Final_FERC 725A_Supp. Statement_RD24-1

FERC-725A (OMB Control No. 1902-0244)

Docket No. RD24-1-000

Supporting Statement for

FERC-725A, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk Power System: Revision and Extension

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) requests that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and approve the information collection requirements in FERC 725A under OMB control no. 1902-0244 as modified by docket no. RD24-1-000. The FERC 725A is an existing information collection.

In Docket No. RD24-1-000, FERC approved one Reliability Standard being updated within the FERC-725A due to revisions in Docket No. RD24-1-000: Reliability Standard TOP-002-4 is being replaced with version TOP-002-5 that will supersede requirements in TOP-002-4.

1. CIRCUMSTANCES THAT MAKE THE COLLECTION OF INFORMATION NECESSARY

Background. On August 8, 2005, The Electricity Modernization Act of 2005, which is Title XII of the Energy Policy Act of 2005¹ (EPAct 2005), was enacted into law. EPAct 2005 added a new section 215 to the Federal Power Act (FPA),² which requires a Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) to develop mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards, subject to Commission review and approval. Once approved by the Commission, the Reliability Standards may be enforced by the ERO, subject to Commission oversight, or by the Commission independently.

In 2006, the Commission certified North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) as the ERO pursuant to section 215 of the FPA.

In the order RD24-1-000, the Commission is approving TOP-002-5 (Operations Planning) to replace previous iterations of the Standard.

Within in revised TOP-002-5, new Requirement R8 would require each balancing authority to have an operating process for extreme cold weather that includes: (1) a methodology for identifying “extreme cold weather conditions” in the area; (2) a methodology for determining an appropriate extreme cold weather reserve margin for the area, considering the types of operating limitations that have been known to limit resource availability in cold weather; and (3) a methodology for determining a five-day hourly forecast that accounts for all relevant operational considerations, including resource availability, demand, reserve requirements, and forecasted weather.

2. HOW, BY WHOM, AND FOR WHAT PURPOSE THE INFORMATION IS TO BE USED AND THE CONSEQUENCES OF NOT COLLECTING THE INFORMATION

In general, information collections associated with Reliability Standards do not involve submission to, or audit by, FERC. Rather, the associated information is submitted to, or retained for audit by, NERC or the Compliance Enforcement Authority, as specified in each individual Reliability Standard. New Requirement R8, in Reliability Standard TOP-002-5, identifies that balancing authority entities shall have an extreme cold weather operating process for their associated balancing authority area. Additionally, this Requirement R8 identifies what needs to be in the Operating Process and the methodology for identifying “extreme cold weather conditions in the area”, the methodology for determining an appropriate extreme cold weather reserve margin for the area, and a methodology for determining a five-day hourly forecast that accounts for all relevant operational considerations, including resource availability, demand, reserve requirements, and forecasted weather.

The consequences of not collecting the information will be the elimination of information collection activities that are no longer needed.

3. DESCRIBE ANY CONSIDERATION OF THE USE OF IMPROVED INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY TO REDUCE THE BURDEN AND TECHNICAL OR LEGAL OBSTACLES TO REDUCING BURDEN

The use of current or improved technology is not covered in Reliability Standards and is therefore left to the discretion of each reporting entity. We think that nearly all of the respondents are likely to make and keep related records in an electronic format. Each of the six Regional Entities has a well-established compliance portal for registered entities to electronically submit compliance information and reports. The compliance portals allow documents developed by the registered entities to be attached and uploaded to the Regional Entity’s portal. Compliance data can also be submitted by filling out data forms on the portals. These portals are accessible through an internet browser password protected user interface.

4. 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

The Commission periodically reviews filing requirements concurrent with OMB review or as the Commission deems necessary to eliminate duplicative filing and to minimize the filing burden. Reliability Standards are developed by a collaborative process which requires industry participation. The Commission is unaware of any other source of information similar to the requirements in the Reliability Standards. In the case of this information collection request, there is no similar relevant information collection.

5. METHODS USED TO MINIMIZE THE BURDEN IN COLLECTION OF INFORMATION INVOLVING SMALL ENTITIES

In general, small entities may reduce their burden by taking part in a joint registration organization or a coordinated functional registration. These options allow an entity to share its compliance burden with other entities.

Detailed information regarding these options is available in NERC’s Rules of Procedure at sections 507 and 508.³ However, the addition of new Requirement R8 will have minor increase in burden for just the balancing authorities.

6. CONSEQUENCE TO FEDERAL PROGRAM IF COLLECTION WERE CONDUCTED LESS FREQUENTLY

In general, information collection requirements in Reliability Standards and requirements help maintain Bulk-Power System reliability. If triggering cold weather events were reported less frequently, it would undermine NERC’s (and others’) ability to mitigate the extreme cold weather events and preparing for future such events.

7. EXPLAIN ANY SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCES RELATING TO THE INFORMATION COLLECTION

There are no special circumstances as described in 5 CFR 1320.5(d)(2) related to the revisions of Reliability Standard TOP-002-5.

8. DESCRIBE EFFORTS TO CONSULT OUTSIDE THE AGENCY: SUMMARIZE PUBLIC COMMENTS AND THE AGENCY’S RESPONSE

On February 15, 2024, the Commission issued a final rule approving, among other things, the retirement of Reliability Standard TOP-002-4 (Docket No. RD24-1-000) and approval of new TOP-002-5, which included a 60 day public notice (89 FR 13324). The Commission received no sets of comments or protests in connection with this docket.

Further, the Commission published a 30 day notice and invited public comment on May 7, 2024 (89 FR 38116).

9. EXPLAIN ANY PAYMENT OR GIFTS TO RESPONDENTS

The Commission does not make payments or provide gifts for respondents related to the information collections associated with Reliability Standard TOP-002-4.

10. DESCRIBE ANY ASSURANCE OF CONFIDENTIALITY PROVIDED TO RESPONDENTS

There are no specific assurances of confidentiality mentioned to respondents.

11. PROVIDE ADDITIONAL JUSTIFICATION FOR ANY QUESTIONS OF A SENSITIVE NATURE

This collection does not include any questions of a sensitive nature.

12. ESTIMATED BURDEN OF COLLECTION OF INFORMATION

Table 1: Proposed Changes to FERC 725A Due to Modifications in Docket No. RD24-1-000
Requirement change	Type4 and Number of Respondents (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses (1)*(2)=(3)	Average Burden & Cost Per Response5 (4)	Total Annual Burden Hours & Total Annual Cost (3)*(4)=(5)
FERC-725A – Proposed estimates due to RD24-1
One Time Estimate - Years 1 and 2 in TOP-002-5
TOP-002-5	98 (BA)	1	98	40 hrs. $3,031.60	3,920 hrs., $297,096.80
Ongoing Estimate – Year 3 ongoing TOP-002-5
TOP-002-5	98 (BA)	1	98	20 hrs. $1,515.80	1,960 hrs., $148,548.40
Sub-Total of One-Time estimate for years 1 and 2			98	40 hrs. $3,031.60	3,920 hrs., $297,096.80
Sub-Total for Ongoing estimate of year 3 and beyond			98	20 hrs. $1,515.80	1,960 hrs., $148,548.40
Annualized one-time Total burden for years 1 and 2 (one-time sub-total divided by 3)			98	13.33 hrs. (rounded) $1,010.28	1,306.34 hrs. $99,007.51 (rounded)
Annualized ongoing total burden for years 3 and beyond (ongoing sub-total divided by 3)			98 (rounded)	6.67 hrs. $505.52 (rounded)	653.66 hrs. $49,515.88 (rounded)
Annualized Total Burden Estimate of TOP-002-5			98	20 hrs. $1,515.80	1,960 hrs. 148,548.40

13. ESTIMATE OF THE TOTAL ANNUAL COST BURDEN TO RESPONDENTS

There is no start-up or other non-labor hour cost associated with the revisions of Reliability Standard TOP-002-5.

14. ESTIMATED ANNUALIZED COST TO FEDERAL GOVERNMENT

The estimate of the cost for ‘analysis and processing of filings’ is based on salaries and benefits for professional and clerical support. This estimated cost represents staff analysis, decision-making, and review of any actual filings submitted in response to the information collection.

The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) Administrative Cost is the average annual FERC 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. It also includes the cost of publishing the necessary notices in the Federal Register.

	Number of Employees (FTEs)	Estimated Annual Federal Cost
Analysis and Processing of filings	0	$0
PRA Administrative Cost		$8,396
FERC Total		$8,396

15. REASONS FOR CHANGES IN BURDEN INCLUDING THE NEED FOR ANY INCREASE

There is a change in the burden estimate in this revision due to updates in the approval of the updated TOP-002-5 standard.

Reliability Standard TOP-002-5 applies to transmission operators and balancing authorities, for this estimate new Requirement R8 applies to the balancing authorities. The increase in burden is expected more in years 1-2 as the balancing authorities with the creations of Operating Process. After that time frame balancing authorities would have a smaller continuing burden to incrementation changes to the Operating Process. With balancing authorities creating these Operating Plans, the electric grid will be better positioned to handle future extreme cold weather events.

Table 15

Changes in Burden Due to RD24-1-000

	Requested	Program Changes due to Agency Discretion	Previously Approved
Annual # of Responses	7,290	+ 196	7,094
Annual Time Burden	1,407,238 hours	+1,960 hours	1,405,278 hours
Annual Cost Burden ($)	$156,953	$0	$156,953

16. TIME SCHEDULE FOR PUBLICATION OF DATA

There are no data publications as part of the retirement of Reliability Standard TOP-002-5.

17. DISPLAY OF EXPIRATION DATE

The expiration date for FERC-725A (i.e., November 30, 2024) will not change as a result of the final rule. That expiration date is displayed at Information Collections | Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (ferc.gov).

18. EXCEPTIONS TO THE CERTIFICATION STATEMENT

There are no exceptions.

1 16 U.S.C. § 824d(a).

2 16 U.S.C. § 824o. The approved Reliability Standards are available on the NERC website, www.nerc.com.

3 Details of the current ERO Reliability Standard processes are available on the NERC website at https://www.nerc.com/AboutNERC/RulesOfProcedure/NERC ROP effective 20220825_no appendicies.pdf.

4 BA = Balancing Authority.

5 The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is a combination based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of 2023, for 75% of the average of an Electrical Engineer (17-2071) - $77.29, mechanical engineers (17-2141) - $87.38. $77.29 + $87.38/2 = 82.335 x .75 = 54.303 ($61.75 rounded) ($61.75/hour) and 25% of an Information and Record Clerk (43-4199) $56.14 x .25% = 14.035 ($14.04 rounded) ($14.04/hour), for a total ($61.75+$14.04 = $75.79/hour).

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