Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; Comment Request, 49757-49759 [2011-20401]

Agencies

• DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
• Energy Information Administration

[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 155 (Thursday, August 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49757-49759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Printing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-20401]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

 Energy Information Administration


Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of 
Energy (DOE).

ACTION: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection; 
Comment Request.

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SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed new Form EIA-
111, ``Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.'' This new 
form would supersede the existing Form OE-781R, ``Monthly Electricity 
Imports and Exports Report''. The Form OE-781R is currently suspended 
and would be terminated with the implementation of the proposed Form 
EIA-111.

DATES: Comments must be filed by October 11, 2011. If you anticipate 
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the 
person listed below as soon as possible.

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Michelle Bowles. To ensure receipt of the 
comments by the due date, e-mail (eia-111@eia.gov) is recommended. The 
mailing address is the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy 
Information Administration, Mail Stop: EI-23 (Form EIA-111), 1000 
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, Ms. 
Bowles may be

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contacted by telephone at 202-586-2430 or via fax at (202) 287-1960.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or 
copies of any forms and instructions (the draft proposed collection) 
should be directed to Michelle Bowles at the address listed above. 
Forms and instructions are also available on the Internet at: https://beta.eia.gov/survey/form-eia111/proposed.pdf.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments

I. Background

    The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 761 et 
seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require the 
EIA to carry out a centralized, comprehensive, and unified energy 
information program. This program collects, evaluates, assembles, 
analyzes, and disseminates information on energy resource reserves, 
production, demand, technology, and related economic and statistical 
information. This information is used to assess the adequacy of energy 
resources to meet near and longer term domestic demands.
    The EIA, as part of its effort to comply with the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.), provides the general 
public and other Federal agencies with opportunities to comment on 
collections of energy information conducted by or in conjunction with 
the EIA. Also, the EIA will later seek approval for this collection by 
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the 
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
    The collected information will be kept in public electronic files 
available on EIA's Web site (https://www.eia.gov). Monthly and annual 
tabulations of these data may be used by the U.S. Energy Information 
Administration in the publications: Annual Energy Outlook, Annual 
Energy Review, Electric Power Annual, Electric Power Monthly, and 
Monthly Energy Review.
    The existing survey of electricity imports and exports (OE-781R) 
was designed to reflect significant changes in the electricity 
industry, such as the restructuring of wholesale electricity markets 
and transmission by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC); 
the entry of a large number of independent marketers into those 
markets; and the regulatory requirement that entities in the electric 
power industry keep information on transmission service separate from 
their information on marketing. All of this reduced the usefulness of 
an earlier version of the survey form.
    However, experience with the current collection instrument since it 
began in July 2010 has shown that the form is overly complex and 
confusing. It is not providing the type and quality of information 
expected or required. We also find that some of the information 
currently collected is not justifiable considering EIA's current 
budget.
    The following is additional information about the energy 
information collection to be submitted to OMB for review: (1) The 
collection numbers and title; (2) the sponsor (i.e., the Department of 
Energy component); (3) the current OMB docket number (if applicable); 
(4) the type of request (i.e., new, revision, extension, or 
reinstatement); (5) response obligation (i.e., mandatory, voluntary, or 
required to obtain or retain benefits); (6) a description of the need 
for and proposed use of the information; (7) a categorical description 
of the likely respondents; (8) estimate number of respondents; and (9) 
an estimate of the total annual reporting burden in hours (i.e., the 
estimated number of likely respondents times the proposed frequency of 
response per year times the average hours per response); (10) an 
estimate of the total annual reporting and recordkeeping cost burden 
(in thousands of dollars).
    1. Form EIA-111, Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.
    2. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
    3. OMB Number 1905-NEW.
    4. Three-year approval.
    5. Mandatory.
    6. Form EIA-111 collects U.S. electricity import and export data. 
The data are used to get an accurate measure of the flow of electricity 
into and out of the United States. The import and export data are 
reported by U.S. purchasers, sellers and transmitters of wholesale 
electricity, including persons authorized by Order to export electric 
energy from the United States to foreign countries, persons authorized 
by Presidential Permit to construct, operate, maintain, or connect 
electric power transmission lines that cross the U.S. international 
border, and U.S. Balancing Authorities that are directly interconnected 
with foreign Balancing Authorities. Such entities are to report monthly 
flows of electric energy received or delivered across the border, the 
cost associated with the transactions, and actual and implemented 
interchange. The data collected on this form may appear in various EIA 
publications.
    7. Business or other for-profit; State, local or Tribal government; 
Federal government.
    8. 173 responses per quarter, for a total of 692 responses 
annually.
    9. Annual total of 4,152 hours.
    10. Annual total of $0.

II. Current Actions

    The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed Form EIA-111, 
``Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.'' This survey will 
replace the existing Form OE-781R. Pending authorization to administer 
the revised form, EIA has suspended the current collection of the OE-
781R. Upon receiving authorization to administer the revised form, EIA 
will terminate the OE-781R and begin operation of the new survey. EIA 
intends to retroactively collect the core import and export data for 
the period of the suspension.
    The following changes are proposed:
    The form would continue to collect data on monthly activity, but 
respondents would file the form quarterly. Quarterly data would be 
filed within 30 days of the end of the reporting quarter, e.g., first 
quarter data would be due no later than April 30. (The existing form 
collects monthly information each month.)
    The current Form OE-781R is mandatory for persons issued orders 
authorizing them to export electricity from the United States to 
foreign countries and by owners and operators of international 
electricity transmission lines authorized by Presidential permit or 
treaty. The form further asks respondents to categorize themselves as 
one or more the following: Purchasing and Selling Entity, Transmission 
System Operator, Transmission Owner, or Treaty Entity.
    Currently, only Purchasing and Selling Entities that have been 
issued orders authorizing them to export electricity from the United 
States to foreign countries are required to complete the form. This 
means that information on imports made by Purchasing and Selling 
Entities without Export Authorizations is not being reported. To ensure 
reporting of all electricity imports into the U.S., in the new Form 
EIA-111 we propose to expand mandatory reporting to all Purchasing and 
Selling Entities that import electricity in to the U.S.
    In the new Form EIA-111 we propose to replace the Transmission 
System Operator category with U.S. Balancing Authorities that are 
directly interconnected with foreign electricity systems. There are 
seven such Balancing Authorities: ERCOT, CAISO, Bonneville Power 
Administration, WAPA Upper

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Great Plains East, MISO, NYISO, and ISO-NE.
    This change is proposed because under the NERC Functional Model 
(from which three of the current form's respondent categories are 
derived), Transmission System Operators do not perform the functions 
necessary for them to provide the required information. In contrast, 
U.S. border Balancing Authorities are the appropriate entities to 
report cross-border actual and implemented interchange. Interchange is 
any energy transfer that crosses Balancing Authority boundaries. Actual 
Interchange means the metered value electricity that flows from one 
balancing authority area to another. Implemented Interchange is the 
interchange values that the Balancing Authority enters into its Area 
Control Error equation, i.e., uses to balance supply and demand of its 
electric system.
    A number of entities could report implemented interchange provided 
on the interchange scheduling e-tags. Border Balancing Authorities are 
a convenient provider of this information since they would already be 
providing actual interchange on the same schedule. Under FERC-approved 
mandatory reliability standards, Balancing Authorities receive e-tag 
information from the interchange coordinator when the transmission path 
is through their system.
    We propose to drop the transmission owner respondent category as it 
is no longer necessary.
    The existing survey breakdown of the quantity and value of imports 
and exports into cost-of-service and market rates would be dropped. The 
breakdown of volume by fuel source would be dropped. Questions covering 
the total cost of ancillary service along with a general identification 
of the type of ancillary services would be dropped.
    For each import transaction, the foreign source balancing authority 
name, the U.S. sink balancing authority name, the presidential permit 
number or transmission service provider name would be required. On the 
new Form EIA-111 the type of service is categorized as firm, non-firm, 
exchange, or other. Payments are broken down into energy revenues, 
other revenues and total revenues.
    For each export transaction, the DOE export authorization number, 
U.S. source balancing authority name, the foreign sink balancing 
authority name, the presidential permit number or transmission service 
provider name would be required. On the new Form EIA-111 the type of 
service is categorized as firm, non-firm, exchange, or other. Payments 
are broken down into energy payments, other payments, and total 
payments.
    U.S. border balancing authorities would report actual interchange 
received from and delivered to directly interconnected foreign border 
balancing authorities. Instead of scheduled imports and exports 
reported by transmission operators, U.S. border balancing authorities 
would report implemented interchange (the current industry term) when 
the transmission path is through their system, for each combination of 
source and sink balancing authorities.
    Reporting of the characteristics of transmission operations would 
be replaced by quarterly reporting of events that exceed DOE order 
terms. Presidential permit and DOE export authorization holders would 
report their order number, the date and hour(s) of the exceeded event 
and the specific order term exceeded.
    Reporting of existing and proposed transmission facilities crossing 
the border would be dropped.

III. Request for Comments

    Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment 
on the actions discussed in item II. The following guidelines are 
provided to assist in the preparation of comments.

As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information

    A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the 
information have practical utility?
    B. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the 
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be 
collected?
    C. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If 
not, which instructions need clarification?
    D. Can the information be submitted by the respondent by the due 
date?
    E. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to 
average 6 hours per quarter for each respondent. The estimated burden 
includes the total time necessary to provide the requested information. 
In your opinion, how accurate is this estimate?
    F. The agency estimates that the only cost to a respondent is for 
the time it will take to complete the collection. Will a respondent 
incur any start-up costs for reporting, or any recurring annual costs 
for operation, maintenance, and purchase of services associated with 
the information collection?
    G. What additional actions could be taken to minimize the burden of 
this collection of information? Such actions may involve the use of 
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection 
techniques or other forms of information technology.
    H. Does any other Federal, State, or local agency collect similar 
information? If so, specify the agency, the data element(s), and the 
methods of collection.

As a Potential User of the Information To Be Collected

    A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the 
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the 
information have practical utility?
    B. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the 
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information 
disseminated?
    C. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be 
collected?
    D. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
    E. Are there alternate sources for the information and are they 
useful? If so, what are their weaknesses and/or strengths?
    Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized 
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the form. They also 
will become a matter of public record.

    Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy 
Administration Act of 1974, Pub. L. 93-275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 
772(b).

    Issued in Washington, DC on August 3, 2011.
Stephanie Brown,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U. 
S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-20401 Filed 8-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P