FERC-725K, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the SERC Region (RD22-1-000)

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC or Commission) requests that the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) review and renew the information collection requirements in FERC-725K under OMB Control No. 1902-0260. The reporting requirements in the FERC-725K are contained in FERC’s regulations in 18 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) Part 40. Prior to the enactment of Section 215 of the Federal Power Act, FERC had acted primarily as an economic regulator of the wholesale power markets and the interstate transmission grid. In this regard, the Commission acted to promote a more reliable electric system by promoting regional coordination and planning of the interstate grid through regional independent system operators (ISOs) and regional transmission organizations (RTOs). The passage of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 added to the Commission’s efforts by giving it the authority to strengthen the reliability of the interstate electric transmission grid through the grant of new authority pursuant to Section 215 of the FPA. The FPA establishes a system of mandatory Reliability Standards developed by the ERO, established by FERC, and enforced by the ERO and Regional Entities. Regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-02 was originally developed to be consistent with the NERC Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding (UFLS) Reliability Standard PRC-006-3. Regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-02 was designed to ensure that automatic UFLS protection schemes designed by planning coordinators and implemented by applicable distribution providers and transmission owners in the SERC Region are coordinated to effectively mitigate the consequences of an underfrequency event. The regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-02 added specificity not contained in the NERC UFLS Reliability Standard for UFLS schemes in the SERC Region. Regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-02 effectively mitigates (in conjunction with NERC Reliability Standard PRC-006-3) the consequences of an underfrequency event while accommodating differences in system transmission and distribution topology among SERC planning coordinators resulting from historical design criteria, makeup of load demands, and generation resources. Under the regional Reliability Standard, the information is used to ensure compliance with requirements associated with underfrequency load shedding plans. Without this information, it would be difficult to enforce compliance with the regional standard. A lack of compliance with this regional standard may lead to uncontrolled failure of the Interconnection.

The latest form for FERC-725K, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the SERC Region (RD22-1-000) expires 2022-09-30 and can be found here.