Title 18 published on 2012-04-01
The following are only the Rules published in the Federal Register after the published date of Title 18.
For a complete list of all Rules, Proposed Rules, and Notices view the Rulemaking tab.
In this Final Rule, the Commission revises its regulations for assessing the annual charge for use of government lands by hydropower licensees. Each year, the Commission will create an annual per-acre fee schedule by county using a formula with four components: a per-acre land value by county based on a publicly available index of land values; an encumbrance factor; a rate of return; and, an inflation adjustment.
The Commission issues this final policy statement to clarify and refine its policies governing the allocation of capacity for new merchant transmission projects and new nonincumbent, cost-based, participant-funded transmission projects. Under this policy statement, the Commission will allow developers of such projects to select a subset of customers, based on not unduly discriminatory or preferential criteria, and negotiate directly with those customers to reach agreement on the key rates, terms, and conditions for procuring up to the full amount of transmission capacity, when the developers broadly solicit interest in the project from potential customers, and demonstrate to the Commission that the developer has satisfied the solicitation, selection and negotiation process criteria set forth herein. The Commission is making these clarifications and refinements to fulfill its statutory responsibility of preventing undue discrimination and undue preference while providing developers the ability to bilaterally negotiate rates, terms, and conditions for the full amount of transmission capacity with potential customers. These clarifications and refinements will be implemented within the Commission's existing four-factor analysis used to evaluate requests for negotiated rate authority for transmission service. The Commission will apply this policy statement on a prospective basis to filings received after this issuance.
In accordance with 18 CFR 381.104, the Commission issues this update of its filing fees. This notice provides the yearly update using data in the Commission's Management, Administrative, and Payroll System to calculate the new fees. The purpose of updating is to adjust the fees on the basis of the Commission's costs for Fiscal Year 2012.
In this Final Rule, pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves modifications to the currently-effective definition of “bulk electric system” developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. The Commission finds that the modified definition of “bulk electric system” removes language allowing for regional discretion in the currently-effective bulk electric system definition and establishes a bright-line threshold that includes all facilities operated at or above 100 kV. The modified definition also identifies specific categories of facilities and configurations as inclusions and exclusions to provide clarity in the definition of “bulk electric system.” In this Final Rule, the Commission also approves: NERC's revisions to its Rules of Procedure, which create an exception process to add elements to, or remove elements from, the definition of “bulk electric system” on a case-by-case basis; NERC's form entitled “Detailed Information To Support an Exception Request” that entities will use to support requests for exception from the “bulk electric system” definition; and NERC's implementation plan for the revised “bulk electric system” definition.
In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (the Commission) is amending its regulations, pursuant to sections 222 and 307(a) of the Federal Power Act (FPA), to grant Commission access, on a non-public and ongoing basis, to the complete electronic tags (e-Tags) used to schedule the transmission of electric power interchange transactions in wholesale markets. This Final Rule will require e-Tag Authors (through their Agent Service) and Balancing Authorities (through their Authority Service) to take appropriate steps to ensure Commission access to the e-Tags covered by this Final Rule by designating the Commission as an addressee on the e-Tags. After the Commission is designated as an addressee, the Commission will access the e-Tags by contracting with a commercial vendor. The commercial vendor will provide data management services and receive e-Tags addressed to the Commission. The information made available under this Final Rule will bolster the Commission's market surveillance and analysis efforts by helping the Commission to detect and prevent market manipulation and anti-competitive behavior. This information will also help the Commission monitor the efficiency of markets and better inform Commission policies and decision-making, thereby helping to ensure just and reasonable rates. In addition, this Final Rule will require that e-Tag information be made available to regional transmission organizations and independent system operators and their Market Monitoring Units, upon request to e-Tag Authors and Authority Services, subject to appropriate confidentiality restrictions.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-01 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding Requirements), submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-01 is designed to ensure that automatic underfrequency load shedding protection schemes, designed by planning coordinators and implemented by applicable distribution providers and transmission owners in the SERC Reliability Corporation Region, are coordinated to mitigate the consequences of an underfrequency event effectively. The Commission approves the related violation risk factors, with one modification, violation severity levels, implementation plan, and effective date proposed by NERC.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulations to change the process for filing Electric Quarterly Reports (EQR). Due to technology changes that will render the current filing process outmoded, ineffective, and unsustainable, the Commission will discontinue the use of Commission-distributed software to file an EQR. Instead, the Commission adopts a web-based approach to filing EQRs that will allow a public or non-public utility to file an EQR directly through the Commission's Web site, either through a web interface or by submitting an Extensible Mark-Up Language-formatted file. By adopting a process with two options for filing EQRs, the Commission seeks to provide the flexibility needed to accommodate a public or non-public utility's technical preference. The Commission also requires a public or non-public utility to identify itself with a company identification number rather than the existing software-based EQR identifier. The changes to the process for filing EQRs will apply to EQR filings beginning with the third quarter 2013 EQR, which will provide data for July through September 2013.
The Commission issues this policy statement to provide guidance regarding its evaluation of applications for electric transmission incentives under section 219 of the Federal Power Act. In the six years since the Commission implemented section 219 by issuing Order No. 679, the Commission has acted on numerous applications for transmission incentives. The Commission has now determined it would be beneficial to provide additional guidance and clarity with respect to certain aspects of its transmission incentives policies under section 219 of the Federal Power Act and Order No. 679. In particular, the Commission: reframes its nexus test to focus more directly on the requirements of Order No. 679; expects applicants to take all reasonable steps to mitigate the risks of a project, including requesting those incentives designed to reduce the risk of a project, before seeking an incentive return on equity (ROE) based on a project's risks and challenges; provides general guidance that may inform applications for an incentive ROE based on a project's risks and challenges; and promotes additional transparency with respect to the impacts of the Commission's incentives policies. The Commission finds that the additional guidance provided through this policy statement is necessary to encourage transmission infrastructure investment while maintaining just and reasonable rates, consistent with section 219 of the Federal Power Act. The Commission will apply this policy statement on a prospective basis to incentive applications received after the date of its issuance.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is correcting a final rule that appeared in the Federal Register of October 29, 2012 (77 FR 65463). In this final rule, the Commission is revising its rules and regulations relating to the filing of privileged material in keeping with the Commission's efforts to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act and the E-Government Act of 2002.
In this Final Rule, the Commission revises its rules and regulations relating to the filing of privileged material in keeping with the Commission's efforts to comply with the Paperwork Reduction Act, the Government Paperwork Elimination Act and the E-Government Act of 2002. First, the Commission establishes two categories of privileged material for filing purposes: Privileged material and critical energy infrastructure information. This revision will expand the ability to file electronically by permitting electronic filing of materials subject to Administrative Law Judge protective orders as appropriate. Second, the Commission revises its regulations to provide a single set of uniform procedures for filing privileged materials. These revisions continue the Commission's effort to reassess and streamline its regulations to ensure that they are efficient, effective and up to date. Also, the Commission revises Rule 213(d) of its Rules of Practice and Procedure, which establishes the timeline for filing answers to motions, to clarify that the standard fifteen day reply time will not apply to motions requesting an extension of time or a shortened time period for action. Instead, the Commission proposes to set the time for responding to such motions at five days, unless another time period is established by notice based on the circumstances.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission affirms its basic determinations in Order Nos. 1000 and 1000-A, amending the transmission planning and cost allocation requirements established in Order No. 890 to ensure that Commission-jurisdictional services are provided at just and reasonable rates and on a basis that is just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential. This order affirms the Order No. 1000 transmission planning reforms that: Require that each public utility transmission provider participate in a regional transmission planning process that produces a regional transmission plan; provide that local and regional transmission planning processes must provide an opportunity to identify and evaluate transmission needs driven by public policy requirements established by state or federal laws or regulations; improve coordination between neighboring transmission planning regions for new interregional transmission facilities; and remove from Commission-approved tariffs and agreements a federal right of first refusal. This order also affirms the Order No. 1000 requirements that each public utility transmission provider must participate in a regional transmission planning process that has: A regional cost allocation method for the cost of new transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation and an interregional cost allocation method for the cost of new transmission facilities that are located in two neighboring transmission planning regions and are jointly evaluated by the two regions in the interregional transmission coordination process required by this Final Rule. Additionally, this order affirms the Order No. 1000 requirement that each cost allocation method must satisfy six cost allocation principles.
The Commission is revising its regulations pursuant to section 220 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), as enacted by section 1281 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005), to facilitate price transparency in markets for the sale and transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce. In doing so, the Commission revises its regulations to require market participants that are excluded from the Commission's jurisdiction under FPA section 205 and have more than a de minimis market presence to file Electric Quarterly Reports (EQR) with the Commission. In addition, the Commission revises the existing EQR filing requirements applicable to market participants in the interstate wholesale electric markets by adding new fields for: reporting the trade date and the type of rate; identifying the exchange used for a sales transaction, if applicable; reporting whether a broker was used to consummate a transaction; reporting electronic tag (e-Tag) ID data; and reporting standardized prices and quantities for energy, capacity and booked out power transactions. The Commission also requires EQR filers to indicate in the existing ID data section whether they report their sales transactions to an index publisher and, if so, to which index publisher(s), and, if applicable, identify which types of transactions are reported. The Commission also eliminates the time zone from the contract section and the Data Universal Numbering System (DUNS) data requirement. These refinements to the existing EQR filing requirements reflect the evolving nature of interstate wholesale electric markets, will increase market transparency for the Commission and the public, and will allow market participants to file the information in the most efficient manner possible.
In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission amends the instructions on page 700 of FERC Form No. 6 (Form 6) to ensure that oil pipelines report interstate-only barrel and barrel-mile data on lines (11) and (12) of page 700 and not a combination of interstate and intrastate throughput. The Commission also directs pipelines that reported combined interstate and intrastate data in any field on lines (1) through (12) of page 700 of their 2010 Form 6 or page 700 of their 2011 Form 6 to file within 90 days of the final rule's publication in the Federal Register revised page 700 data containing only interstate data for the years 2009, 2010 and 2011.
The Commission is issuing this Final Rule to revise its delegations of authority to align with an internal Commission reorganization, which reassigned certain responsibilities for specific Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) filings. In particular, this Final Rule transfers delegated authority, from the Director of the Commission's Office of Electric Reliability to the Director of the Commission's Office of Energy Market Regulation, to act on ERO filings pertaining to ERO annual budgets, ERO delegation agreements, and ERO policies and procedures.
In this Final Rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 2.0) of certain business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. In addition, based on the minor corrections and errata made by NAESB and reported to the Commission on May 4, 2012, the Commission will incorporate by reference certain standards that it earlier proposed not to incorporate, as the revised standards no longer conflict with Commission regulations. In this Final Rule, the Commission also provides guidance on the criteria the Commission will use in deciding whether to grant or deny requests for waivers or extensions of time and modifies the compliance filing requirements to add transparency as to where in the tariff incorporated standards may be found.
In this rule the Commission revises its regulations pertaining to its Continuity of Operations Plan to allow the Commission the discretion to better address not only long-term and catastrophic events but also short-term events including loss of power or water. The rule allows for greater discretion regarding: the activation and deactivation of the Continuity of Operations Plan and any suspension of Commission operations; the length of time that the Continuity of Operations Plan is in effect and the length of time that Commission operations are suspended; the deactivation schedule and the resumption of full Commission operations; and the rescheduling of hearings, conferences and meetings. The rule also adds items to the list of requirements which are suspended when Commission operations are suspended.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is amending the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff to remove unduly discriminatory practices and to ensure just and reasonable rates for Commission-jurisdictional services. Specifically, this Final Rule removes barriers to the integration of variable energy resources by requiring each public utility transmission provider to: offer intra-hourly transmission scheduling; and, incorporate provisions into the pro forma Large Generator Interconnection Agreement requiring interconnection customers whose generating facilities are variable energy resources to provide meteorological and forced outage data to the public utility transmission provider for the purpose of power production forecasting.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission affirms its basic determinations in Order No. 1000, amending the transmission planning and cost allocation requirements established in Order No. 890 to ensure that Commission-jurisdictional services are provided at just and reasonable rates and on a basis that is just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential. This order affirms the Order No. 1000 transmission planning reforms that: Require that each public utility transmission provider participate in a regional transmission planning process that produces a regional transmission plan; provide that local and regional transmission planning processes must provide an opportunity to identify and evaluate transmission needs driven by public policy requirements established by state or federal laws or regulations; improve coordination between neighboring transmission planning regions for new interregional transmission facilities; and remove from Commission-approved tariffs and agreements a federal right of first refusal. This order also affirms the Order No. 1000 requirements that each public utility transmission provider must participate in a regional transmission planning process that has: A regional cost allocation method for the cost of new transmission facilities selected in a regional transmission plan for purposes of cost allocation and an interregional cost allocation method for the cost of new transmission facilities that are located in two neighboring transmission planning regions and are jointly evaluated by the two regions in the interregional transmission coordination process required by this Final Rule. Additionally, this order affirms the Order No. 1000 requirement that each cost allocation method must satisfy six cost allocation principles.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves Reliability Standards PRC-006-1 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding) and EOP-003-2 (Load Shedding Plans), developed and submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Electric Reliability Organization certified by the Commission. In addition, pursuant to section 215(d)(5) of the FPA, the Commission directs NERC to develop a modification to clarify the intent of one provision of the Reliability Standard. The approved Reliability Standards establish design and documentation requirements for automatic underfrequency load shedding programs that arrest declining frequency and assist recovery of frequency following system events leading to frequency degradation. The Commission approves, with modifications, the related Violation Risk Factors and Violation Severity Levels, implementation plan, and effective date proposed by NERC. The Commission also approves the regional variance for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council in Reliability Standard PRC-006-1.
In this final rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations to require each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) to electronically deliver to the Commission, on an ongoing basis, data related to the markets that it administers. Specifically, the Commission is amending its regulations to establish ongoing electronic delivery of data relating to physical and virtual offers and bids, market awards, resource outputs, marginal cost estimates, shift factors, financial transmission rights, internal bilateral contracts, uplift, and interchange pricing. Such data will facilitate the Commission's development and evaluation of its policies and regulations and will enhance Commission efforts to detect anti-competitive or manipulative behavior, or ineffective market rules, thereby helping to ensure just and reasonable rates.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission remands proposed Transmission Planning (TPL) Reliability Standard TPL-002-0b, submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. The proposed Reliability Standard includes a provision that allows for planned load shed in a single contingency provided that the plan is documented and alternatives are considered and vetted in an open and transparent process. The Commission finds that this provision is vague, unenforceable and not responsive to the previous Commission directives on this matter. Accordingly, the Final Rule remands NERC's proposal as unjust, unreasonable, unduly discriminatory or preferential, and not in the public interest.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) approves eight modified Critical Infrastructure Protection (CIP) Reliability Standards, CIP-002-4 through CIP-009-4, developed and submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Electric Reliability Organization certified by the Commission. The CIP Reliability Standards provide a cybersecurity framework for the identification and protection of “Critical Cyber Assets” to support the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System. Reliability Standard CIP-002-4 requires the identification and documentation of Critical Cyber Assets associated with “Critical Assets” that support the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System and introduces “bright line” criteria for the identification of Critical Assets. The Commission approves the related Violation Risk Factors, Violation Severity Levels with modifications, implementation plan, and effective date proposed by NERC.
The following are ALL rules, proposed rules, and notices (chronologically) published in the Federal Register relating to Title 18 after this date.
The Natural Gas Act (NGA) requires that prior to the construction or extension of any natural gas facilities, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) must issue a certificate that authorizes a natural gas company to undertake the proposed activity. However, under the Commission's regulations, the construction of auxiliary installations or replacement facilities, while subject to the Commission's NGA jurisdiction, are not treated as the construction or extension of facilities, and thus do not require certificate authorization. The Commission proposes to revise its regulations to clarify that all activities related to the construction of auxiliary installations and replacement facilities must take place within a company's certificated right-of-way using previously approved work spaces. In addition, the Commission proposes to add landowner notification requirements for auxiliary installations, replacement facilities, and other jurisdictional activities performed within the right-of-way.
This document contains proposed rules that would amend the project review regulations of the Susquehanna River Basin Commission (Commission) to include special requirements for withdrawals from surface water and groundwater sources which, from the point of taking or point of impact respectively, have a drainage area of equal to or less than ten square miles (headwater area); and to modify provisions relating to the issuance of emergency certificates by the Executive Director.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) seeks comments on what changes, if any, should be made to its regulations under the natural gas market transparency provisions of section 23 of the Natural Gas Act (NGA), as adopted in the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (EPAct 2005). In particular, the Commission is considering the extent to which quarterly reporting of every natural gas transaction within the Commission's NGA jurisdiction that entails physical delivery for the next day (i.e., next day gas) or for the next month (i.e., next month gas) would provide useful information for improving natural gas market transparency.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is proposing to revise its regulations to provide optional notice procedures for processing rate filings by those natural gas pipelines that fall under the Commission's jurisdiction pursuant to the Natural Gas Policy Act of 1978 or the Natural Gas Act. An intrastate pipeline may elect to use these procedures for approval of a filing pursuant to the Commission's regulations. Under these procedures, if there is no protest to the filing as determined under this proposal, the filing would be deemed approved without a Commission order. The proposed rule would result in regulatory certainty and a reduction of regulatory burdens.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is proposing to amend its regulations to revise the filing requirements for natural gas pipelines that choose to recover Commission-assessed annual charges through an annual charge adjustment (ACA) clause. Currently, natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause must make a tariff filing to reflect a revised ACA unit charge authorized by the Commission for that fiscal year. In order to reduce the regulatory burden on these pipelines, the Commission proposes to eliminate this annual filing requirement. In its place, the Commission proposes to require natural gas pipelines utilizing an ACA clause to incorporate the Commission-authorized annual charge unit rate by reference to that rate, as published on the Commission's Web site located at http://www.ferc.gov.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to amend its regulations under the Interstate Commerce Act. 1 The Commission proposes to rewrite, remove, and update its regulations governing the form, composition and filing of rates and charges by interstate oil pipelines for transportation in interstate commerce. This proposal is a part of the Commission's ongoing program to review its filing and reporting requirements and reduce unnecessary burdens by eliminating the collection of data that are not necessary to the performance of the Commission's regulatory responsibilities. 1 49 app. U.S.C. 1-85 (2000).
Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission proposes to approve Reliability Standard FAC-003-2 (Transmission Vegetation Management), submitted by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. The proposed Reliability Standard would expand the applicability of the standard to include overhead transmission lines that are operated below 200 kV, if they are either an element of an Interconnection Reliability Operating Limit or an element of a Major WECC Transfer Path. In addition, the proposed Reliability Standard incorporates a new minimum annual vegetation inspection requirement, and incorporates new minimum vegetation clearance distances into the text of the standard. The Commission also proposes to approve the three definitions, the implementation plan and the Violation Severity Levels associated with the proposed Reliability Standard. Finally, the Commission proposes to direct that NERC revise the Violation Risk Factor for Requirement R2, and approve the remainder of the Violation Risk Factors.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to direct the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, to submit for approval Reliability Standards that address the impact of geomagnetic disturbances (GMD) on the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System. The Commission proposes to do this in two stages. In the first stage, the Commission proposes to direct NERC to file, within 90 days of the effective date of a final rule in this proceeding, one or more Reliability Standards that require owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System to develop and implement operational procedures to mitigate the effects of GMDs consistent with the reliable operation of the Bulk-Power System. In the second stage, the Commission proposes to direct NERC to file, within six months of the effective date of a final rule in this proceeding, one or more Reliability Standards that require owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System to conduct initial and on-going assessments of the potential impact of GMDs on Bulk-Power System equipment and the Bulk-Power System as a whole. Based on those assessments, the Reliability Standards would require owners and operators to develop and implement a plan so that instability, uncontrolled separation, or cascading failures of the Bulk-Power System, caused by damage to critical or vulnerable Bulk-Power System equipment, or otherwise, will not occur as a result of a GMD. This plan cannot be limited to operational procedures or enhanced training alone, but should, subject to the needs indentified in the assessments, contain strategies for protecting against the potential impact of GMDs based on factors such as the age, condition, technical specifications, or location of specific equipment. These strategies could include automatically blocking geomagnetically induced currents from entering the Bulk-Power System, instituting specification requirements for new equipment, inventory management, and isolating certain equipment that is not cost effective to retrofit. This second stage would be implemented in phases, focusing first on the most critical Bulk-Power System assets.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to modify Page 700 of FERC Form No. 6 (Form 6) to facilitate the calculation of a pipeline's actual return on equity. The Commission proposes to expand the information provided regarding rate base (line 5), rate of return (line 6), return on rate base (line 7), and income tax allowance (line 8).
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), 1 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-NPCC-1 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding). The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) submitted the proposed regional Reliability Standard to the Commission for approval. The proposed regional Reliability Standard applies to generator owners, planning coordinators, distribution providers, and transmission owners in the Northeast Power Coordinating Council Region and is designed to ensure the development of an effective automatic underfrequency load shedding (UFLS) program to preserve the security and integrity of the Bulk-Power System during declining system frequency events, in coordination with the NERC continent-wide UFLS Reliability Standard PRC-006-1. The Commission also proposes to approve the associated violation risk factors and violation severity levels, implementation plan, and effective dates proposed by NERC. 1 16 U.S.C. 824(o) (2006).
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is making available on its Web site ( http://www.ferc.gov ) a draft of the XML schema that is being developed for use in filing Electric Quarterly Reports as proposed in the Commission's June 21, 2012 Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 77 FR 39447 (July 3, 2012). Please refer to the Supplementary Information Section below for details.
The Commission seeks comment on this proposed policy statement, which clarifies and refines current policies governing the allocation of capacity for new merchant transmission projects and new nonincumbent, cost-based, participant-funded transmission projects. The Commission proposes to allow developers of such projects to select a subset of customers, based on not unduly discriminatory or preferential criteria, and negotiate directly with those customers to reach agreement on the key terms and conditions for procuring capacity, when the developers (1) broadly solicit interest in the project from potential customers, and (2) file a report with the Commission describing the solicitation, selection and negotiation process. The Commission proposes these policy reforms to ensure transparency in the capacity allocation process while providing developers the ability to bilaterally negotiate rates, terms, and conditions for the full amount of transmission capacity with potential customers.
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve regional Reliability Standard PRC-006-SERC-01 (Automatic Underfrequency Load Shedding Requirements) submitted to the Commission for approval by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC). Regional Reliability Standard, PRC-006-SERC-01, is designed to ensure that automatic underfrequency load shedding protection schemes designed by planning coordinators and implemented by applicable distribution providers and transmission owners in the SERC Reliability Corporation (SERC) Region are coordinated to effectively mitigate the consequences of an underfrequency event. The Commission also proposes to approve the related violation risk factors, with one modification, and violation severity levels, implementation plan, and effective date proposed by NERC.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise certain aspects of its current market-based rate regulations, ancillary services requirements under the pro forma open-access transmission tariff (OATT), and accounting and reporting requirements. Specifically, the Commission proposes to revise its Avista Corp. 1 policy governing the sale of ancillary services at market-based rates to public utility transmission providers and reflect such reforms in Parts 35 and 37 of the Commission's regulations. The Commission also proposes to require each public utility transmission provider to include provisions in its OATT explaining how it will determine Regulation and Frequency Response reserve requirements in a manner that takes into account the speed and accuracy of resources used. Finally, the Commission proposes to revise the accounting and reporting requirements under its Uniform System of Accounts for public utilities and licensees and its forms, statements, and reports, contained in FERC Form No. 1, Annual Report of Major Electric Utilities, Licensees and Others, FERC Form No. 1-F, Annual Report for Nonmajor Public Utilities and Licensees, and FERC Form No. 3-Q, Quarterly Financial Report of Electric Utilities, Licensees, and Natural Gas Companies, to better account for and report transactions associated with the use of energy storage devices in public utility operations. 1 See Avista Corp., 87 FERC ¶ 61,223 ( Avista ), order on reh'g, 89 FERC ¶ 61,136 (1999).
Under section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to approve a modification to the currently-effective definition of “bulk electric system” developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization. The revised definition of “bulk electric system” removes language allowing for regional discretion in the currently-effective bulk electric system definition. The revised definition establishes a bright-line threshold that includes all facilities operated at or above 100 kV. The modified definition also identifies specific categories of facilities and configurations as inclusions and exclusions to provide clarity in the definition of “bulk electric system.” The Commission also proposes to approve: (1) NERC's contemporaneously filed revisions to its Rules of Procedure, which creates an exception procedure to add elements to, or remove elements from, the definition of “bulk electric system” on a case-by-case basis; (2) NERC's proposed form entitled “Detailed Information To Support an Exception Request” that entities will use to support requests for exception from the “bulk electric system” definition; and (3) NERC's proposed implementation plan for the revised “bulk electric system” definition.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend a Rule which governs the filing of Electric Quarterly Reports (EQRs), to change the process for filing EQRs. Currently, EQRs are filed by downloading EQR software from the Commission's Web site, installing it on the filer's Microsoft Windows-based computer, entering the EQR data into the software, and then submitting the EQR data to the Commission. The EQR software is designed in Microsoft Visual FoxPro. Technological changes and limitations will render the current filing process outmoded, ineffective, and unsustainable. Microsoft has discontinued Visual FoxPro and will not support the software after 2015. Visual FoxPro also is constrained by data size limitations that will soon restrict the Commission's ability to add data fields in the EQR. Therefore, the Commission proposes a new filing system that will provide EQR filers with two new options for filing EQRs. One option would allow an EQR filer to use a web interface on the Commission's Web site to file its EQR. This web interface would look and operate like the current EQR software that uses Visual FoxPro. However, an EQR filer would not need to download and install software from the Commission's Web site to file because the data would be filed directly with the Commission through the web interface. The other option would allow an EQR filer to file its EQR in an Extensible Mark-Up Language (XML) format via the Commission's Web site. By proposing a process with two options for filing EQRs, the Commission seeks to provide the flexibility needed to accommodate EQR filers' technical preferences. Under both options, the Commission proposes to require EQR filers to use the company identification number (Company Identifier) assigned through the Commission's Company Registration System, which was developed for the Commission's eTariff system. The Company Identifier would replace the personal identification numbers that are currently used and that are unique to the existing EQR filing process. The Commission also proposes that implementation of any changes to the process for filing EQRs will apply to EQR filings beginning with the third quarter 2013 EQR, providing data for July through September 2013. The Commission will convene a staff-led public conference on Wednesday, July 11, 2012 to demonstrate the two new options for filing EQRs to industry participants and assist participants in preparing their comments to this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking.
On February 22, 2012, the Commission published in the Federal Register a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (77 FR 10415) (NOPR) proposing to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version (Version 2.0) of business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Gas Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) applicable to natural gas pipelines. The Commission, however, did not propose to adopt two standards it found inconsistent with its regulations. Among the comments filed with the Commission were comments from NAESB explaining that its Wholesale Gas Quadrant Executive Committee was in the process of voting on two standards to rectify the inconsistency noted in the NOPR by the Commission. On May 4, 2012, NAESB filed a status report informing the Commission that it had finalized the two corrections. The Commission is providing interested parties an opportunity to file comments with respect to the two corrected standards adopted by NAESB and whether the Commission should incorporate these revised standards into its regulations.
The North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, petitions for the approval of modified Transmission Planning Reliability Standard, TPL-001-2 (Transmission System Planning Performance Requirements), which combines four currently effective TPL Reliability Standards, TPL-001-1, TPL-002-1b, TPL-003-1a, and TPL-004-1, into a single standard. NERC also requests retirement of the currently-effective TPL standards. Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission proposes to remand proposed Reliability Standard, TPL-001-2. The proposed Reliability Standard includes a provision that would allow a transmission planner to plan for non-consequential load loss following a single contingency provided that the plan is documented and vetted in an open and transparent stakeholder process. The Commission believes that, with the inclusion of this provision, proposed TPL-001-2 does not meet the statutory criteria for approval.
In this Notice of Inquiry, the Commission seeks comment on open access and priority rights for capacity on interconnection facilities.
The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference the business practice standards adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) that pertain to the measurement and verification of demand response and energy efficiency resources participating in organized wholesale electricity markets. NAESB adopted the measurement and verification of demand response standards in response to the Commission's findings in Order No. 676-F.
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