. Standards the Commission Proposes Not To Incorporate by Reference ......................................................................................
1. WEQ–010 Contracts Related Business Practice Standards .................................................................................................
2. WEQ–025 Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions ..................................................................................
D. Proposed Implementation Procedures ....................................................................................................................................
IV. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards ........................................................................................................................
V. Incorporation by Reference .............................................................................................................................................................
VI. Information Collection Statement ...................................................................................................................................................
VII. Environmental Analysis .................................................................................................................................................................
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act ..............................................................................................................................................................
IX. Comment Procedures ....................................................................................................................................................................
X. Document Availability ......................................................................................................................................................................

I. Overview

enumerated exceptions,1 the latest

1. The Federal Energy Regulatory
(Commission) proposes to amend its
regulations at 18 CFR 38.1(b) to
incorporate by reference, with certain

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1.
2.
5.
9.
9.
19.
22.
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34.
36.
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38.
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48.
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1 In addition to the standards discussed below
that are not proposed for incorporation by
reference, the Commission is not proposing to
incorporate by reference the following: (1) the
WEQ–009 Standards of Conduct for Electric
Transmission Providers, which NAESB has
eliminated as they duplicate the Commission’s

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regulations; and (2) the WEQ–014 WEQ/WGQ
eTariff Related Business Practice Standards, which
provide an implementation guide describing the
various mechanisms, data tables, code values/

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37148

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Proposed Rules

version (Version 004) of the Standards
for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities adopted by the Wholesale
Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North
American Energy Standards Board
(NAESB) (WEQ Version 004 Standards)
applicable to the wholesale electric
industry. NAESB is an American
National Standards Institute-accredited,
non-profit standards development
organization formed for the purpose of
developing voluntary standards and
model business practices that promote
more competitive and efficient natural
gas and electric markets. On July 31,
2023, NAESB filed a notice that it had
approved and published the WEQ
Version 004 Standards to replace the
currently incorporated version (Version
003.3) of those business practice
standards (Informational Report).2 The
revisions made by NAESB in the WEQ
Version 004 Standards are designed to
aid public utilities with the consistent
and uniform implementation of
requirements promulgated by the
Commission as part of the pro forma
Open Access Transmission Tariff.
II. Background
2. Since 2006, the Commission has
adopted in its regulations NAESB’s
business practice standards and
communication protocols for public
utilities, promulgated in the Order No.
697 series of orders,3 wherein the

Commission incorporated by reference
the standards for public utilities
developed by NAESB’s WEQ. Upon
incorporation by reference, this version
of the standard will replace the
currently incorporated version (Version
003.3) of those business practice
standards.
3. On July 31, 2023, NAESB filed a
report informing the Commission that it
had approved and published the WEQ
Version 004 Standards. NAESB states
that the WEQ Version 004 Standards
include newly created standards, as
well as modifications to existing
standards, developed through the
NAESB standards development process.
WEQ Version 004 Standards build upon
WEQ Version 003.3 Standards and
include standards developed in
response to the directives from Order
Nos. 676–I and 676–J,4 business practice
standards developed to support
cybersecurity for the wholesale electric
industry, modifications to complement
the NERC Reliability Standards, the new
NAESB Base Contract for Sale and
Purchase of Voluntary Renewable
Energy Certificates (NAESB REC
Contract), and standards to identify
definitions for common grid services to
support distributed energy resource
interactions in response to a request
submitted by the Department of Energy
(DOE), Lawrence Berkeley National
Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and Pacific

Standard No.

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WEQ–000
WEQ–001
WEQ–002
WEQ–003
WEQ–004
WEQ–005
WEQ–006
WEQ–008
WEQ–010
WEQ–012
WEQ–013
WEQ–015
WEQ–021
WEQ–022
WEQ–023

Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL).
Additionally, WEQ Version 004
Standards include modifications
applied to Open Access Same-Time
Information Systems (OASIS) Business
Practice Standards, the Coordinate
Interchange Business Practice
Standards, and the Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Defined Terms.
4. The Informational Report includes
an overview of all standard additions,
modifications, and reservations applied
to Version 004 of the WEQ Business
Practice Standards and summarizes the
deliberations that led to the changes. It
also identifies changes to the existing
standards that were considered but not
adopted.5
III. Discussion
5. In this notice of proposed
rulemaking (NOPR), we propose to
incorporate by reference into the
Commission’s regulations at 18 CFR
38.1(b) the WEQ Version 004 Standards
as developed by NAESB, with certain
exceptions.6 In the subsections that
follow, we provide the summary
required by the Office of Federal
Register regulations. As an initial
matter, we note that the WEQ Version
004 Standards include modifications,
reservations, and additions to the
following set of existing WEQ
Standards, i.e., the Version 003.3
Business Practice Standards.

Business practice standards

..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................
..................................................

Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms.
OASIS.
OASIS Standards and Communication Protocol (S&CP).
OASIS Data Dictionary.
Coordinate Interchange.
Area Control Error Equation Special Cases.
Manual Time Error Correction.
Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)—Eastern Interconnection.
Contracts Related Business Practice Standards.
Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
OASIS Implementation Guide.
Measurement and Verification of Wholesale Electricity Demand Response.
Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency Products.
Electric Industry Registry.
Modeling.

6. Additionally, the WEQ Version 004
Business Practice Standards include two
new sets of standards:
reference tables, and technical specifications used
in the submission of electronic tariff filings to the
Commission, which the Commission has not
incorporated as these submittals are governed by
the Commission’s eTariff regulations.
2 See NAESB WEQ Business Practice Standards
Version 004 Report, Docket No. RM05–5–31, (filed
July 31, 2023).

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3 This series of orders began with the
Commission’s issuance of Standards for Bus.
Practices & Commc’n Protocols for Pub. Utils.,
Order No. 676, 71 FR 26,199 (May 4, 2006), 115
FERC ¶ 61,102 (2006).
4 See Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc’n
Protocols for Pub. Utils., Order No. 676–I, 85 FR
10571 (Feb. 25, 2020), 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 (2020);
Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc’n Protocols

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for Pub. Utils., No. 676–J, 86 FR 29,491 (Jun. 2,
2021), 175 FERC ¶ 61,139 (2021).
5 Since the publication of WEQ Version 003.3,
sixteen standards development efforts have resulted
in recommendations from WEQ subcommittees for
no action.
6 In the discussion below, we identify the NAESB
WEQ Version 004 Standards that we propose not to
incorporate by reference.

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Proposed Rules
WEQ–024 ..................................................
WEQ–025 ..................................................

Cybersecurity.
Grid Services Supporting Wholesale Electric Interactions.

7. As the Commission found in Order
No. 676, adoption of consensus
standards is appropriate because the
consensus process helps ensure the
reasonableness of the standards by
requiring that the standards draw
support from a broad spectrum of all
segments of the industry. Moreover,
since the industry itself conducts
business under these standards, the
Commission’s regulations should reflect
those standards that have the widest
possible support. In section 12(d) of the
National Technology Transfer and
Advancement Act of 1995, Congress
affirmatively requires Federal Agencies
to use technical standards developed by
voluntary consensus standards
organizations, such as NAESB, as a
means of carrying out policy objectives
or activities unless use of such
standards would be inconsistent with
applicable law or otherwise
impractical.7
8. We discuss below some specific
aspects of NAESB’s informational
report. The following paragraphs
describe NAESB’s proposed
modifications, reservations, and
additions to its existing standards,
which collectively produce NAESB’s
proposed WEQ Version 004 Standards.
The paragraphs also describe relevant
background information and impetuses
for the changes.
A. Modifications to Previous Version of
Standards

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1. Modifications in Response to
Commission Order Nos. 676–I and 676–
J
9. WEQ Version 004 contains
modifications made in response to
directives contained in Order Nos. 676–
I and 676–J and related industrysubmitted standards requests under
three separate standards development
efforts related to standards for
redirection of transmission, time error
correction, and contract path
management. As part of these efforts,
NAESB modified the WEQ–000
Abbreviations, Acronyms, and
Definition of Terms, WEQ–001 OASIS
Business Practice Standards, WEQ–003
OASIS Data Dictionary Business
Practice Standards, WEQ–006 Manual
Time Error Correction Business Practice
Standards, WEQ–013 OASIS
Implementation Guide Business Practice
7 Public Law 104–113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996),
15 U.S.C. 272 note (1997).

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Standards, and WEQ–023 Modeling
Business Practice Standards.
a. Standards for Redirection of
Transmission Service
10. In response to Order No. 676–I,8
NAESB revised the WEQ–001, WEQ–
003, and WEQ–013 standards to provide
greater specificity regarding the
transmission service reservation process
that applies to redirection of
transmission service (redirects) on a
firm and non-firm basis, consistent with
the Commission’s Dynegy 9 policy
addressing a customer’s right to keep its
contractual rights to point-to-point firm
transmission service on the original
path it has reserved while the
customer’s request for a redirect is
pending.10 In Dynegy Power Marketing,
Inc. v. Southwest Power Pool, Inc., the
Commission held that a transmission
customer receiving firm transmission
service does not lose its rights to its
original path until the redirect request
satisfies all of the following criteria: (1)
it is accepted by the transmission
provider; (2) it is confirmed by the
transmission customer; and (3) it passes
the conditional reservation deadline
under section 13.2 of the transmission
provider’s OATT.
11. In Order No. 676–I, the
Commission incorporated by reference
the NAESB standards, except for the
preambles in WEQ–001–9 and WEQ
001–10. The Commission declined to
incorporate by reference the two
preambles because they appeared to
permit transmission providers the
option to implement their own entityspecific procedures, which would not
have ensured consistency across the
bulk power system.11 The Commission
also specified which firm parent
reservations would be afforded the
protection of the Dynegy policy and
limited the Dynegy policy to redirects
from unconditional firm service.12
12. In response to Order No. 676–I,
NAESB conducted a full review of both
the WEQ–001–9 and WEQ–001–10
NAESB Standards to identify any
shortcomings and modifications needed
to comply with the Commission’s
8 Order

No. 676–I, 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 at PP 35–

39.
9 99 FERC ¶ 61,054, at P 9 (2002) (Dynegy). This
policy was retained and clarified in Entergy
Services, Inc., 143 FERC ¶ 61,143, at PP 30–33
(2013) (Entergy).
10 Order No. 676–I, 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 at P 3.
11 Order No. 676–I, 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 at PP 37–
38.
12 Id. P 36.

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conclusions and with Dynegy. The
proposed standards provide additional
details regarding the treatment of
redirects from unconditional and
conditional parent transmission service
reservations, require redirects of nonfirm transmission service to be from
unconditional parent transmission
service reservations, and require resales
of transmission service to be from
unconditional parent transmission
service reservations. Further, the
modified standards establish a
mechanism to allow capacity to be
returned from a redirect of firm
transmission service to the parent
transmission service reservation.
b. Time Error Correction
13. In Order No. 676–I, the
Commission found that NAESB had not
provided sufficient justification for
retiring the Time Error Correction
standard (WEQ–006), as it had
proposed. The Commission instead left
in place the incorporation by reference
of the time error correction standard in
the prior version of the standards (WEQ
Version 003.1).13 The Commission
requested that public utilities work
through the NAESB business practices
development process to revisit the
rationale for removing the Time Error
Correction standards to determine
whether they should be retained or
revised.
14. In response to the Commission in
Order No. 676–I, NAESB revised WEQ–
006 Manual Time Error Correction
Business Practice Standards to address
commercial requirements for entities
calling for manual time error corrections
in accordance with the NERC Time
Monitoring Reference Document
Version 5.14 Under the revised
standards, Interconnection Time
Monitors are required to monitor Time
Error and make a reasonable effort to
initiate or terminate corrective action
orders according to the table in the
standards when the time is slow or fast.
The standards further require that, when
any balancing authority has been
separated from the Interconnection,
after reconnection, it is required to
adjust its Time Error devices to coincide
with the Time Error of the
Interconnection Time Monitor. These
requirements do not apply to balancing
authorities and Interconnection Time
13 Order

676–I, 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 at P 46.
American Electric Reliability
Corporation, Time Monitoring Reference Document,
Version 5 (2019).
14 North

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Monitors that use automatic Time Error
Correction procedures.
c. Contract Path Management
15. In Order No. 676–J, the
Commission incorporated by reference
all the WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards as included in WEQ
Version 003.3 Standards, which had two
new standards—WEQ–023–1.4 and
–1.4.1—related to contract path
management not previously included in
the NERC MOD A Reliability Standards.
Those standards limited the amount of
firm transmission service granted on an
Available Transfer Capability (ATC)
Path and limited the interchange
schedule (both firm and non-firm)
between balancing authority areas to the
contract path limit for that given path,
respectively. Bonneville Power
Administration (BPA) and the ISO/RTO
Council objected to these standards,
contending that the standards interfere
with the way service providers schedule
their systems and that the standards
may result in less efficient use of ATC.
Notwithstanding these objections, the
Commission incorporated these
standards by reference, finding that
declining to adopt these standards could
loosen the requirements for nondiscriminatory calculation of ATC.
However, the Commission urged
NAESB to consider the issues raised as
to whether revisions to the standards
would be warranted.15
16. In response, NAESB modified the
WEQ–023 Modeling Business Practice
Standards to allow the contract path
limit to be exceeded for a certain period
of time prior to the start of flow.16
Specifically, the revisions to WEQ–023–
1.4 and WEQ–023–1.4.1 were modified
to better accommodate individual
transmission provider business
practices that may, for scheduling
efficiency purposes, allow a contract
path limit to be exceeded for a certain
period prior to the implementation of
the interchange schedule.17 The
modification to WEQ–023–1.4.1
stipulates that when a transmission
provider is determining whether to
approve a request for firm transmission
service, the transmission provider will
consider the methodology used by other
transmission providers and determine
whether there is agreement between the
methodologies.
17. The modifications to WEQ–023–
1.4.1 provide clarity by establishing a
cutoff time by which transmission
providers must ensure that the net
interchange schedule does not exceed
15 Order

No. 676–J, 175 FERC ¶ 61,139 at P 30.
Report at 8.

16 Informational
17 Id.

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the contract path limit. The revisions
also include changes to ensure
consistency with WEQ–023–1.4, as well
as changes to clarify that entities using
conditional firm transmission service
may exceed the firm limit transfers in
accordance with WEQ–001.21.
18. The revised standards proposed
for incorporation by reference provide
increased flexibility for transmission
providers to maximize the use of the
transmission system while still
preventing the allocation of firm
transmission service that exceeds
transfer capability.
2. Modifications To Support
Cybersecurity for the Wholesale Electric
Industry
19. In addition to the addition of a
new set of standards, WEQ–024
Cybersecurity Business Practice
Standards (see section III.B.1 below),
NAESB made modifications to WEQ–
012 to support the issuance of serverside or transport layer security
certificates by NAESB Authorized
Certification Authorities (ACA).
20. The modifications to WEQ–012
standards incorporate best industry
practices regarding the issuance of
server-side or transport layer security
server certificates by a certificate
authority and allow a NAESB ACA to
issue code-signing certificates that can
be used to verify software and other
executables in support of the NERC
CIP–010 Security—Configuration
Change Management and Vulnerability
Assessments Reliability Standard. As
part of these modifications, any digital
certificate issued by a NAESB ACA
must clearly and uniquely identify the
organizational affiliation of the
certificate holder. Identification is done
through the inclusion of the company’s
Entity Code, an alphanumeric code that
uniquely identifies an entity registered
in the NAESB Electric Industry Registry
(EIR), in the Organization Unit field of
the certificate. Recent changes to
industry practices facilitated through
the Certification Authority Browser
Forum have halted use of the
Organization Unit field in server-side/
transport layer security certificates
issued by any certificate authority.
21. Additional modifications were
made to the NAESB Accreditation
Requirements for ACAs. The
modifications will allow NAESB ACAs
to issue code signing certificates that
can be used by industry to authenticate
software and other executable computer
files from third parties. The
modifications are supportive of
Reliability Standard CIP–010 Cyber
Security—Configuration Change
Management and Vulnerability

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Assessments Reliability Standards
require verification of the identity of a
software source.
3. Modifications To Complement NERC
Reliability Standards
22. WEQ Version 004 Standards
include revisions to complement the
NERC Reliability Standards, including
modifications to be consistent with the
NERC Glossary. The revisions modified
WEQ–005–1.2.1 and WEQ–005–1.2.2
and created four new standards—WEQ–
005–1.2.1.1, WEQ–005–1.2.1.2, WEQ–
005–1.2.2.1, and WEQ–005–1.2.2.2. The
changes were made to provide further
clarity on the incorporation of jointly
owned units into the ACE equation and
to ensure consistency in the use of
terminology between the WEQ Business
Practice Standards and the NERC
Dynamic Transfer Reference Document,
which provides reliability guidance on
the use of pseudo-ties and dynamic
schedules in a balancing authority’s
ACE equations.18 Changes ensuring
consistency in terminology were also
made to WEQ–000.
23. NAESB also modified the
definition for System Operating Limit in
WEQ–000 to ensure consistency with
the proposed changes to the definition
in the NERC Glossary. As the term
appears in WEQ–001, WEQ–004, WEQ–
008, and WEQ–023, the review of the
modified definition was coordinated
with four WEQ subcommittees.
4. Modifications to the WEQ OASIS
Business Practice Standards
24. In addition to the OASIS
modifications referenced previously,
NAESB completed nine final actions
modifying the OASIS suite of Business
Practice Standards.
a. Eligibility and Treatment of Rollover
Rights
25. NAESB developed modifications
to the WEQ OASIS suite of Business
Practice Standards to address the
eligibility and treatment of rollover
rights 19 as part of the standards
18 North American Electric Reliability
Corporation, Dynamic Transfer Reference
Document, Version 4 (2019).
19 A Rollover Right is the option held by an
existing firm transmission service customer to
continue to take transmission service after a
contract term expires. The contract ‘‘rolls over’’ or
is, in effect, renewed. Promoting Wholesale
Competition Through Open Access NonDiscriminatory Transmission Servs. by Pub. Utils.;
Recovery of Stranded Costs by Pub. Utils. &
Transmitting Utils., Order No. 888, 61 FR 21540 at
21604 (May 10, 1996), FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,036
(1996) (cross-referenced at 75 FERC ¶ 61,080), order
on reh’g, Order No. 888–A, 62 FR 12274 (Mar. 14,
1997), FERC Stats. & Regs. ¶ 31,048 (crossreferenced at 78 FERC ¶ 61,220), order on reh’g,
Order No. 888–B, 81 FERC ¶ 61,248 (1997), order

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supporting Network Integration
Transmission Service (NITS).20 The
recommendation includes new and
revised standards that define if and
when rollover rights are assigned,
update posting requirements and
establish supporting template
structures, and create dynamic
notifications within OASIS for rollover
rights. In developing the
recommendation, one area of major
discussion within the subcommittee
was the impact of a termination of
transmission service on rollover rights.
The subcommittee reached consensus
that indefinite termination of
transmission service will result in an
automatic termination of rollover rights
associated with that service. The
resulting standards revisions, including
template structures, were applied to
WEQ–001, WEQ–002, WEQ–003, and
WEQ–013.
b. Submission of Variables Associated
With NITS
26. Several modifications were made
to WEQ–002 and WEQ–003 to allow
users the ability to submit specific lists
of variables associated with NITS as part
of the query/response functionality in
OASIS templates. The revisions include
changes to standards language in WEQ–
002 and the addition of five new data
elements to WEQ–003. No new NITS
query variables were developed as part
of these revisions.
c. Provide Consistency Between
Standards Language

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27. NAESB developed modifications
to WEQ–001 to provide greater
consistency between the standards
language included in WEQ–001–9.2 and
WEQ–001–9.4.3 and WEQ–001–B
Appendix B—Redirect Business Practice
Standards Examples. Specifically, the
changes revise several of the illustrative
examples included as part of the
appendix to clarify that transmission
service? requests submitted before the
capacity is committed, or outside the
time frame of the parent reservation,
should be denied, consistent with
WEQ–001–9.2 and WEQ–001–9.3. The
changes also ensure consistency
between the reservation processes that
apply to redirects on firm and non-firm
bases.
on reh’g, Order No. 888–C, 82 FERC ¶ 61,046
(1998), aff’d in relevant part sub nom. Transmission
Access Pol’y Study Grp. v. FERC, 225 F.3d 667 (D.C.
Cir. 2000), aff’d sub nom. New York v. FERC, 535
U.S. 1 (2002).
20 The standards addressing rollover rights for
point-to-point transmission service were included
in the WEQ Version 003.2 Standards publication
and were incorporated by reference through Order
No. 676–I.

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d. Improvements for OASIS Node Users
28. NAESB revised WEQ–002, WEQ–
003, and WEQ–013 to establish a
mechanism that enables OASIS node
users to identify—in a single location—
all service modifications made to an
original transmission service request
reservation. Specifically, the revisions
include modifications to WEQ–002–
4.3.4.3, the addition of nine new data
elements in WEQ–003, and revisions to
illustrative examples included in WEQ–
013 Example 8.
e. Better Support Posting Requirements
29. NAESB developed modifications
to WEQ–001 to better support posting
requirements, included as part of 18
CFR 37.6, by adding specificity
regarding the treatment of
consolidations of transmission service
requests. Consolidations of transmission
service requests allow customers to
combine capacity from like transmission
service requests into a single request to
promote efficient scheduling activities.
When transmission service requests are
consolidated, the consolidated request
inherits attributes from the parent
reservation, including the product code.
The revisions to the standards ensure
parity between consolidated and nonconsolidated transmission service
requests. The modifications are
intended to eliminate the potential for a
service increment to be created through
consolidation that would otherwise be
unavailable under a transmission
provider’s existing tariff processes, such
as requests that have been consolidated
into a daily transmission service request
but inherited a monthly product code
from one of the original parent
reservations. The changes modify WEQ–
001–24.2.4 and include two new
standards, WEQ–001–24.2.4.1 and
WEQ–001–24.2.4.2.
f. Provide Greater Clarity Regarding
Priorities Between a Firm Transmission
Service Request and a Previously
Queued Non-Firm Request
30. NAESB modified WEQ–001 by
modifying Table 25–3, Priorities for
Competing Reservations or Requests, to
better describe how a competition is
conducted between a firm transmission
service request and a previously queued
non-firm request or reservation.
g. Response Timing Standards
31. The WEQ OASIS Subcommittee
recommended certain modifications to
extend response times for some
functions to account for human
performance.21 As a result, the proposed
revisions include revisions modifying
21 Informational

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the timing tables included in WEQ–
001–4.13, WEQ–001–25.1.8, and WEQ–
001–105.1.5 to extend specific timing
criteria for instances in which systems
are not fully automated. These changes
will be utilized by transmission
providers and operators who do not
have automated systems for responding
to transmission service requests. The
benefits include extending timing
requirements that are deemed
unreasonably strict for non-automated
implementations. Subjects covered
include point-to-point transmission
service, right of first refusal response
processing, and Network Integration
Transmission Service requests.
h. Provide Greater Clarity for
Transmission Customers
32. NAESB also modified the WEQ
OASIS suite of Business Practice
Standards to provide greater clarity for
transmission customers on which
redirect requests would qualify for the
conveyance of rollover rights. As part of
the revisions, transmission customers
are required to explicitly indicate their
intent to convey rollover rights to the
redirect path by expressly opting-in or
opting-out of the conveyance,
eliminating the possibility that rollover
rights could be unintentionally
redirected. Prior to ratification of these
standards, the default option was to
grant the conveyance automatically. The
standards revisions include
modifications to WEQ–001–9.7.3.1 and
WEQ–002–4.3.6.2, as well as the
creation of three new standards—WEQ–
001–9.7.3.3, WEQ–001–9.7.3.4, and
WEQ–001–9.7.3.3—and consistency
changes to WEQ–003 and WEQ–013.
i. Improve Efficiencies by Creating a
Tracking and Audit Mechanism for
Transmission Service Reservations
33. Finally, NAESB revised the WEQ
OASIS suite of Business Practice
Standards to improve efficiencies by
creating a tracking and audit mechanism
for transmission service reservations
that allows transmission providers and
customers to easily assess changes that
occur as a result of the preemption and
right-of-first-refusal process. The
standards revisions modify WEQ–001–
25.4.6.5.3, WEQ–002–4.3.6.2, WEQ–
002–4.3.6.3, and WEQ–013–6.3, and add
two new data elements to WEQ–003.
5. Modifications To Coordinate
Interchange Standards
34. NAESB revised the WEQ–004
Coordinate Interchange Business
Practice Standards to promote efficiency
by streamlining the procedures entities
should follow in the event of a system
failure of the primary communication

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method used to manage interchange
transactions—electronic tags (e-Tags).
The revised WEQ–004, specifically
WEQ–004–2.1 and WEQ–004–A, clarify
the existing back-up procedures for eTagging and remove the requirements
supporting outdated communication
methods.
35. NAESB also modified the WEQ–
000 and WEQ–004 standards. The
revisions add a new appendix to WEQ–
004 to provide guidance and best
practices to entities in the Eastern
Interconnection that automate the net
scheduled interchange checkout
process. The standards are intended to
support and complement the NERC
Reliability Standard INT–009–3
Implementation of Interchange, which
requires balancing authorities to
communicate net interchange
information on a periodic basis with
adjacent balancing authorities. The
WEQ Coordinate Interchange
Scheduling Subcommittee discussed the
development of a data specification that
would include all data required to
automate the net scheduled interchange
checkout process. The subcommittee’s
participants drafted standards to
provide guidance for the
implementation of such automation. In
the recommendation containing the
standards revisions, the subcommittee
noted that the Western
Interconnection’s use of the Western
Electricity Coordinating Council
Interchange Tool would not be impacted
by the automation efforts for the Eastern
Interconnection.
6. Modifications to Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Defined Terms
36. In addition to the consistency
changes described above regarding
WEQ–000, the WEQ Version 004
Standards publication includes a new
cross-reference column displaying the
abbreviations, acronyms, and definition
of terms with their corresponding
NAESB WEQ Standards. Additional
changes to ensure consistency in the use
of abbreviations, acronyms, and defined
terms were made to the WEQ OASIS
Suite of Standards, WEQ–004
Coordinate Interchange Business
Practice Standards, WEQ–008 TLR—
Eastern Interconnection Business
Practice Standards, WEQ–012 PKI
Business Practice Standards, WEQ–022
EIR Business Practice Standards, and
WEQ–023 Modeling Business Practice
Standards.
7. Voluntary Renewable Energy
Certificates Contract
37. The Informational Report also
includes a newly developed NAESB
REC Contract, an accompanying

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Frequently Asked Questions document,
and associated technical
implementation standards containing
data dictionaries and code values. These
documents and standards are included
in WEQ–010 Contracts Business
Practice Standards to support the use of
the NAESB REC Contract with digital
technologies, such as blockchain, in the
retail and wholesale markets.
8. Minor Corrections
38. Since the publication of WEQ
Version 003.3 standards, NAESB
processed ten minor corrections
applicable to the WEQ Business Practice
Standards through its Minor Correction
Process, and incorporated them into the
WEQ Version 004 Standards.22
B. New Sets of Standards
1. WEQ–024 Cybersecurity
39. In the WEQ Version 004
Standards, NAESB established a new set
of Cybersecurity-related business
practice standards in WEQ–024. This
new set of standards reorganizes
existing NAESB cybersecurity business
practice standards into a new suite of
NAESB standards. NAESB explained
that it responded to an informal
recommendation from DOE and Sandia
National Laboratories (Sandia Labs) that
arose from the 2019 Surety Assessment
of cybersecurity elements contained in
the NAESB Business Practice Standards.
This consolidation should make the
NAESB and Commission processes for
revising NAESB cybersecurity business
practice standards easier and faster to
help match the fast pace of changes in
cybersecurity practices. NAESB
considered this consolidation a minor
correction process; no new standards
development efforts arose from this
consolidation.
2. WEQ–025 Grid Services Supporting
Wholesale Electric Interactions
40. In the WEQ Version 004
Standards, NAESB also established as a
new suite of standards, WEQ–025 Grid
Services Supporting Wholesale Electric
Interactions Business Practice
Standards, to promote greater
consistency in wholesale market
interactions and communication
exchanges by flexible, ‘‘grid-edge’’
resources such as distributed energy
resources and batteries. NAESB
developed the standards in response to
DOE, Berkeley Lab, and PNNL, which
proposed that NAESB define a common
list of grid services for electric market

interactions in support of the DOE’s
Grid Modernization Laboratory
Consortium efforts to modernize the
nation’s electric grid.
41. The WEQ–025 standards identify
six categories of operations-based grid
services used within the wholesale
electric markets: (1) Energy Grid
Service; (2) Reserve Grid Service; (3)
Regulation Grid Service; (4) Frequency
Response Grid Service; (5) Voltage
Management Grid Service; and (6)
Blackstart Grid Service. The standards
also describe the types of attributes,
such as location, timing, and
performance determinations, that may
be used by System Operators to define
the unique requirements for services
within their wholesale electricity
markets. Due to regional variation and
different markets, System Operators
have varying names for operational
objectives for the same or similar grid
services. The new standards establish a
technology-neutral framework that
describes the operational objective of
common types of market services and
identifies the different physical
capabilities to consume and/or inject
electricity on the grid that a resource
must be technically capable of
providing.
42. According to the Informational
Report, the framework introduced by
these standards can enable regulators to
easily compare market information
regarding the use of transmission grid
services across multiple jurisdictions.
The changes are also designed to help
market participants identify types of
market services their resources may be
able to provide and to create greater
consistency in communications between
resource owners participating in
multiple markets and working with
several System Operators to improve
commercial transaction efficiencies.23
C. Standards the Commission Proposes
Not To Incorporate by Reference
1. WEQ–010 Contracts Related
Business Practice Standards
43. We propose to not to incorporate
by reference WEQ–010, which includes
the NAESB REC Contract, the
accompanying Frequently Asked
Questions document, and the associated
technical implementation standards
containing data dictionaries and code
values contained in WEQ–010. This
approach is consistent with our past
practice 24 of not incorporating by
reference into our regulations any
23 Informational

22 As

noted above, NAESB also used its minor
correction process to compile the existing WEQ
Cybersecurity Standards into a new book, WEQ–024
Cybersecurity Business Practice Standards.

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Report at 12.
e.g., Standards for Bus. Practices of
Interstate Nat. Gas Pipelines, Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking, 86 FR 12879 (Mar. 5, 2021), 174 FERC
¶ 61,103, at P 19 (2021) (Version 3.2 NOPR).
24 See,

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optional model contracts and related
documents because we do not require
the use of these contracts.25

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2. WEQ–025 Grid Services Supporting
Wholesale Electric Interactions
44. Although we support NAESB’s
standards development for grid services,
we do not believe that it is necessary for
the Commission to incorporate the
WEQ–025 standards and the related
changes to the WEQ–000 standards by
reference. We note that the proposed
NAESB standards use terms similar to
but different from terms in the pro
forma OATT that could introduce
confusion if the Commission were to
incorporate these standards by
reference. Under the pro forma OATT,
a transmission provider must provide a
set of ancillary services, including
reactive supply and voltage control
(Schedule 2), regulation and frequency
response (Schedule 3), and spinning
and supplemental reserves (Schedules 5
& 6). The grid services set forth in the
WEQ–025 set of standards address
similar services; they include voltage,
regulation, frequency response, and
reserves. Also, the WEQ–025 standards
are discretionary for system operators;
thus, consistent with past practice,26 we
will not incorporate these standards by
reference into our regulations.
D. Proposed Implementation Procedures
45. The Commission proposes that
transmission providers whose tariffs do
not automatically incorporate by
reference all new NAESB standards
submit compliance filings on the
proposed NAESB standards nine
months after publication of a final rule
in the Federal Register. Those
compliance filings must reflect the
requirements of the final rule, any new
waiver requests to comply with a part of
the final rule, and any request to
preserve any existing waivers.
46. The Commission proposes
separate implementation schedules for
the NAESB cybersecurity business
practice standards and for all the
remaining WEQ Version 004 Standards.
Transmission providers will be required
to implement the NAESB cybersecurity
business practice standards within 12
months from the date of publication in
the Federal Register of any final rule.27
Transmission providers will be required
25 Id.; Standards for Bus. Practices of Interstate
Nat. Gas Pipelines, Order No. 587–V, 77 FR 43711
(Jul. 26, 2012), 140 FERC ¶ 61,036, at P 11 n.11
(2012).
26 See, e.g., Version 3.2 NOPR 174 FERC ¶ 61,103
at P 19.
27 A complete list of the specific cybersecurity
business practice standards is included at
Appendix I.

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to implement all other WEQ Version
004 Standards adopted in a final rule
within 18 months from the date of
publication in the Federal Register of
any final rule. The Commission
proposes implementation of the NAESB
cybersecurity business practice
standards on an expedited basis
consistent with the Commission’s
implementation schedule previously
adopted for the WEQ Version 003.3
Standards.28 In that order, the
Commission noted DOE’s request that
cybersecurity standards in that version
be enacted on an expedited basis and
that the stand-alone nature of the
standards permitted expedited
implementation.
47. This 18-month implementation
timeline for the other WEQ Version 004
standards is consistent with Business
Practice Standards WEQ 002–6, which
states that transmission providers shall
have 18 months from publication of a
final rule in the Federal Register to
implement all changes required to
support the Business Practice Standards
for OASIS version 004. Business
Practice Standards WEQ 002–6 also
state that: (a) OASIS Node changes
required to support the version 004
OASIS template format must be made
available to transmission customers no
later than nine months after publication
in the Federal Register and (b) OASIS
Nodes shall maintain support for
version 003.3 format queries and
uploads for the full 18-month
implementation period.
IV. Notice of Use of Voluntary
Consensus Standards
48. Office of Management and Budget
Circular A 119 (section 11) (February
10, 1998) provides that federal agencies
should publish a request for comment in
a NOPR when the agency is seeking to
issue or revise a regulation proposing to
adopt a voluntary consensus standard or
a government-unique standard. In this
NOPR, the Commission is proposing to
incorporate by reference the WEQ
Version 004 Standards, with the
exception of WEQ–010 Contracts
Related to Business Practice Standards,
which includes the NAESB REC
Contract, and WEQ–025 Grid Services
Supporting Wholesale Electric
Interactions. The WEQ Version 004
Standards were adopted by NAESB
under NAESB’s consensus
procedures.29
28 Order

No. 676–J, 175 FERC ¶ 61,139 at P 11.
this process, to be approved a standard
must receive a super-majority vote of 67% of the
members of the WEQ’s Executive Committee with
support from at least 40% from each of the five
industry segments—transmission, generation,
marketer/brokers, distribution/load serving entities,

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V. Incorporation by Reference
49. The Office of the Federal Register
requires agencies proposing to
incorporate material by reference to
discuss the ways that the materials it
incorporates by reference are reasonably
available to interested parties and how
interested parties can obtain the
materials.30 The regulations also require
agencies to summarize, in the preamble
of the final rule, the materials that it
incorporates by reference. The
Commission proposes to incorporate by
reference standards that consist of suites
of NAESB WEQ business practice
standards that address a variety of
topics and are designed to aid public
utilities with the consistent and uniform
implementation of requirements
promulgated by the Commission as part
of the pro forma Open Access
Transmission Tariff. We summarize
these standards below.
50. The WEQ–000 Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Definition of Terms
Business Practice Standards provide a
single location for all abbreviations,
acronyms, and defined terms referenced
in the WEQ Business Practice
Standards. These standards provide
common nomenclature for terms within
the wholesale electric industry, thereby
reducing confusion and opportunities
for misinterpretation or
misunderstandings among industry
participants.
51. The OASIS suite of business
practice standards (WEQ–001 Open
Access Same-Time Information Systems
(OASIS), WEQ–002 OASIS Standards
and Communication Protocols, WEQ–
003 OASIS Data Dictionary, and WEQ–
013 OASIS Implementation Guide)
support the FERC posting and reporting
requirements that provide information
about each transmission provider’s
performance of the requirements of its
pro forma OATT. The OASIS system is
used for scheduling transmission on the
bulk power system, comprises the
computer systems and associated
communications facilities that public
utilities are required to provide for the
purpose of making available to all
transmission users comparable
interactions, and provides transmission
service information and any back-end
supporting systems or user procedures
that collectively perform the transaction
processing functions for handling
requests on OASIS. These standards
establish business practices and
communication protocols that provide

29 Under

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and end users. For final approval, 67% of the
WEQ’s general membership must ratify the
standards.
30 1 CFR 51.5 (2022). See Incorporation by
Reference, 79 FR 66267 (Nov. 7, 2014).

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for consistent implementation across
OASIS sites as well as consistent
methods for posting to OASIS.
52. The WEQ–001 OASIS Business
Practice Standards define the general
and specific transaction processing
requirements and related business
processes required for OASIS. The
standards detail requirements related to
standard terminology for transmission
and ancillary services, attribute values
defining transmission service class and
type, ancillary and other services
definitions, OASIS registration
procedures, procurement of ancillary
and other services, path naming, next
hour market service, identical
transmission service requests, redirects,
resales, transfers, OASIS postings,
procedures for addressing ATC or AFC
methodology questions, rollover rights,
conditional curtailment option
reservations, auditing usage of Capacity
Benefit Margin, coordination of requests
for service across multiple transmission
systems, consolidation, preemption and
right-of-first refusal process, and NITS
requests.
53. The WEQ–002 OASIS Standards
and Communication Protocols Business
Practice Standards define the technical
standards for OASIS. These standards
detail network architecture
requirements, information access
requirements, OASIS and point-to-point
interface requirements, implementation,
and NITS interface requirements.
54. The WEQ–003 OASIS Data
Dictionary Business Practice Standards
define the data element specifications
for OASIS.
55. The WEQ–004 Coordinate
Interchange Business Practice Standards
define the commercial processes
necessary to facilitate interchange
transactions via Request for Interchange
(RFI) and specify the arrangements and
data to be communicated by the entity
responsible for authorizing the
implementation of such transactions
(the entities responsible for balancing
load and generation).
56. The WEQ–005 Area Control Error
(ACE) Equation Special Cases Business
Practice Standards define commercialbased requirements regarding the
obligations of a balancing authority to
manage the difference between
scheduled and actual electrical
generation within its control area. Each
balancing authority manages its ACE in
accordance with the NERC Reliability
Standards. These standards detail
requirements for jointly owned utilities,
supplemental regulation service, and
load or generation transfer by telemetry.
57. The WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards
define the commercial based procedures

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to be used for reducing time error to
within acceptable limits of true time
consistent with the guidance in Version
5 of NERC Time Monitoring Reference
Document.
58. The WEQ–007 Inadvertent
Interchange Payback Business Practice
Standards define the methods in which
inadvertent energy is paid back,
mitigating the potential for financial
gain through the misuse of paybacks for
inadvertent interchange. Inadvertent
interchange is interchange that occurs
when a balancing authority cannot fully
balance generation and load within its
area. The standards allow for the
repayment of any imbalances through
bilateral in-kind payback, unilateral inkind payback, or other methods as
agreed to.
59. The WEQ–008 Transmission
Loading Relief—Eastern Interconnection
Business Practice Standards define the
business practices for cutting
transmission service during a
Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)
event. These standards detail
requirements for the use of
interconnection-wide TLR procedures,
interchange transaction priorities for use
with interconnection-wide TLR
procedures, and the Eastern
Interconnection procedure for physical
curtailment of interchange transactions.
60. The WEQ–011 Gas/Electric
Coordination Business Practice
Standards define communication
protocols intended to improve
coordination between the gas and
electric industries in daily operational
communications between transportation
service providers and gas-fired power
plants. The standards include
requirements for communicating
anticipated power generation fuel for
the upcoming day as well as any
operating problems that might hinder
gas-fired power plants from receiving
contractual gas quantities.
61. The WEQ–012 Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) Business Practice
Standards establish the cybersecurity
framework for parties partaking in
transactions via a transmission
provider’s OASIS or e-Tagging system.
The NAESB PKI framework secures
wholesale electric market electronic
commercial communications via
encryption of data and the electronic
authentication of parties to a transaction
using a digital certificate issued by a
NAESB certified certificate authority.
The standards define the requirements
for parties utilizing the digital
certificates issued by the NAESB
certificate authorities.
62. The WEQ–013 OASIS
Implementation Guide Business Practice
Standards detail the implementation of

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the OASIS Business Practice Standards.
The standards detail requirements
related to point-to-point OASIS
transaction processing, OASIS template
implementation, preemption and rightof-first-refusal processing, NITS
application and modification of service
processing, and secondary network
transmission service.
63. The WEQ–015 Measurement and
Verification of Wholesale Electricity
Demand Response Business Practice
Standards define a common framework
for transparency, consistency, and
accountability applicable to the
measurement and verification of
wholesale electric market demand
response practices. The standards
describe performance evaluation
methodology and criteria for the use of
equipment, technology, and procedures
to quantify the demand reduction
value—the measurement of reduced
electrical usage by a demand resource.
64. The WEQ–021 Measurement and
Verification of Energy Efficiency
Products Business Practice Standards
define a common framework for
transparency, consistency, and
accountability applicable to the
measurement and verification of
wholesale electric market energy
efficiency practices. The standards
establish energy efficiency measurement
and verification criteria and define
requirements for energy efficiency
resource providers for the measurement
and verification of energy efficiency
products and services offered in the
wholesale electric markets.
65. The WEQ–022 EIR Business
Practice Standards define the business
requirements for entities utilizing the
NAESB managed EIR, a wholesale
electric industry tool that serves as the
central repository for information
needed in the scheduling of
transmission through electronic
transactions. The standards describe the
roles within EIR, registration
requirements, and cybersecurity.
66. The WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards provide technical
details concerning the calculation of
ATC for wholesale electric transmission
services. The WEQ–023 standards are
intended to address the aspects of
certain of the NERC MOD A Reliability
Standards relating to modeling, data,
and analysis that are included in
NERC’s proposed retirement of its MOD
A Reliability Standards.
67. The WEQ–024 Cybersecurity
Business Practice Standards is a new
suite to include and maintain all
cybersecurity related requirements not
included within the PKI business
standards to be incorporated within this

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single suite to better facilitate the
incorporation by reference process.31
68. The following standards are listed
for informational purposes as nonmandatory guidance:
69. WEQ–016, Specifications for
Common Electricity Product and Pricing
Definition standards address the
business objectives and context for
capturing the attributes associated with
electricity price and product signals as
part of the Smart Grid implementation,
which is called for by NIST standards.
70. WEQ–017, Specifications for
Common Schedule Communication
Mechanism standards contain a set of
specifications relating to the use of date
and time based data elements that are
commonly used in transactions for
Demand Response programs.
71. WEQ–018, Specifications for
Wholesale Standard Demand Response
Signals standards address the business
objectives and context for standardizing
signals for demand response and
distributed energy resources as part of
the Smart Grid implementation, which
is called for by NIST standards.
72. WEQ–019, Customer Energy Usage
Information Communication standards
establish the Business Practice
Standards for end-use energy usage
information communication.
73. WEQ–020, Smart Grid Standards
Data Element Table standards contain
the list of data elements used in
Business Practice Standards WEQ–016
and WEQ–018.
74. Commission regulations provide
that copies of the standards
incorporated by reference may be
obtained through purchase or otherwise
from the North American Energy
Standards Board, 801 Travis Street,
Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002, Phone:

(713) 356–0060, website: http://
www.naesb.org/. The standards can also
be reviewed without purchasing them.
75. The procedures used by NAESB
make its standards reasonably available
to those affected by Commission
regulations, which generally is
comprised of entities that have the
means to acquire the information they
need to effectively participate in
Commission proceedings. Participants
can join NAESB, for an annual
membership cost of $8,000, which
entitles them to full participation in
NAESB and enables them to obtain
these standards at no additional cost.
Non-members may obtain any of the
individual WEQ standards manuals for
$250 per manual. Non-members also
may obtain the complete set of
Standards Manuals for $2,000.
76. NAESB provides ample
opportunities for non-members,
including agents, subsidiaries, and
affiliates of NAESB members, to obtain
access to the copyrighted standards
through a no-cost limited copyright
waiver. The limited copyright waivers
are issued by the NAESB office and are
granted to non-members on a case-bycase basis for the purpose of evaluating
standards prior to purchase and/or
reviewing the standards to prepare
comments to a regulatory agency.
Following the granting of a limited
copyright waiver, the non-member is
provided with read-only access to the
standards through the end of the
comment period or some other set
period of time via Locklizard Safeguard
Secure Viewer.32 NAESB will grant one
limited copyright wavier per company
for each set of standards or final actions.
Any entity seeking a limited copyright

37155

waiver should contact the NAESB
office.
VI. Information Collection Statement
77. The following collection of
information contained in this proposed
rule is subject to review by the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) under
section 3507(d) of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C.
3507(d).33 OMB’s regulations require
approval of certain information
collection requirements imposed by
agency rules.34 Upon approval of a
collection(s) of information, OMB will
assign an OMB control number and an
expiration date. Respondents subject to
the filing requirements of this rule will
not be penalized for failing to respond
to these collections of information
unless the collections of information
display a valid OMB control number.
78. The Commission solicits
comments on the Commission’s need for
this information, whether the
information will have practical utility,
the accuracy of the provided burden
estimates, ways to enhance the quality,
utility, and clarity of the information to
be collected, and any suggested methods
for minimizing respondents’ burden,
including the use of automated
information techniques.
79. The following burden estimate is
based on the projected costs for the
industry to implement the new and
revised business practice standards
adopted by NAESB and proposed to be
incorporated by reference in this
NOPR.35 The NERC Compliance
Registry, as of December 2023, identifies
approximately 216 entities in the United
States that are subject to this proposed
rulemaking.

ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

DOCKET NOS. RM05–5–031
Number of
respondents

Annual
number of
responses per
respondent

Total number
of responses

Average burden
(hrs.) & cost
($) per response

Total annual burden hrs.
& total annual cost
($)

(1)

(2)

(1) * (2) = (3)

(4)

(3) * (4) = (5)

FERC–516E .....................................................................
FERC–717 .......................................................................

216
216

1
1

216
216

6 hrs.; $600 .............
30 hrs.; $3,000 ........

1,296 hrs.; $129,600.
6,480 hrs.; $648,000.

Total ..........................................................................

........................

..........................

..............................

$3,600 .....................

7,776 hrs.; $777,600.

Costs To Comply With Paperwork
Requirements
The estimated annual costs are as
follows:

31 Informational

Report at 21.
more information on Locklizard, please
refer to the company’s website: https://
www.locklizard.com.
32 For

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FERC–516E: 216 entities × 1 response/
entity × (6 hours/response ×
$100.00/hour) = $129,600
FERC–717: 216 entities × 1 response/
entity × (30 hours/response ×
$100.00/hour) = $648,000
33 44

U.S.C. 3507(d).
CFR 1320.11.
35 Commission staff estimates that industry is
similarly situated in terms of hourly cost (wages
34 5

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Titles: FERC–516E, Electric Rate
Schedule and Tariff Filings and FERC–
717, Standards for Business Practices
and Communication Protocols for
Public Utilities.

plus benefits). Based on the Commission average
cost (wages plus benefits) for 2024, $100.00/hour is
used.

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ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

37156

Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Proposed Rules

Action: Proposed amendment to
regulations pertaining to the existing
collections of information FERC–516E
and FERC–717.
OMB Control Nos: 1902–0290 (FERC–
516E) and 1902–0173 (FERC–717).
Respondents: Business or other forprofit, and not-for-profit institutions.
Frequency of Responses: On occasion.
Necessity of the Information: This
proposed rule, if implemented, will
amend the Commission’s regulations to
incorporate by reference, with certain
enumerated exceptions, the NAESB
WEQ Version 004 Standards. The
standards include those that were
developed in accordance with
recommendations of the DOE-sponsored
cybersecurity surety assessment of the
NAESB Business Practice Standards that
was conducted in 2019. Additional
standards were developed in response
to the directives from Order Nos. 676–
I and 676–J. NAESB undertook two
standards development efforts to update
the WEQ–004 Coordinate Interchange
Standards in the WEQ Version 004
Standards publication. The first set of
modifications clarify existing back-up
procedures for e-Tagging, improve
efficiencies by removing requirements
that supported outdated methods of
communication, and streamline the
processes following system
communication failures. Through the
second effort, NAESB modified WEQ–
004 to provide guidance to balancing
authorities in the Eastern
Interconnection seeking to automate
their net scheduled interchange
checkout process. The revisions made
by NAESB in the WEQ Version 004
Standards are designed to aid public
utilities with the consistent and uniform
implementation of requirements
promulgated by the Commission as part
of the pro forma Open Access
Transmission Tariff.
Internal review: The Commission has
reviewed NAESB’s proposal and has
made a preliminary determination that
the Version 004 standards the
Commission proposes to adopt by
reference are both necessary and useful.
In addition, the Commission has
determined through internal review that
there is specific, objective support for
the burden estimates associated with the
information requirements.
80. Interested persons may obtain
information on the reporting
requirements by contacting the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Office
of the Executive Director, 888 First
Street NE, Washington, DC 20426
[Attention: Kayla Williams, email:
[email protected], phone: (202)
502–8663].

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81. Comments concerning the
information collections proposed in this
NOPR and the associated burden
estimates should be sent to the
Commission at this docket and be
emailed to the Office of Management
and Budget, Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs [Attention: Desk
Officer for the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission]. For security
reasons, comments should be sent by
email to OMB at the following email
address: [email protected].
Please refer to the appropriate docket
number of this notice of proposed
rulemaking, Docket No. RM05–5–031,
and OMB Control Nos. 1902–0290
(FERC–516E) and 1902–0173 (FERC–
717), in your submission.
VII. Environmental Analysis
82. The Commission is required to
prepare an Environmental Assessment
or an Environmental Impact Statement
for any action that may have a
significant adverse effect on the human
environment.36 The actions proposed
here fall within categorical exclusions
in the Commission’s regulations for
rules that are clarifying, corrective, or
procedural, for information gathering,
analysis, and dissemination, and for
sales, exchange, and transportation of
electric power that requires no
construction of facilities.37 Therefore,
an Environmental Assessment is
unnecessary and has not been prepared
for this NOPR.
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act
83. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of
1980 (RFA) 38 generally requires a
description and analysis of proposed
rules that will have significant
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. The
Commission is not required to make
such an analysis if proposed regulations
would not have such an effect.
84. The Small Business
Administration (SBA) revised its size
standards (effective January 22, 2014)
for electric utilities from a standard
based on megawatt hours to a standard
based on the number of employees,
including affiliates. Under SBA’s
standards, some transmission owners
will fall under the following category
and associated size threshold: electric
bulk power transmission and control, at
36 Reguls Implementing the Nat’l Envt’l Pol’y Act,
Order No. 486, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC
Stats. & Regs. ¶ 30,783 (1987) (cross-referenced at 41
FERC ¶ 61,284).
37 See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5),
380.4(a)(27) (2022).
38 5 U.S.C. 601–612.

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least 500 employees.39 The Commission
estimates that 24 of the 216
respondents, or 11% of the respondents
affected by this NOPR, are small
businesses under SBA standards.
85. The Commission estimates that
the impact on these entities is consistent
with the paperwork burden of $3,600
per entity used above.40 The
Commission does not consider $3,600 to
be a significant economic impact. Based
on the above, the Commission certifies
that implementation of the proposed
Business Practice Standards will not
have a significant impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
Moreover, these requirements are
designed to benefit all customers,
including small businesses that must
comply with them. Further, as noted
above, adoption of consensus standards
helps ensure the reasonableness of the
standards by requiring that the
standards draw support from a broad
spectrum of industry participants
representing all segments of the
industry. Because of that representation
and the fact that industry conducts
business under these standards, the
Commission’s regulations should reflect
those standards that have the widest
possible support.
86. Accordingly, pursuant to section
605(b) of the RFA,41 the regulations
proposed herein should not have a
significant economic impact on a
substantial number of small entities.
IX. Comment Procedures
87. The Commission invites interested
persons to submit comments on the
matters and issues proposed in this
notice to be adopted, including any
related matters or alternative proposals
that commenters may wish to discuss.
Comments are due July 5, 2024.
Comments must refer to Docket No.
RM05–5–031, and must include the
commenter’s name, the organization
they represent, if applicable, and their
address in their comments. All
comments will be placed in the
Commission’s public files and may be
viewed, printed, or downloaded
remotely as described in the Document
Availability section below. Commenters
on this proposal are not required to
serve copies of their comments on other
commenters.
88. The Commission encourages
comments to be filed electronically via
the eFiling link on the Commission’s
website at https://www.ferc.gov. The
39 13 CFR 121.201, Sector 22 (Utilities), NAICS
code 221121 (Electric Bulk Power Transmission and
Control).
40 36 hours at $100.00/hour = $3,600.
41 5 U.S.C. 605(b).

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Federal Register / Vol. 89, No. 88 / Monday, May 6, 2024 / Proposed Rules
Commission accepts most standard
word processing formats. Documents
created electronically using word
processing software should be filed in
native applications or print-to-PDF
format and not in a scanned format.
Commenters filing electronically do not
need to make a paper filing.
89. Commenters that are not able to
file comments electronically may file an
original of their comment by USPS mail
or by courier or other delivery services.
For submission sent via USPS only,
filings should be mailed to: Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Office
of the Secretary, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426. Submission of
filings other than by USPS should be
delivered to: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 12225 Wilkins Avenue,
Rockville, MD 20852.
X. Document Availability
90. In addition to publishing the full
text of this document in the Federal
Register, the Commission provides all
interested persons an opportunity to
view and/or print the contents of this
document via the internet through the
Commission’s Home Page (http://
www.ferc.gov).
91. From the Commission’s Home
Page on the internet, this information is
available on eLibrary. The full text of
this document is available on eLibrary
in PDF and Microsoft Word format for
viewing, printing, and/or downloading.
To access this document in eLibrary,
type the docket number excluding the
last three digits of this document in the
docket number field.
92. User assistance is available for
eLibrary and the Commission’s website
during normal business hours from the
Commission’s Online Support at (202)
502–6652 (toll free at 1–866–208–3676)
or email at [email protected],
or the Public Reference Room at (202)
502–8371, TTY (202) 502–8659. Email
the Public Reference Room at
[email protected].

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

In consideration of the foregoing, the
Commission proposes to amends part 2
and part 38, chapter I, title 18, Code of
Federal Regulations, as follows:
PART 2—GENERAL POLICY AND
INTERPRETATIONS
1. The authority citation for Part 2
continues to read as follows:

■

Authority: 5 U.S.C. 601; 15 U.S.C. 717–
717z, 3301–3432; 16 U.S.C. 792–828c, 2601–
2645; 42 U.S.C. 4321–4370h, 7101–7352.

2. Revise and republish § 2.27 to read
as follows:

■

§ 2.27 Availability of North American
Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Smart
Grid Standards as non-mandatory
guidance.

18 CFR Part 2

The Commission informationally lists
the following NAESB Business Practices
Standards as non-mandatory guidance:
(a) WEQ–016, Specifications for
Common Electricity Product and Pricing
Definition, (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023);
(b) WEQ–017, Specifications for
Common Schedule Communication
Mechanism for Energy Transactions
(WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023;
(c) WEQ–018, Specifications for
Wholesale Standard Demand Response
Signals (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023;
(d) WEQ–019, Customer Energy Usage
Information Communication (WEQ
Version 004, July 31, 2023); and
(e) WEQ–020, Smart Grid Standards
Data Element Table (WEQ Version 004,
July 31, 2023).
(f) Copies of these standards may be
obtained from the North American
Energy Standards Board, 801 Travis
Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002,
Phone: (713) 356–0060; https://
www.naesb.org/. Copies may also be
obtained from the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission’s website,
https://www.ferc.gov.

Electric utilities, Natural gas,
Pipelines, Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.

PART 38—STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC
UTILITY BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND
COMMUNICATIONS

18 CFR Part 38

■

Conflicts of interest, Electric power
plants, Electric utilities, Incorporation
by reference, reporting and
recordkeeping requirements.

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

List of Subjects

ddrumheller on DSK120RN23PROD with PROPOSALS1

Issued: April 25, 2024.
Debbie-Anne A. Reese,
Acting Secretary.

By direction of the Commission.
(S E A L)

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3. The authority citation for Part 38
continues to read as follows:

4. Amend § 38.1 by revising
paragraphs (b)(1) through (17) to read as
follows:

■

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37157

*

*
*
*
*
(b) * * *
(1) WEQ–000, Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Definition of Terms
(Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(2) WEQ–001, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS)
(WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(3) WEQ–002, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS)
Business Practice Standards and
Communication Protocol (S&CP) (WEQ
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(4) WEQ–003, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS) Data
Dictionary (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023);
(5) WEQ–004, Coordinate Interchange
(WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(6) WEQ–005, Area Control Error
(ACE) Equation Special Cases (WEQ
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(7) WEQ–006, Manual Time Error
Correction (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023);
(8) WEQ–007 Inadvertent Interchange
Payback (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023);
(9) WEQ–008, Transmission Loading
Relief (TLR)—Eastern Interconnection
(WEQ Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(10) WEQ–011, Gas/Electric
Coordination (WEQ Version 004, July
31, 2023);
(11) WEQ–012, Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) (WEQ Version 004,
July 31, 2023);
(12) WEQ–013, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS)
Implementation Guide (WEQ Version
004, July 31, 2023);
(13) WEQ–015, Measurement and
Verification of Wholesale Electricity
Demand Response (WEQ Version 004,
July 31, 2023);
(14) WEQ–021, Measurement and
Verification of Energy Efficiency
Products (WEQ Version 004, July 31,
2023);
(15) WEQ–022, Electric Industry
Registry (EIR) (WEQ Version 004, July
31, 2023);
(16) WEQ–023, Modeling (WEQ
Version 004, July 31, 2023);
(17) WEQ–024, Cybersecurity
(Version 004, July 31, 2023).
[FR Doc. 2024–09438 Filed 5–3–24; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P

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