Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, 10571-10586 [2020-03244]
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 37 / Tuesday, February 25, 2020 / Rules and Regulations
PART 231—INTERPRETATIVE
RELEASES RELATING TO THE
SECURITIES ACT OF 1933 AND
GENERAL RULES AND REGULATIONS
THEREUNDER
10571
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 77a et seq.
4. Part 231 is amended by adding an
entry for Release No. 33–10751 at the
end of the table to read as follows:
■
3. The authority citation for part 231
is added to read as follows:
■
Subject
Release No.
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Commission Guidance on Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
PART 241—INTERPRETATIVE
RELEASES RELATING TO THE
SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934
AND GENERAL RULES AND
REGULATIONS THEREUNDER
*
33–10751
Date
Fed. Reg. Vol. and page
*
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January 30, 2020 .................... [insert FR citation of publication].
Authority: 15 U.S.C. 78a et seq.
6. Part 241 is amended by adding an
entry for Release No. 34–88094 at the
end of the table to read as follows:
■
5. The authority citation for part 241
continues to read as follows:
■
Subject
Release No.
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*
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Commission Guidance on Management’s Discussion and
Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
By the Commission.
Dated: January 30, 2020.
Eduardo A. Aleman,
Deputy Secretary.
*
34–88094
Date
*
*
*
January 30, 2020 .................... [insert FR citation of publication].
The Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission (Commission) is
revising its regulations to incorporate by
reference, with certain enumerated
exceptions, the latest version (Version
003.2) 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) as mandatory
enforceable requirements. The
Commission is adopting this latest
version instead of WEQ Version 003.1,
which was the subject of an earlier
notice of proposed rulemaking. The
Commission declines to adopt the
proposal to remove the incorporation by
reference of the WEQ–006 Manual Time
Error Correction Business Practice
Standards as adopted by NAESB.
DATES: Effective date: This rule is
effective April 27, 2020.
Compliance dates: Public utilities
must make a compliance filing to
comply with the requirements of this
SUMMARY:
[FR Doc. 2020–02296 Filed 2–24–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 8011–01–P
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
18 CFR Parts 2 and 38
[Docket No. RM05–5–025; Docket No.
RM05–5–026; Docket No. RM05–5–027;
Order No. 676–I]
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Final rule.
AGENCY:
Fed. Reg. Vol. and page
final rule through eTariff no later than
May 26, 2020. The Commission will set
an effective date for the proposed tariff
changes in the order(s) on the
compliance filings, but no earlier than
July 27, 2020.
Incorporation by reference: The
incorporation by reference of certain
publications listed in this rule is
approved by the Director of the Federal
Register as of April 27, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael P. Lee (technical issues), Office
of Energy Policy and Innovation,
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502–
6548
Michael A. Chase (legal issues), Office
of the General Counsel, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888
First Street NE, Washington, DC
20426, (202) 502–6205
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
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Paragraph Nos.
I. Background ................................................................................................................................................................................
II. Discussion ................................................................................................................................................................................
A. Overview ...........................................................................................................................................................................
B. Issues Raised by Commenters ..........................................................................................................................................
1. Treatment of Requests for Redirects .........................................................................................................................
2. Time Error Correction ................................................................................................................................................
3. Other Issues Raised by Commenters .........................................................................................................................
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 37 / Tuesday, February 25, 2020 / Rules and Regulations
Paragraph Nos.
4. Implementatione ........................................................................................................................................................
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards ................................................................................................................
IV. Incorporation by Reference ....................................................................................................................................................
V. Information Collection Statement ...........................................................................................................................................
VI. Environmental Analysis .........................................................................................................................................................
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act .....................................................................................................................................................
VIII. Document Availability .........................................................................................................................................................
IX. Effective Date and Congressional Notification .....................................................................................................................
1. The Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission (Commission) is amending
its regulations under the Federal Power
Act (FPA) 1 to incorporate by reference
into its regulations as mandatory
enforceable requirements, with certain
enumerated exceptions, the latest
version (Version 003.2) 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), filed with the Commission as
a package on December 8, 2017
(December 8 Filing), and includes minor
clarifications and updates submitted by
NAESB on June 5, 2019, and July 23,
2019.
2. The WEQ Version 003.2 Standards
build upon the standards included in
the WEQ Version 003.1 Standards and
include, in their entirety, the
modifications submitted to the
Commission in WEQ Version 003.1,
which were the subject of an earlier
notice of proposed rulemaking, with the
addition of certain revisions and
corrections.2
3. In this final rule, the Commission
will not adopt the NOPR proposal to
incorporate by reference NAESB’s latest
version of the WEQ–006 Manual Time
Error Correction Business Practice
Standards. Version 003.2 of NAESB’s
WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards
proposes to retire the Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standard,
which have been the subject of a
separate notice of proposed
rulemaking.3 As explained below, the
proposal to retire the Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standard
1 16
U.S.C. 791a, et seq. (2018).
filed WEQ Version 003.1 of the
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities as a
package on October 26, 2015 (October 26 Filing).
See Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 81 FR 49580 (July
28, 2016), 156 FERC ¶ 61,055 (2016) (WEQ Version
003.1 NOPR).
3 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 83 FR 51654 (Oct.
12, 2018), 165 FERC ¶ 61,007 (2018) (Time Error
Correction NOPR).
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2 NAESB
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has not been adequately supported by
NAESB.
4. Additionally, this final rule updates
NAESB’s Smart Grid Standards (set out
in Standards WEQ–018 and WEQ–019)
that the Commission listed for
informational purposes in Part 2 of the
Commission’s Regulations, to match the
latest iteration of those standards. These
revisions update earlier versions of the
WEQ–018 and WEQ–019 Standards that
the Commission previously listed in
Part 2 of our regulations as nonmandatory guidance at 18 CFR 2.27 in
Order No. 676–H.4
5. Finally, the Commission is
incorporating by reference the WEQ–
022 Electric Industry Registry (EIR)
Business Practice Standards, but
declines to incorporate by reference in
its entirety the WEQ–023 Modeling
Business Practice Standards. In WEQ
Version 003.1, NAESB developed these
two new suites of standards in
coordination with the North American
Electric Reliability Corporation
(NERC).5 These two proposals would
establish: (1) NAESB EIR business
practice standards that replace the
NERC Transmission System Information
Networks (TSIN) as the tool to be used
by wholesale electric markets to
conduct electronic transactions via
electronic tagging (e-Tags); and (2)
Modeling Business Practice Standards
to support and complement NERC’s
proposed retirement of its ‘‘MOD A’’
Reliability Standards.6 In this final rule,
4 See Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–H, 79 FR 56,939 (Oct. 24, 2014), 148 FERC
¶ 61,205, at P 77 (2014).
5 NERC is the Commission-certified ‘‘electric
reliability organization’’ responsible for developing
and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. See
section 215 of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C.
824o (2018).
6 In a February 19, 2014 petition, NERC proposed
to retire Reliability Standards MOD–001–1a, MOD–
004–1, MOD–008–1, MOD–028–2, MOD–029–1a,
and MOD–030–2 and requested approval of new
Reliability Standard MOD–001–2. Generally, the
‘‘MOD A’’ series of NERC Reliability Standards
pertain to transmission system modeling. The
Commission issued a notice of proposed
rulemaking in Docket No. RM14–7–000 that
addressed NERC’s proposal, and the matter is
currently pending before the Commission.
Modeling, Data, and Analysis Reliability Standards,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 79 FR 36269 (June
26, 2014), 147 FERC ¶ 61,208 (2014) (MOD NOPR).
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64.
68.
69.
89.
98.
99.
101.
104.
the Commission is incorporating by
reference the WEQ–023 standards that
were moved from the WEQ–001
Standards by the changes made to WEQ
Version 003.1. The Commission
declines to adopt the remaining WEQ–
023 Modeling Business Practice
Standards as they are the subject of a
separate proceeding.
I. Background
6. NAESB is a non-profit standards
development organization established in
January 2002 that serves as an industry
forum for the development and
promotion of business practice
standards that promote a seamless
marketplace for wholesale and retail
natural gas and electricity. Since 1995,
NAESB and its predecessor, the Gas
Industry Standards Board, have been
accredited members of the American
National Standards Institute (ANSI),
complying with ANSI’s requirements
that its standards reflect a consensus of
the affected industries.
7. NAESB’s standards include
business practices intended to
standardize and streamline the
transactional processes of the natural
gas and electric industries, as well as
communication protocols and related
standards designed to improve the
efficiency of communication within
each industry. NAESB supports the
Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ), the
Wholesale Gas Quadrant, and the Retail
Market Quadrant.7 All participants in
the natural gas and electric industries
are eligible to join NAESB and
participate in standards development.
8. NAESB develops its standards
under a consensus process so that the
standards draw support from a wide
range of industry members. NAESB’s
procedures are designed to ensure that
all industry members can have input
into the development of a standard,
whether or not they are members of
In a June 2, 2019 filing, NERC submitted a notice
of withdrawal for its petition for approval of the
proposed Reliability Standard MOD–001–2 to
replace the MOD A Standards in Docket No. RM14–
7–000.
7 The retail gas quadrant and the retail electric
quadrant were combined into the retail markets
quadrant. NAESB continues to refer to these
working groups as ‘‘quadrants’’ even though there
are now only three.
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NAESB, and each standard NAESB
adopts is supported by a consensus of
the relevant industry segments.
Standards that fail to gain consensus
support are not adopted. NAESB’s
consistent practice has been to submit a
report to the Commission after it has
revised existing business practice
standards or has developed and adopted
new business practice standards.
NAESB’s standards are voluntary
standards, which become mandatory for
public utilities upon incorporation by
reference by the Commission.
9. In Order No. 676, the Commission
not only adopted business practice
standards and communication protocols
for the wholesale electric industry, it
also established a formal ongoing
process for reviewing and upgrading the
Commission’s Open Access Same Time
Information System (OASIS) standards
and other wholesale electric industry
business practice standards. In later
orders in this series, the Commission
incorporated by reference: (1) The
Version 001 Business Practice
Standards; 8 (2) the Version 002.1
Business Practice Standards; 9 (3)
business practice standards categorizing
various demand response products and
services; 10 (4) OASIS-related Business
Practice Standards related to Demand
Side Management and Energy
Efficiency; 11 and (5) the Version 003
Business Practice Standards.12
10. NAESB informed the Commission
of the changes it had made to its Version
003 standards in its October 26 Filing to
8 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–C, 73 FR 43,848, (July 29, 2008), 124 FERC
¶ 61,070 (2008), reh’g denied, Order No. 676–D, 124
FERC ¶ 61,317 (2008).
9 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–E, 74 FR 63,288 (Dec. 3, 2009), 129 FERC
¶ 61,162 (2009). This order also incorporated
revisions made in response to Order Nos. 890, 890–
A, and 890–B. See Preventing Undue
Discrimination and Preference in Transmission
Service, Order No. 890, 118 FERC ¶ 61,119, order
on reh’g, Order No. 890–A, 121 FERC ¶ 61,297
(2007), order on reh’g, Order No. 890–B, 123 FERC
¶ 61,299 (2008), order on reh’g, Order No. 890–C,
126 FERC ¶ 61,228, order on clarification, Order
No. 890–D, 129 FERC ¶ 61,126 (2009).
10 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–F, 75 FR 20,901 (Apr. 22, 2010), 131 FERC
¶ 61,022 (2010).
11 Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, Order
No. 676–G, 78 FR 14,654 (Mar. 7, 2013), 142 FERC
¶ 61,131 (2013). In this rule, the Commission
incorporated by reference into its regulations
updated business practice standards adopted by
NAESB’s WEQ to categorize various products and
services for demand response and energy efficiency
and to support the measurement and verification of
these products and services in organized wholesale
electric markets.
12 See Order No. 676–H, 148 FERC ¶ 61,205
(2014).
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the Commission. NAESB adopted
certain new and revised WEQ Version
003.1 Business Practice Standards based
on developments involving NERC. In
part, NAESB developed the WEQ–023
Modeling Business Practice Standards
in response to a NERC petition to delete
and retire the six ‘‘MOD A’’ Reliability
Standards. NERC had previously filed a
petition with the Commission on
February 10, 2014, proposing to retire
NERC’s six MOD A Reliability
Standards and replace them with
Reliability Standard MOD–001–2,
which NERC stated will focus
exclusively on the reliability aspects of
Available Flowgate Capability (AFC)
and Available Transfer Capability
(ATC). On February 7, 2014, NERC
submitted a request to NAESB asking
NAESB to consider adopting standards
that address the commercial and
business aspects of the MOD standards
proposed for retirement. NAESB
subsequently developed the WEQ–023
Business Practice Standards to support
and complement the proposed
retirement of the MOD A Reliability
Standards.
11. The WEQ–023 Business Practice
Standards specify the requirements for
calculating ATC and AFC and support
the tasks of reporting on the commercial
aspects of these calculations.13 WEQ–
023 also includes two new requirements
not previously included in the NERC
Reliability Standards related to contract
path management. These two standards,
WEQ–023–1.4 and WEQ–023–1.4.1,
limit the amount of firm transmission
service across a path between balancing
authorities to the contract path limit for
that given path.
12. After consideration of the October
26 Filing, the Commission issued the
WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR on July 21,
2016, wherein the Commission
proposed to incorporate the WEQ
Version 003.1 Standards, with certain
enumerated exceptions. In the WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR, the Commission
announced that it will address
separately NAESB’s WEQ–023 Modeling
Business Practice Standards, which
concern technical issues affecting ATC/
AFC calculation for wholesale electric
transmission services.14
13. In response to the WEQ Version
003.1 NOPR, eight stakeholders filed
comments.15 A number of comments
expressed general support for the
Commission’s proposals in the WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR, and no comments
13 NAESB
October 26 Filing at 3.
WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, 156 FERC
¶ 61,055 at P 42.
15 Commenters on the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR,
and the abbreviations used in this final rule to
identify them, are listed in the Appendix.
14 See
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10573
were received opposing the basic
direction of the NOPR, although
commenters did make suggestions on
several specific details of the NOPR
proposals.
14. On May 27, 2017, NAESB filed a
report with the Commission 16 stating
that it ‘‘reserved’’ the WEQ–006 Manual
Time Error Correction Standards to
correspond to the NERC retirement of
Reliability Standard BAL–004–0 Time
Error Correction.17 NERC continues to
provide Reliability Coordinators serving
as time monitors in the North American
Interconnections with a time monitoring
reference document that specifies how
manual time error corrections are to be
implemented if needed to resolve time
error issues and outlines procedural
responsibilities assigned to the time
monitor.18 NERC provides the time
monitoring reference document for
guidance, and the information therein
does not reflect binding norms or
mandatory requirements.19
15. On December 8, 2017, NAESB
filed the WEQ Version 003.2 Standards.
The WEQ Version 003.2 Standards build
upon the standards included in the
WEQ Version 003.1 Standards and
include, in their entirety, the
modifications submitted to the
Commission in WEQ Version 003.1,
which were the subject to the WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR, with the addition
of certain revisions and corrections.
After consideration of the December 8
Filing, the Commission issued the WEQ
Version 003.2 NOPR on May 16, 2019,
wherein the Commission proposed to
incorporate the WEQ Version 003.2
Standards, with certain enumerated
exceptions.20
16. On June 5, 2019, NAESB
submitted informational comments in
the WEQ 003.2 docket to inform the
Commission of ongoing NERC and
NAESB coordination efforts, and
clarified that it had reserved certain
WEQ–001 OASIS Business Practice
Standards included as part of WEQ
Version 003.2 to avoid duplication with
16 NAESB Status Report on the Reservation of
WEQ–006 Manual Time Error Correction Business
Practice Standards, March 27, 2017 (March 27
Filing), Docket Nos RM05–000 and RD17–1–000.
17 See N. Amer. Elec. Reliability Corp., Docket No.
RD17–1–000 (Jan. 18, 2017) (delegated order). The
delegated letter order approved NERC’s Nov. 10,
2016 filing of the petition for approval of retirement
of then-effective Reliability Standard BAL–004–0.
18 NERC, Time Monitoring Reference Document—
Version 4 (approved by the NERC Operating
Committee on Sept. 14, 2018).
19 Id. at n.1.
20 See Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 84 FR 24,050 (May
16, 2019), 167 FERC ¶ 61,127 (2019) (WEQ Version
003.2 NOPR).
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the WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards.
17. On July 23, 2019, NAESB
submitted informational comments in
response to the WEQ Version 003.2
NOPR stating that a minor correction to
the WEQ–003–0 OASIS Data Dictionary
was approved to remove references to
two data elements and their
definitions.21 The removal to the
references occurred as a result of
NAESB’s ongoing coordination
activities with NERC.
II. Discussion
A. Overview
18. The specific revised or new
NAESB business practice standards that
we incorporate by reference in this final
rule are the following WEQ standards:
WEQ
Business practice standards
000 ...............
Abbreviations, Acronyms, and
Definition of Terms.
Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS),
OASIS Version 2.2.22
OASIS Standards and Communication Protocols
(S&CP), OASIS Version
2.2.
OASIS S&CP Data Dictionaries, OASIS Version 2.2.
Coordinate Interchange.
Manual Time Error Correction.
Transmission Loading Relief
(TLR)—Eastern Interconnection.
Public Key Infrastructure
(PKI).
OASIS Implementation Guide,
Version 2.2.
Measurement and Verification
of Wholesale Electricity Demand Response.
Electric Industry Registry
(EIR).
Modeling.
001 ...............
002 ...............
003 ...............
004 ...............
006 ...............
008 ...............
012 ...............
013 ...............
015 ...............
022 ...............
023 ...............
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19. These standards establish a set of
business practice standards and
communication protocols for the
electric industry that will continue to
enable industry members to achieve
efficiencies by streamlining utility
21 Both data elements, PROCEDURE_NAME and
PROCEDURE_LEVEL, contain references to the
retired NERC Reliability Standards IRO–006–TRE–
1—IROL and SOL Mitigation in the ERCOT Region,
approved by the Commission for retirement on
January 29, 2019.
22 As discussed later in this final rule, the
regulatory text accompanying our WEQ Version
003.1 NOPR erroneously proposed to exclude from
incorporation several standards in the WEQ–001
suite of standards and also erroneously proposed
the incorporation by reference of the entirety of
Standard WEQ–023, even though the preamble
makes clear that we did not intend to incorporate
this standard. As discussed later in this final rule,
we correct these errors herein.
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business and transactional processes
and communication procedures. All of
these standards, except for Standards
WEQ–022 and WEQ–023, update and
replace standards that the Commission
previously incorporated by reference in
Order No. 676–H. In addition, in this
final rule we update our reference to
Standard WEQ–019 in Part 2 of our
regulations, which houses statements of
general policy and interpretations of the
Commission, so that we refer to the
latest version of that standard.23
20. In keeping with the prior practice
that the Commission adopted in Order
No. 676–H, we are requiring public
utilities and those entities with
reciprocity tariffs to modify their open
access transmission tariffs (OATTs) to
include the WEQ standards that we are
incorporating by reference. In order to
comply with this final rule, public
utilities and entities with reciprocity
tariffs must make a compliance filing
through eTariff no later than 90 days
from the date the final rule is published
in the Federal Register, using an
indeterminant effective date (12/31/
9998) for the tariff records. The
Commission will establish an effective
date for the proposed tariff changes in
the order(s) on the compliance filings no
earlier than five months from the date
the final rule is published in the Federal
Register.24 Should any public utility
that has previously been granted a
waiver of the regulations believe that its
circumstances warrant a continued
waiver, the public utility may file a
request for a waiver wherein the public
utility can detail the circumstances that
it believes warrant a waiver.25 In its
request for continued waiver, the public
23 The references to the other smart grid standards
that we list informationally in Part 2 of our
regulations, at 18 CFR 2.27 (2019), as nonmandatory guidance, are unchanged and do not
require updating. These are Standards WEQ–016,
WEQ–017, and WEQ–020. We are listing for
informational purposes as non-mandatory guidance
Standard WEQ–018. We also note that the WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR, at P 49, in discussing
Standard WEQ–019, referred to the ‘‘International
Electrotechnical Commission Information Model.’’
We clarify that the full name of this model is the
‘‘International Electrotechnical Commission
Common Information Model.’’
24 As we explained in Order No. 676–H, at n.26,
to the extent a public utility’s OASIS obligations are
administered by an independent system operator
(ISO) or regional transmission operator (RTO) and
are not covered in the public utility’s OATT, the
public utility will not need to modify its OATT to
include the OASIS standards. Such a public utility
will, however, be required to comply with these
standards unless granted a waiver by the
Commission. The business practice standards that
we incorporate by reference into our regulations in
this final rule govern the terms and conditions that
public utilities must include in their OATTs and
the transactions that entities enter with public
utilities under these OATTs must be in accordance
with the incorporated standards.
25 Order No. 676–E, 129 FERC ¶ 61,162 at P 107.
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utility must include the date, Docket
No. of the order(s) previously granting
the waiver(s), and an explanation for
why the waiver(s) was initially granted
by the Commission. Any waiver
requests must be filed at the same time
with the public utility’s compliance
filing or in a separate FPA section 205
filing.
21. As the Commission has explained
in prior orders, NAESB approved the
standards under its consensus
procedures.26 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 must conduct
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, like NAESB, to carry out
policy objectives or activities.27
B. Issues Raised by Commenters
22. Eight stakeholders filed comments
in response to the WEQ Version 003.1
NOPR. Eight stakeholders also filed
comments in response to the WEQ
Version 003.2 NOPR. Several comments
filed in response to the WEQ Version
003.1 NOPR and WEQ Version 003.2
NOPR expressed general support for the
Commission’s proposals and no
comments were received opposing the
basic direction of the two NOPRs,
although comments did make
suggestions on several specific details of
the NOPR proposals. Comments were
also filed in response to the Time Error
Correction NOPR by five commenters.
Commenters were divided with regard
to the Commission’s proposal to remove
the incorporation by reference of the
26 See Order No. 676–H at P 21, n.27 (‘‘WEQ’s
procedures ensure that all industry members can
have input into the development of a business
practice standard, whether or not they are members
of NAESB, and each standard it adopts is supported
by a consensus of the seven industry segments:
Transmission, generation, marketer/brokers,
distribution/load serving entities, end users,
independent grid operators/planners, and
technology services. Under the WEQ process, for a
standard to be approved, it must receive a supermajority vote of 67 percent of the members of the
WEQ’s Executive Committee with support from at
least 40 percent of each of the seven industry
segments. For final approval, 67 percent of the
WEQ’s general membership must ratify the
standards.’’).
27 Public Law No. 104–113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775
(1996), 15 U.S.C. 272 note (1997).
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NAESB WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards.
One commenter, Dr. Hardis, argued that
his comments should be considered a
complaint pursuant to 16 U.S.C.
824o(d)(3), and argued that the
Commission should remand the matter
of reliability standard BAL–004 back to
NERC for reconsideration.
1. Treatment of Requests for Redirects
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a. Request for Comments
23. In Dynegy Power Marketing, Inc,28
the Commission established its policy
on 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. In the WEQ Version 003.1
NOPR, the Commission invited
comment on whether the Commission
should extend the Dynegy policy to both
conditional original (parent)
reservations for firm transmission
service and non-firm transmission
service.29 In Dynegy, 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. The Commission’s
concern was that a redirecting customer
would lose its rights to the original
parent path upon confirmation of a
redirect request and be left with no
transmission service during the redirect
period if the requested redirect was
preempted by a competing service
request.
24. The NAESB Version 003.1 WEQ–
001 business practice standards propose
to permit a transmission customer to
redirect point-to-point transmission
service on a firm basis (WEQ–001–9)
from unconditional parent reservations.
While the standards do not explicitly
permit redirects on a firm or non-firm
basis from conditional parent
reservations still subject to competition,
the proposed standards include an
option allowing individual transmission
providers to implement alternative
practices to the NAESB standards that
apply to redirects on a firm basis from
28 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).
29 WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR at P 25.
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parent reservations that are conditional
(text of WEQ–001–9 preamble).30
25. In the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR,
the Commission explained that the
negative effects associated with the
potential loss of a customer’s parent
path when the parent reservation is
conditional and subject to competition
is arguably less compelling than when
the parent reservation is unconditional.
The Commission then invited comment
on whether the Commission should
extend the Dynegy policy to both
conditional parent reservations for firm
transmission service and non-firm
transmission service.31 To aid the
Commission’s consideration of this
issue, the Commission referenced four
redirect issues on which NAESB
stakeholders were unable to reach
consensus and invited comments on
whether the Commission should adopt
regulations governing the business
practices to be followed for requests for
redirects from conditional parent
reservations for short-term firm
transmission service and for non-firm
transmission service. These issues are:
(1) The treatment of a firm redirect for
transmission service following the
preemption of the conditional parent
reservation; (2) the circumstances under
which a firm redirect for transmission
service may return to the conditional
parent reservation; (3) the number of
subsequent firm redirects for
transmission service that can stem from
the original firm redirect for
transmission service; and (4) the proper
treatment of requests to redirect requests
for non-firm transmission service. In the
WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR, the
Commission proposed to adopt the
NAESB standards with the exception of
the text from the WEQ–001–9 preamble,
which would allow the implementation
of alternative practices.32
30 Standard WEQ–001–9 states: ‘‘[t]he Business
Practice Standard WEQ–001–9 is defined in order
to enhance consistency of the reservation process
that applies to Redirects on a firm basis from Parent
Reservations that are unconditional, as defined in
Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma tariff. The
Transmission Provider shall specify any reservation
process that applies to Redirects on a firm basis
from Parent Reservations that are conditional, as
defined in Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma tariff
in its Business Practices that are posted in
accordance with Business Practice Standard WEQ–
001–13.1.4.’’ (emphasis added).
31 WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR at P 25.
32 The WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR does not request
comments on the WEQ–001–10 preamble, and the
language used therein, as related to treatment of
redirects on a non-firm basis, is similar to that used
in the WEQ–001–9 preamble for firm redirects. For
the reasons outlined in this final rule to except the
preamble to WEQ–001–9 from incorporation by
reference, the preamble to WEQ–001–10 is excepted
from incorporation by reference. See infra PP 35–
39.
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10575
b. Comments
26. Virtually all the comments
received on this subject oppose the
option of extending the Dynegy redirect
policy to either conditional parent
reservations for short-term firm
transmission service or non-firm
transmission service.33 As a result, most
commenters express support for
NAESB’s proposed redirect standards
for unconditional parent reservations,34
but did not express support for the
proposed language provided within the
WEQ–001–9 preamble that would also
allow transmission providers the option
of implementing alternative practices
for redirects from conditional
reservations.35 In addition, commenters
did not express support for the
proposed language provided within the
WEQ–001–10 preamble that would
allow transmission providers the option
of implementing alternative practices
for redirects from non-firm
reservations.36 Southern expressed
support for retaining the first sentence
in the WEQ 001–9 and WEQ 001–10
preambles to make the applicability of
the Dynegy policy to these standards
clear.37 Simultaneously, some
commenters state that they recommend
or at least could support the application
of a separate policy to provide
transmission customers with the ability
to redirect from conditional parent
reservations.38
27. Various commenters note that,
under the Dynegy redirect policy, the
transmission provider must hold ATC
for the original firm reservation on the
original path and simultaneously hold
ATC on the redirect reservation’s path
until the redirect reaches the
conditional deadline, and, at such time,
capacity on the parent path may then be
33 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5;
EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5; Idaho
Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2; Joint
Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6;
OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3;
Snohomish/Tacoma WEQ Version 003.1 Comments
at 1; Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
34 NAESB’s redirect standards require a
reservation for service to be unconditional before it
may be redirected.
35 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4,
7; Idaho Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2;
Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
6; OATI at 3; and Southern WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 4. Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2
Comments at 3; MISO WEQ Version 003.2
Comments at 2; OATI WEQ Version 003.2
Comments at 2–3.
36 See e.g., MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments
at 2; OATI WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2; SPP
WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4.
37 Southern WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
38 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6;
OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2–3;
MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 1–2.
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released.39 Several commenters contend
that this allows the transmission
customer to hold priority of service
options on two or more transmission
paths at the same time.40 Joint
Commenters ask the Commission if
there may be benefits to revisiting
specifics of the Dynegy/Entergy orders
since the requirement that a redirect’s
parent passes the conditional
reservation deadline sacrifices system
efficiency.41
28. Several commenters oppose the
proposal to extend the Dynegy policy
beyond an application to unconditional
parent reservations. These commenters
point out that prior to the conditional
reservation deadline, when the parent
reservation is still conditional and
subject to competition, there is no
guarantee that firm service will be
provided to the transmission customer
on either the original transmission path
or the requested redirect path since the
reservation remains subject to
competition until the conditional period
expires.42 They observe that the
transmission customer’s expectation as
to the certainty of service is different in
the conditional and unconditional
cases.43 Specifically, EEI references
sections of the Commission’s pro forma
OATT to support its conclusion that a
firm capacity reservation under which
the transmission customer is already
taking service must already exist, and a
reservation for service must be
unconditional before it may be
redirected.44 Bonneville notes that a
customer with a conditional parent
reservation has no reasonable
expectation of service, since a laterqueued, higher-priority request may
preempt or compete with that
customer’s conditional parent
reservation. And because this
expectation of service is different from
a customer’s expectation of service with
an unconditional firm reservation,
Bonneville argues it is inappropriate to
extend the protections afforded by
Dynegy to conditional parent
reservations.45
39 See, e.g., OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments
at 2–3; NV Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments
at 1.
40 See, e.g., EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
7; OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3. NV
Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 1.
41 Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 8–9.
42 See, e.g., EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
6; OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3;
Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5.
43 See, e.g., Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 5; EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments
at 6.
44 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5–6.
45 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4–
5.
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29. Commenters also contend that
there may be many difficulties in
administering scenarios with multiple
conditional, confirmed reservations
consuming more transmission capacity
than available, since capacity would be
retained on both the parent path and all
the redirected paths.46 Some
commenters advise that, if transmission
customers are able to redirect from
conditional parent reservations, it could
result in potentially troublesome
administrative, billing, and liability
issues.47
30. Specifically, Joint Commenters
and Southern argue that a transmission
customer should only be permitted to
redirect transmission service from
unconditional parent reservations.48
However, EEI argues individual
transmission providers should be
allowed the option to also permit
redirects from conditional parent
reservations by moving firm capacity to
the redirect path upon confirmation.49
Snohomish/Tacoma suggests that the
Commission should either: (1) Allow
individual transmission providers to
craft specific tariff provisions for how
redirects from conditional parent
reservations will be addressed; or (2)
explicitly not apply the Dynegy redirect
policy, nor any other restriction on
redirects from conditional parent
reservations.50 OATI comments that it is
generally not in favor of adopting
standards that allow for options to
implement transmission provider
alternative practices to the NAESB
standards.51
31. OATI notes that, while it supports
the application of Dynegy to redirects on
a firm basis where the parent
reservation is confirmed but still within
the conditional reservation period (prior
to the conditional reservation
deadline),52 it could also support a
NAESB standard where the capacity
held on the conditional firm parent
reservation is released immediately and
lost on the parent path upon
confirmation of the redirect on a firm
basis.53 Other commenters agree and
46 Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5;
Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
47 Idaho Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
2; Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5–6.
Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
48 Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 5; Southern WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 4.
49 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
50 Snohomish/Tacoma WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 1.
51 OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
52 Id. at 3.
53 Id. at 4.
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prefer such a NAESB standard for
conditional parent reservations.54
32. With respect to the Commission
implementing a policy where a
transmission customer redirects from a
conditional parent reservation and the
transmission customer loses the rights
to the parent reservation once the
redirect is confirmed, Bonneville
advises that transmission providers will
have a straightforward solution that is
implementable and that can leverage
technical capabilities that currently
exist in most of the industry, and will
not be burdened with accounting for
capacity on multiple conditional
paths.55
33. As to requests for redirects of
requests for non-firm transmission
service, all the commenters who
addressed this issue oppose extending
the Dynegy redirect policy to non-firm
transmission service. Commenters note
that the Commission’s pro forma OATT
only permits transmission customers
taking firm point-to-point service to
make modifications to points of receipt
(PORs) and points of delivery (PODs),
and the OATT does not state
transmission customers may modify
PORs and PODs on a non-firm basis.56
OATI states that non-firm (secondary)
redirect is the lowest priority service
under the OATT and would be subject
to preemption or interruption at any
time to process either a request to
reserve or schedule an existing
reservation for either firm or non-firm
transmission service.57
34. Commenters also believe that a
request to redirect firm transmission
service on a non-firm basis should only
be allowed from an unconditional, firm
parent reservation.58 EEI advises that
the potential for gaming, the impact on
queue positions and processing, and the
problem of undertaking ATC/AFC
calculations, outweigh any potential
benefits given that a customer can just
as easily submit a new request for nonfirm transmission service with a
modified POR and/or POD.59
Commenters state that it is unnecessary
to adopt changes to the proposed
standards, since a customer can
relinquish a capacity reservation
54 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2–
3, MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 1–2.
55 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
56 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 10; Joint
Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7;
Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7.
57 OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
58 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 11; Idaho
Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4; OATI
WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
59 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 11.
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associated with a non-firm redirect back
to the parent reservation.60
c. Commission Determinations
35. Based on our consideration of the
comments, we incorporate by reference
the WEQ–001–9 and WEQ–001–10
standards with the exception of the text
contained in the preambles to WEQ–
001–9 and WEQ 001–10, which appear
to allow transmission providers to adopt
alternative procedures for redirects from
conditional parent reservations. NAESB
revised its standards by adding
Standard WEQ 001–9.5.4 to apply the
Dynegy policy to redirects from
unconditional firm service. This
standard provides for retention of parent
transmission rights when the
transmission provider confirms a
redirect from unconditional firm service
but during the period when the redirect
remains conditional (i.e., before the
conditional deadline under pro forma
OATT section 13.2).
36. We conclude that limiting the
Dynegy policy to redirects from
unconditional firm service is
reasonable. We base this finding on
several factors. With respect to redirect
requests with conditional parent
reservations, we note that, prior to the
conditional reservation deadline, there
is no guarantee that firm service will be
provided to the transmission customer
on the original transmission path.
Moreover, the Dynegy policy was
designed to protect a firm transmission
customer that requests a redirect from
losing its rights on the original path
while its redirect request is pending.
This is not the same as establishing a
right that requires the transmission
provider to hold ATC simultaneously on
both the original path and the redirect
path when the customer has no right to
use a path service on either path. The
only risk to a customer that requests a
redirect for a conditional parent
reservation would be the customer
losing a right to use a path it does not
yet have. As a result, the Dynegy policy
will extend to neither short-term firm
point-to-point transmission service nor
non-firm transmission service, and the
Dynegy policy continues to be limited to
parent reservations that are
unconditional, as defined in Section
13.2 of the pro forma OATT.
37. We decline to incorporate by
reference the preamble to WEQ–001–9,
which appears to exempt redirects from
conditional firm parents from the
remainder of the redirect standards and
permits transmission providers to
implement their own procedures for
60 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7;
Idaho Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
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redirect requests from conditional firm
parents. The preamble to standard WEQ
–001–9 states:
The Business Practice Standard WEQ–001–
9 is defined in order to enhance consistency
of the reservation process that applies to
Redirects on a firm basis from Parent
Reservations that are unconditional as
defined in Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma
tariff. The Transmission Provider shall
specify any reservation process that applies
to Redirects on a firm basis from Parent
Reservations that are conditional, as defined
in Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma tariff in
its Business Practices that are posted in
accordance with Business Practice Standard
WEQ–001–13.1.4.
38. Prior to the revision from WEQ
Version 003.1, the WEQ 001–9 section
did not contain a preamble and all the
redirect standards for firm service
applied to redirects from both
unconditional and conditional firm
parents. We see no reason to exempt
redirects from conditional firm parents
from these standards with the exception
of standard WEQ 001–9.54
implementing the Dynegy policy with
respect to unconditional firm parents, as
discussed above. The application of the
remaining redirect standards to redirects
from conditional parents will help
ensure consistency across the grid. For
these same reasons we also decline to
incorporate by reference the preamble
included at the beginning to WEQ–001–
10, which, as of WEQ Version 003.2,
applies the above-quoted preamble to
redirect requests for non-firm service.
39. We agree with commenters who
highlighted the administrative burden
associated with standards that allow
individual transmission providers to
specify their own various business
processes for redirects. Without
consistent standards, transmission
providers and transmission customers
would then have to incur the costs of
developing different business processes
to adapt to the differing requirements,
increasing the cost and complexity of
their businesses. Furthermore,
consistent standards help achieve
greater efficiency and reduce costly
disparities.
2. Time Error Correction
a. Request for Comments
40. In the Time Error Correction
NOPR, the Commission proposed to
approve NAESB’s latest version of its
Business Practice Standards to remove
the incorporation by reference of the
Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ)
WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards
as adopted by NAESB in its WEQ
Version 003.0 Businesses Practice
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10577
Standards.61 The WEQ–006 Manual
Time Error Correction Business Practice
Standards outline the commercial based
procedures to be used for reducing time
error to keep the system’s time within
acceptable limits of true time. NAESB’s
latest version of its Business Practice
Standards retires and eliminates the
Manual Time Error Correction Business
Practice Standards to correspond with
NERC’s retirement of the Time Error
Correction requirements, which the
Commission approved in 2017. In the
Time Error Correction NOPR, the
Commission also proposed to
incorporate by reference Standard
WEQ–000, Abbreviations, Acronyms,
and Definition of Terms Business
Practice Standards (Version 003.2),
which would eliminate the definitions
of ‘‘Time Error’’ and ‘‘Time Error
Correction’’ as well as making unrelated
minor corrections.
b. Comments
41. Commenters were divided in their
response to NAESB’s proposal to
remove the incorporation by reference
of the WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards.
NERC states that NAESB reserved
WEQ–006 in coordination with NERC’s
retirement of Reliability Standard BAL–
004–0, as approved by the Commission
in 2017, and removing the reference to
WEQ–006 in 18 CFR 38.1(b) ensures
clarity and avoids inadvertent,
uncoordinated, manual time error
correction.62 SPP adds that removal of
WEQ–006 from the Commission’s
regulations and the update of Standard
WEQ–000 will promote clarity and
ensure consistency between the
Commission’s regulations and current
NERC and NAESB standards.63
42. By contrast, Dr. Demetrios
Matsakis and Dr. Jonathan Hardis 64
state that the proposed rule change is
not in the public interest,65 and Dr.
Hardis asserts the public interest
standard is the appropriate standard of
review.66 Dr. Hardis states that his
61 Time Error Correction NOPR, 165 FERC
¶ 61,007 at P 1.
62 NERC Time Error Correction NOPR Comments
at 1–2.
63 SPP Time Error Correction NOPR Comments at
2.
64 Dr. Matsakis and Dr. Hardis submit their
comments as individual citizens and not on behalf
of any organization or employee. Dr. Matsakis is
Chief Scientist for Time Services at the U.S. Naval
Observatory. Dr. Hardis is a Senior Scientific
Advisor for the Physical Measurement Laboratory at
the National Institute for Standards and
Technology.
65 Dr. Matsakis Time Error Correction Comments
at 1.
66 Dr. Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at
1.
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comments should also serve as a
complaint pursuant to 16 U.S.C.
824o(d)(5) 67 and asserts that the
Commission should remand the matter
of Reliability Standard BAL–004 back to
NERC for reconsideration.68
Additionally, Dr. Hardis and Dr.
Matsakis advise that the business
practice of ‘‘Time Error Correction’’
works so well as a commercial service
that the public gives little thought to
why their synchronous clocks and
appliances work. They state that,
without Time Error Correction,
synchronous clocks and appliances,
which provide accurate time through
the utilization of power line frequency,
will not be accurate or work properly.69
Referring to Docket No. RD17–1–000, in
which the Commission approved the
retirement of Reliability Standard BAL–
004–0, Dr. Hardis states the record in
that proceeding contained statements
that suggest a basic misunderstanding
regarding Time Error Correction. He
asserts that better regulating the grid
frequency to be 60 Hz does not
substitute for or eliminate the need for
Time Error Correction.70
43. Dr. Hardis also responds to the
major arguments presented in Docket
No. RD17–1–000 that support the
retirement of Reliability Standard BAL–
004–0.71 In support of his arguments,
Dr. Hardis references a research paper
that analyzes industry-supplied Time
Error Correction data to conclude that
without Time Error Correction being in
effect between March 2016, when
Daylight Saving Time was implemented,
and November 2016, when Standard
Time was re-implemented, there would
have been approximately 7.5 minutes of
time drift on the Eastern
Interconnection.72
44. Dr. Hardis also asserts that the
decision to retire WEQ–006 was
primarily made by those involved
within NAESB’s Wholesale Energy
Quadrant, without adequate notice,
which results in a lack of balance and
underrepresentation from other interests
(e.g., retail consumers, appliance
manufactures, and state regulatory
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67 Id.
at 17.
68 Id. at 2, 17.
69 Id. at 1–3; Dr. Matsakis Time Error Correction
Comments at 1.
70 Dr. Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at
4.
71 Id. at 9–13.
72 Id. at 14 (citing J.E. Hardis, B. Fonville, and D.
Matsakis, ‘‘Time and frequency from electrical
power lines,’’ Proceedings of the 48th Annual
Precise Time and Time Interval Systems and
Applications Meeting, Monterey, California,
January 2017, pp. 372–386, https://www.nist.gov/
publications/time-and-frequency-electrical-powerlines).
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agencies).73 Additionally, Dr. Hardis
contends that Time Error Correction is
an interstate issue and that some kind
of enforceable standards are still
needed.74
45. NAESB filed comments clarifying
that NAESB: (1) Is accredited by the
ANSI; (2) is obligated to adhere to the
ANSI principles of standards
development, including the principles
of openness and balance; and (3)
employed extensive efforts to distribute
notice to more than 200 different
entities regarding the standards
development effort, the formal comment
period, and the intent of the NAESB
WEQ Executive Committee to consider
and vote on the recommended standard
reservations and modifications.75
NAESB notes that it adheres to its
governing principle of openness during
the standards development process,
with publicly noticed meetings,
agendas, and items set for discussion
and/or possible vote. NAESB notes that
its process allows for all interested
parties, regardless of membership, to
have the opportunity to participate in
the development of standards.76
c. Commission Determinations
46. Upon consideration of the record,
we will not adopt the Time Error
Correction NOPR proposal to remove
the incorporation by reference to
NAESB’s latest version of the WEQ–006
Manual Time Error Correction Business
Practice Standards. We find that NAESB
has not provided sufficient justification
for retiring Time Error Correction as a
business standard; the only support
provided for its retirement is that NERC
retired the corresponding Reliability
Standard as being unnecessary for
reliability. In their comments, Dr.
Hardis and Dr. Matsakis, however, raise
considerable unrebutted concerns about
the retirement of NAESB’s Time Error
Correction standards, citing significant
reasons for why there is a continued
need for, and possibly expansion, of
such standards. While the Commission
previously approved the retirement of
NERC’s BAL–004–0 (Time Error
Correction) as related to reliability,77
NOPR commenters provide significant
evidence that Time Error Correction
remains an important business practice
that requires robust and meaningful
business practice standards. Moreover,
73 Dr.
Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at
16.
74 Id.
at 14–15, 17.
Time Error Correction Comments at 1–
75 NAESB
2.
76 Id.
77 See North American Electric Reliability Corp.,
Docket No. 17–1–000 (Jan. 18, 2017) (delegated
order).
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NERC continues to provide Reliability
Coordinators serving as time monitors
in the North American Interconnections
with a time monitoring reference
document that specifies how manual
time error corrections are to be
implemented if needed and outlines
procedural responsibilities assigned to
the time monitor. After considering this
record, we advise public utilities to
work through the NAESB business
practices development processes to
revisit the rationale for removing the
Time Error Correction standards to
determine whether they should be
retained or revised. Therefore, we do
not adopt the NOPR proposal to
incorporate by reference the reservation
of the WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards,
nor do we adopt the elimination to the
definitions of ‘‘Time Error’’ and ‘‘Time
Error Correction’’ in Standard WEQ–000
(Version 003.2). Rather, in this final
rule, we incorporate by reference the
WEQ–006 Version 003.1 Standard for
Time Error Correction.
47. With regard to Dr. Hardis’
comments on the retirement of
Reliability Standard BAL–004–0, we
find that those comments are outside
the scope of this proceeding and
therefore we do not address them here.
Moreover, we dismiss that portion of Dr.
Hardis’ comments wherein he requests
that the Commission treat his pleading
also as a complaint under 16 U.S.C.
824o(d)(5).78
3. Other Issues Raised by Commenters
a. NERC/NAESB Coordination
i. Comments
48. NAESB states that it developed
the WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards in WEQ Version
003.1 to support and complement the
proposed retirement of certain NERC
MOD A Reliability Standards which
were to be replaced by NERC MOD–
001–2 Reliability Standards. It states
that the proposed NERC MOD–001–2
Reliability Standards were before the
Commission in Docket No. RM14–7–
78 The Commission has consistently rejected
efforts to combine complaints with other types of
filings. See Midwest Indep. Transmission Sys.
Operator, Inc., 108 FERC ¶ 61248, at 62,383 n.8
(2004) (citing Entergy Servs., Inc., 52 FERC ¶ 61,317
at 62,270 (1990) (stating that the Commission has
determined that complaints must be filed separately
from motions to intervene and protests)). In
rejecting these combined requests, we have stated
that a combined filing does not assure that the
procedural and other requirements applicable to the
processing of a complaint will be met. Our
dismissal of the conditional complaint is without
prejudice to Dr. Hardis filing a separate complaint
consistent with Rule 206 of the Commission’s Rules
of Practice and Procedure. See 18 CFR 385.206
(2019).
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00.79 As part of the WEQ–023 Modeling
Business Practice Standards, NAESB
proposes to move 13 WEQ–001
standards and one appendix that relate
to the calculation of ATC/AFC to WEQ–
023.80 NAESB states that these 13
standards are currently included in
WEQ–001–18 Postback Requirements
and WEQ–019 Grandfathered
Agreements. On June 5, 2019, NAESB
submitted comments in the WEQ
Version 003.2 NOPR proceeding
reiterating that the WEQ–001 OASIS
Business Practice Standards, included
as part of WEQ Business Practice
Standards Version 003.2, reserved 13
individual standards and one appendix
for consistency purposes to avoid
duplication with the WEQ–023
Modeling Business Practice
Standards.81
49. NAESB also submitted separate
comments to the Commission detailing
the ongoing coordination activities
between NAESB and NERC, which led
to NAESB’s submission of a minor
correction to WEQ–003–0 OASIS Data
Dictionary to remove references to two
data elements and their definitions.82
NAESB states that both data elements,
PROCEDURE_NAME and PROCEDURE_
LEVEL, contain references to the retired
NERC Reliability Standards IRO–006–
TRE–1—IROL and SOL Mitigation in
the ERCOT Region, approved by the
Commission for retirement on January
29, 2019.
ii. Commission Determination
50. The Commission appreciates and
supports the ongoing coordination
activities between NAESB and NERC.
We decline NAESB’s request to
incorporate by reference the entire
WEQ–023 Modeling Business Practice
Standards, and are instead incorporating
by reference only those standards
moved from WEQ–001 to WEQ–023.
The Commission is considering NERC’s
proposed retirement of its ATC-related
Reliability Standards in Docket No.
RM14–7–000. In addition, the
Commission established a proceeding in
Docket No. AD15–5–000 to consider the
proposed changes to the calculation of
ATC, and has conducted a technical
conference and received comments
79 NAESB
October 26 Filing at 13.
at 14.
81 NAESB enumerates the following standards as
reserved WEQ–001–18, WEQ–001–18.1, WEQ–001–
18.1.1, WEQ–001–18.1.2, WEQ–0018–1.2.1, WEQ–
001–18.1.2.2, WEQ–001–18.1.2.3, WEQ–001–18.1.3,
WEQ–001–18.2, WEQ–001–19, WEQ–001–19.1,
WEQ–001–19.1.1, WEQ–001–19.1.2, and WEQ–
001–D Appendix D. NAESB December 8, 2017
Filing at 3–4.
82 NAESB WEQ Version 003.2 July 23, 2019
Comments at 2.
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regarding such changes.83 As a result,
we do not incorporate by reference the
entire WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards in this final rule, but
instead only incorporate by reference
those sections listed below, and will
consider the remaining standards as part
of the overall inquiry into ATC
calculation.
51. In its WEQ Version 003.1 filing,
NAESB requested to move 13 standards
and Appendix D related to ATC/AFC
that are currently included in WEQ–001
to WEQ–023. In addition to moving the
enumerated standards to WEQ–023,
NAESB seeks to reserve the 13
standards and Appendix D in WEQ–
001. In this final rule, we approve
NAESB’s request to move the 13
standards and Appendix D to WEQ–023
and reserve the same standards and
appendix within WEQ–001.
Accordingly, the regulatory text
accompanying this final rule
incorporates by reference certain of the
WEQ–023 Standards, including: WEQ–
023–5; WEQ–023–5.1; WEQ–023–5.1.1;
WEQ–023–5.1.2; WEQ–023–5.1.2.1;
WEQ–023–5.1.2.2; WEQ–023–5.1.2.3;
WEQ–023–5.1.3; WEQ–023–5.2; WEQ–
023–6; WEQ–023–6.1; WEQ–023–6.1.1;
WEQ–023–6.1.2; and WEQ–023–A
Appendix A. Consistent with our
support of the ongoing NAESB and
NERC collaborative standards
development activities, in this final
rule, we also grant NAESB’s request and
incorporate by reference the removal of
references to the two data elements,
PROCEDURE_NAME and PROCEDURE_
LEVEL, and their definitions within the
WEQ–003–0 OASIS Data Dictionary.
b. Corrections to Regulatory Text
i. Comments
52. A number of commenters have
noted minor inconsistencies between
the discussion in the preamble of the
WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR of the
standards proposed to be incorporated
by reference and the proposed
regulatory text. They suggest that the
regulatory text be corrected to better
match up with the discussion in the
preamble. We agree. Commenters note
an inconsistency in the WEQ Version
003.1 NOPR, between paragraph 27 of
the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR stating
that the Commission proposed to
incorporate the revised standards on
timing of ATC narrative posting and the
final proposed action to amend § 38.1
83 See, e.g., the December 18, 2014 status report
filed by NAESB in Docket Nos. RM05–5–000 and
RM14–7–000, and the Commission’s April 21, 2015
workshop, Available Transfer Capability Standards
for Wholesale Electric Transmission Services,
Docket No. RM15–5–000.
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which continued to exclude 001–14.1.3
and 001–15.1.2.84 Commenters note that
there is no further discussion of this
action in the Version 003.2 NOPR.85
53. Commenters also note minor
inconsistencies between the
Commission’s WEQ Version 003.1
NOPR to adopt revised standard WEQ
001–106.25, and the Commission’s
exclusion of WEQ 001–106.25 in the
WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR.86 In the
Version 003.1 NOPR, the Commission
proposed to incorporate by reference,
into the Commission’s regulations at 18
CFR 38.1, NAESB’s revised Standards
WEQ–WEQ–001–106.2.21, WEQ–001–
106.2.1.1, and WEQ–001–106.2.5, as set
forth in the WEQ Version 003.1
Business Practice Standards.
ii. Commission Determination
54. In consideration of these
comments, in this final rule we
incorporate by reference 001–14.1.3 and
001–15.1.2 into the Commission’s
regulations at 18 CFR 38.1. We also
incorporate by reference WEQ 001–
106.25 into the Commission’s
regulations at 18 CFR 38.1.
c. Suggested Modifications to WEQ–004
i. Comments
55. CAISO offers two suggestions for
modifying Standard WEQ–004 and
suggests that the Commission make a
request to NAESB to address these
issues. Its first suggestion relates to
Appendix A of revised NAESB Standard
WEQ–004, Section B.3, which requires
a Sink Balancing Authority to
communicate a message via email only
to adjacent Balancing Authorities during
an e-Tag Authority Service failure.87
CAISO suggests that the Sink Balancing
Authority be allowed to broadcast its
message to adjacent Balancing
Authorities ‘‘by email or similar
alternate method.’’ CAISO argues that
this broader language would allow for
alternate methods of communication to
be used in instances where the e-Tag
Authority Service is not functioning
because the internet itself is
unavailable.
56. CAISO’s second suggestion relates
to the language in Standard WEQ–004,
Section B.4 and the subsequent table
under the heading ‘‘Singular Failure
84 OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3;
Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7–8.
85 OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3;
Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7–8.
86 Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4;
OATI WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3–4;
Southern WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 8–9;
SPP WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 5.
87 CAISO WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at n.3
(citing WEQ–004–A, Appendix A, Section B (e-Tag
Authority Service Failure Actions, No. 3)).
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Actions.’’ It argues this language should
be amended to broaden the method of
communication beyond telephone.88
CAISO recommends that this language
should be amended to state
‘‘communicate and confirm,’’ which
would not only take into account other
methods of communication that have
been developed and are being used as a
result of technological advances (e.g.,
electronic messaging or industry
specific messaging systems like the
WECC Net messaging system), but
would also allow the messaging
contemplated by these provisions to be
accomplished by alternate routes should
telephone use be unavailable.
ii. Commission Determination
57. We make no finding with regard
to CAISO’s suggested modifications, as
the proposed changes have not been
formally considered by NAESB and
have not gone through the requisite
consensus proceeding. CAISO can
present these suggested revisions to
NAESB and work through the NAESB
process to build consensus for its
position and, if successful, implement
these changes at the time when NAESB
next updates its business practice
standards for public utilities.
d. Suggested Continued Optional Use of
DUNS Numbers
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i. Comments
58. In its WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR
comments EEI states that it supports the
Commission’s finding eliminating the
use of DUNS numbers to identify
organizations in OASIS postings.
However, EEI encourages the
Commission to recognize that the
NAESB standards allow transmission
providers who wish to continue using
DUNS numbers for other purposes the
option to do so, while allowing
transmission providers who do not wish
to use the numbers simply to fill in the
DUNS number field with 9s. While
many EEI members prefer not to have to
use the DUNS numbers, some members
prefer to continue using them for a
variety of reasons, for example, to avoid
back-office problems and to reconcile
with their use of DUNS numbers in the
network integration transmission
service (NITS) context. Thus, EEI argues
that the NAESB approach is an
appropriate compromise that the
Commission should allow.
ii. Commission Determination
59. The revised Standard WEQ–001–
3.1 included in the Version 003.1
package of standards no longer makes
any reference to the use of DUNS
numbers to identify an organization in
OASIS postings. However, we agree
with EEI that the revised standard does
not prohibit the continued use of DUNS
numbers to identify an entity in the
Electric Industry Registry or for other
purposes. We do not find this solution
objectionable and do not find this an
obstacle to our incorporating the
standard by reference as we proposed in
the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR.
e. Timing for Source and Sink
Unmasking
i. Comments
60. In its WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR
comments, EEI notes that the revised
NAESB standards ‘‘unmask the source
and sink for a request for transmission
service for all instances where the
request for transmission service is
moved to any final state,’’ and the
Commission proposes to adopt this
change.89 However, EEI recommends
against adopting this change and instead
encourages the Commission to clarify
that source and sink information should
continue to be unmasked only when a
transmission service request is
‘‘confirmed.’’ EEI argues that, if this
standard is incorporated as it currently
stands, the Commission could be
understood to require unmasking of the
source and sink information when a
request’s status is withdrawn, refused,
invalid, declined, superseded, annulled,
or retracted because these can all be
considered to be ‘‘final states.’’
However, EEI is concerned that the
unmasking of source and sink for these
additional statuses could expose market
information during the request process,
prior to the transmission request being
in the actual final state of ‘‘confirmed’’
intended by the submitter.90 As an
example, EEI describes a situation
where a transmission request was
submitted with an error and as a result
was declined.91 In such a situation, EEI
is concerned that if ‘‘declined’’ were
treated as a final state, the source and
sink would be exposed prior to
obtaining the corrected final state of
transmission reservation as
‘‘confirmed.’’ EEI argues that, at a
minimum, adding some sort of time
delay on all status states other than
‘‘confirmed’’ until the replacement
transmission reservation was
‘‘confirmed’’ could allow the submitter
to get the corrected request before the
source and sink are exposed.92
89 EEI
88 Id.
at n.6 (citing WEQ–004–A, Appendix A,
Section B (e-Tag Authority Service Failure Actions,
No.4).
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90 Id.
WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 16.
at 17.
ii. Commission Determination
61. In effect, EEI asks the Commission
to modify Standard WEQ–002–4.3.6.2
by ‘‘clarifying’’ that, despite the
language of the standard that source and
sink are to be unmasked at the time
when the request for transmission
service is moved to any final state, the
standard should be interpreted to mean
that source and sink should not be
unmasked until the request reaches the
final state of ‘‘confirmed’’ intended by
the submitter. Notwithstanding EEI’s
concerns, there has been an industry
consensus for the standard as adopted
by NAESB and we decline to modify the
standard as suggested by EEI. EEI or its
members may, if they wish, seek to
build a consensus through the NAESB
process to revise the standard as
recommended in its comments.
f. Waivers
i. Comments
62. PJM asks the Commission to
continue to acknowledge in its final rule
that consistent with Commission
precedent and currently-effective
policy, each public utility may seek as
part of its compliance filing waiver of
new or revised standards in the WEQ
Version 003.2 Standards, and renewal of
existing waivers previously granted by
the Commission. PJM requests a similar
clarification be included in the final
rule for this proceeding.93
ii. Commission Determination
63. The Commission has previously
stated that if a public utility asserts that
its circumstances warrant a continued
waiver of the regulations, the public
utility may file a request for a waiver
wherein public utility can detail the
circumstances that it believes warrant a
waiver.94 In its request for continued
waiver, the public utility must include
the date, Docket No. and explanation for
why the waiver was initially granted by
the Commission. The Commission will
decide on any such waiver request on a
case-by-case basis, and absent a
Commission-approved waiver,
compliance with the standards is
required by all public utilities.
4. Implementation
i. Comments
64. Bonneville recommends the
Commission set the implementation
timeline to account for implementation
of both the Version 003.1 and 003.2
Standards and suggests a timeline of 12
to 15 months to implement changes to
OASIS Templates and 24 to 30 months
91 Id.
93 PJM
92 Id.
94 Order
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to implement the WEQ Version 003.1
and 003.2 Standards.95 MISO requests
that the time allotted for OASIS to
support the Version 2.2 OASIS
Templates be modified to 12 months,
and that the time for Transmission
Providers to implement all changes be
modified to 24 months.96 NV Energy
recommends that the Commission allow
a total time of 24 months for all the
steps required for implementation of
Version 003.1 and Version 003.2.97 SPP
states that the Commission should allow
six additional months to implement the
changes proposed in Version 003.2 to
the 12 months to implement Version
003.1 for a total of 18 months.98 EEI
notes that the Commission proposes to
adopt NAESB standards implementing a
one-day posting of ATC narratives
explaining changes in monthly or yearly
ATC values on a constrained path as a
result of a 10-percent change in total
transfer capability. EEI argues that in
order to provide adequate time for
software developers to develop the
automation needed to meet the one-day
deadline, the Commission should
provide at least one year from the
effective date of the standard to make
these necessary changes.99
ii. Commission Determination
65. Public utilities must make a
compliance filing to comply with the
requirements of this final rule through
eTariff no later than 90 days from the
date the final rule is published in the
Federal Register, using an
indeterminant effective date (12/31/
9998) for the tariff records. The
Commission will establish an effective
date for the proposed tariff changes in
the order(s) on compliance filings. To
give parties sufficient time to make
computer and other modifications
required by this final rule, the
Commission will set an effective date no
earlier than five months from the date
the final rule is published in the Federal
Register. A few commenters requested
additional time to make compliance
filings. EEI points to the need to develop
software to implement the revisions to
ATC; but as discussed earlier, the ATC
standards will be addressed in a
separate proceeding. Other comments
95 Bonneville
WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4.
WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
97 NV Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2.
(NV Energy argues that the Commission should
provide ‘‘sufficient time for the complete
implementation of the changes and new
functionalities required by taking into consideration
the need for building the functionalities, testing by
vendors, testing by transmission providers, training
in-house and training of the industry for
implementation.’’).
98 SPP WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
99 EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 15.
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request additional time to implement
both Versions 003.1 and 003.2. This
final rule adopts only Version 003.2,
except for WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction, and does not require
combined implementation. Other than
these rationales, the comments do not
provide specific justification for their
longer than usual implementation
timelines, so we find no reason to
extend the normal implementation
schedule.
66. Those utilities that revised their
tariff after Order No. 676–H to
incorporate the complete set of NAESB
standards without modification need to
implement the standards incorporated
by reference in this final rule no later
than five months from the date the final
rule is published in the Federal
Register. For public utilities that do not
incorporate the NAESB standards
without modification in their tariffs, and
consistent with Order No. 587–Y and
the Commission’s requirement for
natural gas pipelines to provide
information on the NAESB WGQ
Standards incorporated by reference, we
are adopting a requirement in this final
rule for public utilities to include a
single tariff sheet in which they list
every NAESB standard currently
incorporated by reference by the
Commission.100 This section should be
a separate tariff record under the
Commission’s electronic tariff filing
requirement and should be filed
electronically using the eTariff portal
using the Type of Filing Code 580. The
public utility must specify in the tariff
record a list of all the NAESB standards
currently incorporated by reference by
the Commission: (a) Whether the
standard is incorporated by reference;
(b) for those standards not incorporated
by reference, the tariff provision that
complies with the standard; and (c) a
statement identifying any standards for
which the public utility has been
granted a waiver, extension of time, or
other variance with respect to
compliance with the standard.
67. Moreover, utilities that now wish
to comply by incorporating the
complete set of NAESB standards into
their tariffs without modification may
do so by making a filing with the
Commission to include the following
language in their tariffs: ‘‘The current
versions of the NAESB WEQ Business
Practice Standards incorporated by
reference into the Commission’s
regulations as specified in Part 38 of the
Commission’s regulations (18 CFR part
100 See Standards for Business Practices of
Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines, 165 FERC ¶ 61,109
at P 25 (2018) (Order 587–Y).
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38) are incorporated by reference into
this tariff.’’
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary
Consensus Standards
68. Office of Management and Budget
Circular A–119 (section 11) (Feb. 10,
1998) provides that when a federal
agency issues or revises a regulation
containing a standard, the agency
should publish a statement in the final
rule stating whether the adopted
standard is a voluntary consensus
standard or a government-unique
standard. In this final rule, the
Commission is incorporating by
reference voluntary consensus standards
developed by the NAESB’s WEQ.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
69. The Office of the Federal Register
requires agencies incorporating material
by reference in final rules to discuss, in
the preamble of the final rule, the ways
that the materials it incorporates by
reference are reasonably available to
interested parties and how interested
parties can obtain the materials.101 The
regulations also require agencies to
summarize, in the preamble of the final
rule, the material it incorporates by
reference. The standards we incorporate
by reference in this final rule can be
summarized as follows:
70. 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. We are incorporating by
reference WEQ Version 003.2 of the
WEQ–000 Abbreviations, Acronyms,
and Definition of Terms and
incorporating by reference certain
definitions from WEQ Version 003.1
related to the WEQ–006 Manual Time
Error Correction Business Practice
Standards. The definitions from WEQ
Version 003.1 are: Interconnection Time
Monitor, Time Error, and Time Error
Correction.
71. 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
101 1 CFR 51.5 (2019). See Incorporation by
Reference, 79 FR 66267 (Nov. 7, 2014).
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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.
72. 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.
73. The WEQ–003 OASIS Data
Dictionary Business Practice Standards
define the data element specifications
for OASIS.
74. 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).
75. The WEQ–005 Area Control Error
(ACE) Equation Special Cases Business
Practice Standards define commercial
based 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.
76. The WEQ–006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards
define the commercial based procedures
to be used for reducing time error to
within acceptable limits of true time.
These standards have subsequently been
marked reserved by NAESB.
77. The WEQ–007 Inadvertent
Interchange Payback Business Practice
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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.
78. The WEQ–008 Transmission
Loading Relief—Eastern Interconnection
Business Practice Standards define the
business practices for cutting
transmission service during a 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.
79. 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.
80. 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
through the use of 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.
81. The WEQ–013 OASIS
Implementation Guide Business Practice
Standards detail the implementation of
the OASIS Business Practice Standards.
The standards detail requirements
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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.
82. 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.
83. 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.
84. 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.
85. The WEQ–023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards specify the
requirements for incorporating
postbacks in the ATC posted on OASIS
and the treatment of grandfathered
agreements in the calculation of ATCs
and AFCs. In the event of a conflict
between these Business Practice
Standards and the Transmission Service
Provider’s tariff or FERC approved
seams agreement(s), the tariff or FERC
approved seams agreement(s) shall have
precedence.
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86. In addition, NAESB has adopted
an additional nine suites of standards
that, consistent with our past decisions,
we are not incorporating by
reference.102 Additionally, as mentioned
above, we are addressing the WEQ–023
ATC Modeling Standards, with the
exception of the sections listed herein,
in a separate rulemaking proceeding.
87. Our regulations provide that
copies of the standards incorporated by
reference may be obtained from NAESB,
whose offices are located at 801 Travis
Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002,
Phone: (713) 356–0060. NAESB’s
website can be accessed at https://
www.naesb.org. Copies of the standards
may be inspected at the Federal Energy
Regulatory Commission, Public
Reference and Files Maintenance
Branch, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426, Phone: (202)
502–8371, https://www.ferc.gov.103
88. NAESB is a private, consensus
standards developer that develops
voluntary wholesale and retail
standards related to the energy industry.
The procedures utilized by NAESB
make its standards reasonably available
to those affected by the Commission’s
regulations.104 Participants can join
NAESB, for an annual membership cost
of $7,500, which entitles them to full
participation in NAESB and enables
them to obtain these standards at no
additional cost.105 Non-members may
obtain the Individual Standards Manual
or Booklet for $250 per manual or
booklet.106 Non-members also may
obtain the complete set of Business
Practice Standards on USB flash drive
for $2,000. NAESB also provides a free
electronic read-only version of the
standards for a three-business day
period or, in the case of a regulatory
comment period, through the end of the
comment period.107 In addition, NAESB
considers requests for waivers of the
charges on a case-by-case basis based on
need.
V. Information Collection Statement
89. The Paperwork Reduction Act
(PRA) 108 requires each federal agency to
seek and obtain the Office of
Management and Budget’s (OMB)
approval before undertaking a collection
of information (including reporting,
record keeping, and public disclosure
requirements) directed to ten or more
persons or contained in a rule of general
applicability. OMB regulations require
approval of certain information
collection requirements imposed by
rules (including deletion, revision, or
implementation of new
requirements).109 Upon approval of a
collection of information, OMB will
assign an OMB control number and an
expiration date. Respondents subject to
the filing requirements of a rule will not
be penalized for failing to respond to the
collection of information unless the
collection of information displays a
valid OMB control number.
90. The Commission solicits
comments from the public on the
10583
Commission’s need for this information,
whether the information will have
practical utility, the accuracy of the
burden estimates, ways to enhance the
quality, utility and clarity of the
information collected or retained, and
any suggested methods for minimizing
respondents’ burden, including the use
of automated information techniques.
Specifically, the Commission asks that
any revised burden or cost estimates
submitted by commenters be supported
by sufficient detail to understand how
the estimates are generated.
91. Comments concerning the
information collections modified in this
final rule and the associated burden
estimates should be sent to the
Commission in this docket and may also
be sent 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: oira_submission@omb.eop.gov.
Please refer to FERC–516E (OMB
Control No. 1902–0290) and FERC–717
(OMB Control No. 1902–0173).
92. This final rule will affect the
following existing data collections:
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public
Utilities (FERC–717) and Electric Rate
Schedule Filings and Tariff Filings
(FERC–516E).110 Estimates of the PRArelated burden and cost 111 follow.
MODIFICATIONS DUE TO THE FINAL RULE IN DOCKET NOS. RM05–5–025, RM05–5–026, AND RM05–5–027
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)
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FERC–516E (one-time tariff filing) 112 .........
102 The suites of NAESB business practice
standards we are not incorporating by reference in
this final rule are: (1) The WEQ–009 Standards of
Conduct for Electric Transmission Providers, which
NASESB has now eliminated as they duplicate the
Commission’s regulations; (2) the WEQ–010
Contracts Related Business Practice Standards that
establish model contracts for the wholesale electric
industry, and which the Commission has not
incorporated as they are not mandatory; (3) the
WEQ–014 WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Business
Practice Standards, which provide an
implementation guide describing the various
mechanisms, data tables, code values/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; (4) the WEQ–
023 Modeling Business Practice Standards, with
enumerated exceptions, which the Commission is
addressing in a separate rulemaking; and (5) the
WEQ–016, WEQ–017, WEQ–018, WEQ–019, and
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19:21 Feb 24, 2020
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165
1
165
WEQ–020 Business Practice Standards that were
developed as part of the Smart Grid implementation
and which the Commission adopted as nonmandatory guidance in 18 CFR 2.27 (2019). See
Order No. 676–H, 148 FERC ¶ 61,205.
103 18 CFR 284.12 (2019).
104 As a private, consensus standards developer,
NAESB needs the funds obtained from its
membership fees and sales of its Individual
Standards Manual or Booklet to finance the
organization. The parties affected by these
Commission regulations generally are highly
sophisticated and have the means to acquire the
information they need to effectively participate in
Commission proceedings.
105 NAESB Membership Application, https://
www.naesb.org/pdf4/naesbapp.pdf.
106 NAESB Materials Order Form, https://
www.naesb.org//pdf/ordrform.pdf.
107 Procedures for non-members to evaluate work
products before purchasing are available at https://
www.naesb.org/misc/NAESB_Nonmember_
Evaluation.pdf.
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6 hrs.; $480 ...............
108 44
990 hrs.; $79,200
U.S.C. 3501–21.
CFR part 1320.
110 The reporting and recordkeeping requirements
would normally be covered by FERC–516 (OMB
Control No. 1902–0096) and FERC–717. However,
another request for an unrelated final rule is
pending OMB review under FERC–516, and only
one item per OMB Control Number may be pending
OMB review at a time. In order to be submitted
timely, the PRA requests for this final rule will be
submitted to OMB in FERC–516E (a temporary
placeholder collection number, as was done for
Docket Nos. RM05–5–025 and RM05–5–027), and
FERC–717.
111 The Commission staff estimates that industry
is similarly situated in terms of hourly cost (for
wages plus benefits). Based on the Commission’s
Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 average cost of $167,091/year
(for wages plus benefits, for one full-time
employee), $80.00/hour is used.
112 This includes any burden associated with
waiver requests.
109 5
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MODIFICATIONS DUE TO THE FINAL RULE IN DOCKET NOS. RM05–5–025, RM05–5–026, AND RM05–5–027—Continued
Number of
respondents
Annual
number of
responses per
respondent
Total number
of responses
Average burden (hrs.)
& cost ($) per
response
Total annual burden
hrs. & total
annual cost
($)
(1)
(2)
(1) * (2) = (3)
(4)
(3) * (4) = (5)
FERC–717 (compliance with standards) 113
Total ......................................................
165
1
165
30 hrs.; 114 $2,400 .....
4,950 hrs.; $396,000
........................
........................
330
....................................
5,940 hrs.; $475,200
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93. The Commission sought
comments on the burden of complying
with the requirements imposed by these
requirements. No comments were filed
addressing the reporting burden. While
a number of utilities have reduced their
actual filing burden by revising their
tariffs as suggested in Order No. 676–H
(and explained again in paragraph 66 of
this final rule), we have not reduced the
burden estimate to reflect this. Thus,
our burden estimate is conservative in
the regard.
94. The Commission’s regulations
adopted in this rule are necessary to
establish a more efficient and integrated
wholesale electric power grid. Requiring
such information ensures both a
common means of communication and
common business practices that provide
entities engaged in the wholesale
transmission of electric power with
timely information and uniform
business procedures across multiple
Transmission Providers. These
requirements conform to the
Commission’s goal for efficient
information collection, communication,
and management within the electric
power industry. The Commission has
assured itself, by means of its internal
review, that there is specific, objective
support for the burden estimates
associated with the information
requirements.
Title: Standards for Business Practices
and Communication Protocols for
Public Utilities (FERC–717); 115 and
112 This includes any burden associated with
waiver requests.
113 FERC–717 corresponds to OMB Control No.
1902–0173 that identifies the information collection
associated with Standards for Business Practices
and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities.
114 The 30-hour estimate was developed in Docket
No. RM05–5–013, when the Commission prepared
its estimate of the scope of work involved in
transitioning to the NAESB Version 002.1 Business
Practice Standards. See Order No. 676–E, 129 FERC
¶ 61,162 at P 134. We have retained the same
estimate here, because the scope of the tasks
involved in the transition to Version 003.2 of the
Business Practice Standards is very similar to that
for the transition to the Version 003 Standards.
115 FERC–717 was formerly known as Open
Access Same-Time Information System and
Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols.
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Electric Rate Schedules and Tariff
Filings (FERC–516E).
Action: Final rule.
OMB Control No.: 1902–0290 (FERC–
516E); 1902–0173 (FERC–717).
Respondents: Business or other for
profit, (Public Utilities—Not applicable
to small businesses).
Frequency of Responses: One-time.
Necessity of the Information: This
rule will upgrade the Commission’s
current business practice and
communication standards. Specifically,
these standards will provide common
nomenclature for terms within the
wholesale electric industry; define the
general and specific transaction
processing requirements and related
business processes required for OASIS;
define the commercial processes
necessary to facilitate interchange
transactions via RFI; define the business
practices for cutting transmission
service during a TLR event; assist with
supporting the short-term pre-emption
process and the merger of like
transmission services; establish the
cybersecurity framework for parties
partaking in transactions via a
transmission provider’s OASIS or eTagging system; detail requirements
related to point-to-point OASIS
transaction processing; define a
common framework for transparency,
consistency, and accountability
applicable to the measurement and
verification of wholesale electric market
demand response practices; ensure
several suites of standards are consistent
with or accurately reflect modifications
to the NERC Reliability Standards,
including dynamic tagging, pseudotimes, the full transfer of the Electric
Industry Registry and additional
changes to support market operator
functionalities. These practices will
ensure that potential customers of open
access transmission service receive
access to information that will enable
them to obtain transmission service on
a non-discriminatory basis and will
assist the Commission in maintaining a
safe and reliable infrastructure and also
will assure the reliability of the
interstate transmission grid. The
implementation of these standards and
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Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
regulations is necessary to increase the
efficiency of the wholesale electric
power grid. This final rule also updates
the reference to NAESB’s Smart Grid
Standards that the Commission has
listed informationally as non-mandatory
guidance in Part 2 of the Commission’s
regulations.
95. The information collection
requirements of this final rule are based
on the transition from transactions being
made under the Commission’s existing
business practice standards to
conducting such transactions under the
standards incorporated by reference in
this final rule and to account for the
burden associated with the new
standard(s) being incorporated by
reference here (e.g., WEQ–000).
96. Internal Review: The Commission
has reviewed the revised business
practice standards and has determined
that the revisions adopted in this final
rule are necessary to maintain
consistency between the business
practice standards and reliability
standards on this subject. The
Commission has assured itself, by
means of its internal review, that there
is specific, objective support for the
burden estimate associated with the
information requirements.
97. Interested persons may obtain
information on the reporting
requirements by contacting the
following: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426, [Attn: Ellen
Brown, Office of the Executive Director,
email: DataClearance@ferc.gov, phone:
(202) 502–8663, fax: (202) 273–0873.
VI. Environmental Analysis
98. 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.116 The Commission has
categorically excluded certain actions
from these requirements as not having a
116 Order No. 486, Regulations Implementing the
National Environmental Policy Act, 52 FR 47897
(Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. & Regs. Preambles
1986–1990 ¶ 30,783 (1987).
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significant effect on the human
environment.117 The actions adopted
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
natural gas and electric power that
requires no construction of facilities.
Therefore, an environmental assessment
is unnecessary and has not been
prepared in this final rule.
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act
99. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of
1980 (RFA) 118 generally requires a
description and analysis of final rules
that will have significant economic
impact on a substantial number of small
entities. As shown in the information
collection section, this final rule applies
to 165 entities. More specifically, this
final rule imposes the latest version
(Version 003.2) of the Standards for
Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by
the WEQ and the associated financial
burden upon these entities. Comparison
of the applicable entities with the
Commission’s small business data
indicates that approximately 26 are
small entities 119 or 15.8 percent of the
respondents affected by this final rule.
100. The Commission estimates that
each of the entities (small and large) to
whom the final rule applies will incur
one-time paperwork costs of $2,880.120
The Commission does not consider the
estimated cost to be a significant
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities. Accordingly,
the Commission certifies that this final
rule will not have a significant
economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities.
VIII. Document Availability
101. 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
FERC’s Home Page (https://
117 18
CFR 380.4.
U.S.C. 601–612.
119 The Small Business Administration sets the
threshold for what constitutes a small business.
Public utilities may fall under one of several
different categories, each with a size threshold
based on the company’s number of employees,
including affiliates, the parent company, and
subsidiaries. For the analysis in this final rule, we
are using a 500 employee threshold for each
affected entity. Each entity is classified as Electric
Bulk Power Transmission and Control (NAICS code
221121).
120 $475,200 (total one-time paperwork cost) ÷
165 (number of entities) = $2,880/entity.
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118 5
VerDate Sep<11>2014
18:34 Feb 24, 2020
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www.ferc.gov) and in FERC’s Public
Reference Room during normal business
hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. Eastern time)
at 888 First Street NE, Room 2A,
Washington, DC 20426.
102. From FERC’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.
103. User assistance is available for
eLibrary and the FERC’s website during
normal business hours from FERC
Online Support at 202–502–6652 (toll
free at 1–866–208–3676) or email at
ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or the
Public Reference Room at (202) 502–
8371, TTY (202) 502–8659. Email the
Public Reference Room at
public.referenceroom@ferc.gov.
IX. Effective Date and Congressional
Notification
104. These regulations are effective
April 27, 2020. The Commission has
determined with the concurrence of the
Administrator of the Office of
Information and Regulatory Affairs of
OMB that this rule is not a ‘‘major rule’’
as defined in section 351 of the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement
Fairness Act of 1996. The final rule will
be submitted to the Senate, House, and
Government Accountability Office.
List of Subjects
18 CFR Part 2
Electric utilities, Guidance and policy
statements.
18 CFR Part 38
Business practice standards, Electric
utilities, Incorporation by reference,
Reporting and recordkeeping
requirements.
By the Commission.
Issued: February 4, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
In consideration of the foregoing, the
Commission amends parts 2 and 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.
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10585
2. Amend § 2.27 by revising
paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as follows:
■
§ 2.27 Availability of North American
Energy Standards Board (NAESB) Smart
Grid Standards as non-mandatory
guidance.
*
*
*
*
*
(c) WEQ–018, Specifications for
Wholesale Standard Demand Response
Signals (WEQ Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017);
(d) WEQ–019, Customer Energy Usage
Information Communication (WEQ
Version 003.1, Sep. 30, 2015); and
*
*
*
*
*
PART 38—STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC
UTILITY BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND
COMMUNICATIONS
3. The authority citation for part 38
continues to read as follows:
■
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 791–825r, 2601–2645;
31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 U.S.C. 7101–7352.
■
4. Revise § 38.1 to read as follows:
§ 38.1 Incorporation by reference of North
American Energy Standards Board
Wholesale Electric Quadrant standards.
(a) Any public utility that owns,
operates, or controls facilities used for
the transmission of electric energy in
interstate commerce or for the sale of
electric energy at wholesale in interstate
commerce and any non-public utility
that seeks voluntary compliance with
jurisdictional transmission tariff
reciprocity conditions must comply
with the business practice and
electronic communication standards
promulgated by the North American
Energy Standards Board (NAESB)
Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) that
are incorporated by reference in
paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) The material cited in this
paragraph (b) was approved by the
Director of the Federal Register for
incorporated by reference in this section
in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and
1 CFR part 51. Copies of the material
may be obtained from North American
Energy Standards Board (NAESB), 801
Travis Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX
77002, Tel: (713) 356–0060. NAESB’s
website is at www.naesb.org/. The
material may be inspected at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Public
Reference and Files Maintenance
Branch, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426, Tel: (202) 02–
8371, www.ferc.gov, or at the National
Archives and Records Administration
(NARA). For information on the
availability of this material at NARA,
email fedreg.legal@nara.gov, or go to:
www.archives.gov/federal-register/cfr/
ibr-locations.html. The NAESB WEQ
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Federal Register / Vol. 85, No. 37 / Tuesday, February 25, 2020 / Rules and Regulations
Business Practice Standards; Standards
and Models approved for incorporation
by reference are:
(1) WEQ–000, Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Definition of Terms,
standard WEQ–000–2 ([WEQ] Version
003.1, September 30, 2015), including
only: the definitions of Interconnection
Time Monitor, Time Error, and Time
Error Correction;
(2) WEQ–000, Abbreviations,
Acronyms, and Definition of Terms,
([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017)(with minor correction applied
July 23, 2019);
(3) WEQ–001, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS),
[OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version
003.2, Dec. 8, 2017), excluding:
standards WEQ–001–9 preamble text,
WEQ–001–10 preamble text;
(4) WEQ–002, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS)
Business Practice Standards and
Communication Protocols (S&CP),
[OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version
003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(5) WEQ–003, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS) Data
Dictionary, [OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ]
Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017) (with minor
corrections applied July 23, 2019);
(6) WEQ–004, Coordinate Interchange
([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(7) WEQ–005, Area Control Error
(ACE) Equation Special Cases ([WEQ]
Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(8) WEQ–006, Manual Time Error
Correction ([WEQ] Version 003.1, Sept.
30, 2015);
(9) WEQ–007, Inadvertent Interchange
Payback ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017);
(10) WEQ–008, Transmission Loading
Relief (TLR)—Eastern Interconnection
([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(11) WEQ–011, Gas/Electric
Coordination ([WEQ] Version 003.2,
Dec. 8, 2017);
(12) WEQ–012, Public Key
Infrastructure (PKI) ([WEQ] Version
003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(13) WEQ–013, Open Access SameTime Information Systems (OASIS)
Implementation Guide, [OASIS] Version
2.2 ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(14) WEQ–015, Measurement and
Verification of Wholesale Electricity
Demand Response ([WEQ] Version
003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(15) WEQ–021, Measurement and
Verification of Energy Efficiency
Products ([WEQ] Version 003.2,Dec. 8,
2017);
(16) WEQ–022, Electric Industry
Registry ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017); and
(17) WEQ–023, Modeling ([WEQ]
Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017), including
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18:34 Feb 24, 2020
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only: standards WEQ–023–5; WEQ–
023–5.1; WEQ–023–5.1.1; WEQ–023–
5.1.2; WEQ–023–5.1.2.1; WEQ–023–
5.1.2.2; WEQ–023–5.1.2.3; WEQ–023–
5.1.3; WEQ–023–5.2; WEQ–023–6;
WEQ–023–6.1; WEQ–023–6.1.1; WEQ–
023–6.1.2; and WEQ–023–A Appendix
A.
Appendix
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR in Docket No. RM05–
5–025, and the Abbreviations Used To
Identify Them
• Bonneville Power Administration (9/26/
16) (Bonneville)
• California Independent System Operator
Corporation (9/26/16) (CAISO)
• Edison Electric Institute (9/26/16) (EEI)
• Idaho Power Company (9/23/16) (Idaho
Power)
• Open Access Technology International
(9/27/16) (OATI)
• Public Utility District No. 1 of
Snohomish County, Washington and the City
of Tacoma, Department of Public Utilities,
Light Division (collectively, Snohomish/
Tacoma) (9/26/16)
• Southern Company Services, Inc. (9/26/
16) (Southern)
• Southwest Power Pool, Inc. and Midwest
Independent System Operator, Inc. (9/26/16)
(collectively, Joint Commenters)
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ
Version 003.2 NOPR in Docket No. RM05–
5–027, and the Abbreviations Used To
Identify Them
• Bonneville Power Administration (7/23/
2019) (Bonneville)
• Midcontinent Independent System
Operator, Inc. (7/23/2019) (MISO)
• North American Energy Standards Board
(6/5/2019) (NAESB)
• Nevada Power Company and Sierra
Pacific Power Company (7/23/2019) (NV
Energy)
• Open Access Technology International,
Inc. (7/22/2019) (OATI)
• PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (7/23/2019)
(PJM)
• Southern Company Services, Inc. (7/23/
2019) (Southern)
• Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (7/23/2019)
(SPP)
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ
Time Error Correction NOPR in Docket No.
RM05–5–026, and the Abbreviations Used To
Identify Them
• Dr. Jonathan E. Hardis (11/13/18)
• Dr. Demetrios Matsakis (11/13/18)
• North American Electric Reliability
Corporation (10/24/2018) (NERC)
• North American Energy Standards Board
(11/28/2018) (NAESB)
• Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (11/13/18)
(SPP)
[FR Doc. 2020–03244 Filed 2–24–20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717–01–P
Frm 00032
20 CFR Parts 404 and 416
[Docket No. SSA–2017–0046]
RIN 0960–AH86
Removing Inability To Communicate in
English as an Education Category
Social Security Administration.
Final rules.
AGENCY:
Note: The Following Appendix Will Not Be
Published in the Code of Federal Regulations.
PO 00000
SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION
Fmt 4700
Sfmt 4700
ACTION:
We are finalizing our
proposed regulations to eliminate the
education category ‘‘inability to
communicate in English’’ when we
evaluate disability claims for adults
under titles II and XVI of the Social
Security Act (the Act). This education
category is no longer a useful indicator
of an individual’s educational
attainment or of the vocational impact
of an individual’s education because of
changes in the national workforce since
we adopted the current rule more than
40 years ago. We expect that these
revisions will help us better assess the
vocational impact of education in the
disability determination process.
DATES: The final rule is effective on
April 27, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Dan
O’Brien, Office of Disability Policy,
Social Security Administration, 6401
Security Boulevard, Baltimore,
Maryland 21235–6401, (410) 597–1632.
For information on eligibility or filing
for benefits, call our national toll-free
number, 1–800–772–1213, or TTY 1–
800–325–0778, or visit our internet site,
Social Security Online, at https://
www.socialsecurity.gov.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
SUMMARY:
Background
We are finalizing the proposed rules
on removing the education category
‘‘inability to communicate in English,’’
which we published in a notice of
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) on
February 1, 2019 (84 FR 1006). We are
revising our rules to remove the
education category ‘‘inability to
communicate in English’’ based on
research and data related to English
language proficiency, work, and
education; expansion of the
international reach of our disability
programs; audit findings by our Office
of the Inspector General (OIG); 1 and
public comments we received on the
NPRM. We expect these changes will
1 See Office of Inspector General, Social Security
Administration, Audit Report, Qualifying for
Disability Benefits in Puerto Rico Based on an
Inability to Speak English (April 2015) (OIG report),
at https://oig.ssa.gov/sites/default/files/audit/full/
pdf/A-12-13-13062_0.pdf.
E:\FR\FM\25FER1.SGM
25FER1
]]>Agencies
[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 37 (Tuesday, February 25, 2020)]
[Rules and Regulations]
[Pages 10571-10586]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-03244]
=======================================================================
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission
18 CFR Parts 2 and 38
[Docket No. RM05-5-025; Docket No. RM05-5-026; Docket No. RM05-5-027;
Order No. 676-I]
Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for
Public Utilities
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE.
ACTION: Final rule.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is
revising its regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain
enumerated exceptions, the latest version (Version 003.2) 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) as mandatory enforceable
requirements. The Commission is adopting this latest version instead of
WEQ Version 003.1, which was the subject of an earlier notice of
proposed rulemaking. The Commission declines to adopt the proposal to
remove the incorporation by reference of the WEQ-006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards as adopted by NAESB.
DATES: Effective date: This rule is effective April 27, 2020.
Compliance dates: Public utilities must make a compliance filing to
comply with the requirements of this final rule through eTariff no
later than May 26, 2020. The Commission will set an effective date for
the proposed tariff changes in the order(s) on the compliance filings,
but no earlier than July 27, 2020.
Incorporation by reference: The incorporation by reference of
certain publications listed in this rule is approved by the Director of
the Federal Register as of April 27, 2020.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Michael P. Lee (technical issues), Office of Energy Policy and
Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE,
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6548
Michael A. Chase (legal issues), Office of the General Counsel, Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC
20426, (202) 502-6205
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
Table of Contents
Paragraph Nos.
I. Background........................................ 6.
II. Discussion....................................... 18.
A. Overview...................................... 18.
B. Issues Raised by Commenters................... 22.
1. Treatment of Requests for Redirects....... 23.
2. Time Error Correction..................... 40.
3. Other Issues Raised by Commenters......... 48.
[[Page 10572]]
4. Implementatione........................... 64.
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards.. 68.
IV. Incorporation by Reference....................... 69.
V. Information Collection Statement.................. 89.
VI. Environmental Analysis........................... 98.
VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act...................... 99.
VIII. Document Availability.......................... 101.
IX. Effective Date and Congressional Notification.... 104.
1. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is
amending its regulations under the Federal Power Act (FPA) \1\ to
incorporate by reference into its regulations as mandatory enforceable
requirements, with certain enumerated exceptions, the latest version
(Version 003.2) 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), filed with the Commission as a package on December 8, 2017
(December 8 Filing), and includes minor clarifications and updates
submitted by NAESB on June 5, 2019, and July 23, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ 16 U.S.C. 791a, et seq. (2018).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. The WEQ Version 003.2 Standards build upon the standards
included in the WEQ Version 003.1 Standards and include, in their
entirety, the modifications submitted to the Commission in WEQ Version
003.1, which were the subject of an earlier notice of proposed
rulemaking, with the addition of certain revisions and corrections.\2\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ NAESB filed WEQ Version 003.1 of the Standards for Business
Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities as a
package on October 26, 2015 (October 26 Filing). See Standards for
Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities,
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 81 FR 49580 (July 28, 2016), 156 FERC
] 61,055 (2016) (WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. In this final rule, the Commission will not adopt the NOPR
proposal to incorporate by reference NAESB's latest version of the WEQ-
006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice Standards. Version
003.2 of NAESB's WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice
Standards proposes to retire the Time Error Correction Business
Practice Standard, which have been the subject of a separate notice of
proposed rulemaking.\3\ As explained below, the proposal to retire the
Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice Standard has not been
adequately supported by NAESB.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols
for Public Utilities, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 83 FR 51654
(Oct. 12, 2018), 165 FERC ] 61,007 (2018) (Time Error Correction
NOPR).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Additionally, this final rule updates NAESB's Smart Grid
Standards (set out in Standards WEQ-018 and WEQ-019) that the
Commission listed for informational purposes in Part 2 of the
Commission's Regulations, to match the latest iteration of those
standards. These revisions update earlier versions of the WEQ-018 and
WEQ-019 Standards that the Commission previously listed in Part 2 of
our regulations as non-mandatory guidance at 18 CFR 2.27 in Order No.
676-H.\4\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ See Standards for Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities, Order No. 676-H, 79 FR 56,939 (Oct.
24, 2014), 148 FERC ] 61,205, at P 77 (2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Finally, the Commission is incorporating by reference the WEQ-
022 Electric Industry Registry (EIR) Business Practice Standards, but
declines to incorporate by reference in its entirety the WEQ-023
Modeling Business Practice Standards. In WEQ Version 003.1, NAESB
developed these two new suites of standards in coordination with the
North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC).\5\ These two
proposals would establish: (1) NAESB EIR business practice standards
that replace the NERC Transmission System Information Networks (TSIN)
as the tool to be used by wholesale electric markets to conduct
electronic transactions via electronic tagging (e-Tags); and (2)
Modeling Business Practice Standards to support and complement NERC's
proposed retirement of its ``MOD A'' Reliability Standards.\6\ In this
final rule, the Commission is incorporating by reference the WEQ-023
standards that were moved from the WEQ-001 Standards by the changes
made to WEQ Version 003.1. The Commission declines to adopt the
remaining WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards as they are the
subject of a separate proceeding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ NERC is the Commission-certified ``electric reliability
organization'' responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory
Reliability Standards. See section 215 of the Federal Power Act, 16
U.S.C. 824o (2018).
\6\ In a February 19, 2014 petition, NERC proposed to retire
Reliability Standards MOD-001-1a, MOD-004-1, MOD-008-1, MOD-028-2,
MOD-029-1a, and MOD-030-2 and requested approval of new Reliability
Standard MOD-001-2. Generally, the ``MOD A'' series of NERC
Reliability Standards pertain to transmission system modeling. The
Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking in Docket No.
RM14-7-000 that addressed NERC's proposal, and the matter is
currently pending before the Commission. Modeling, Data, and
Analysis Reliability Standards, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 79 FR
36269 (June 26, 2014), 147 FERC ] 61,208 (2014) (MOD NOPR). In a
June 2, 2019 filing, NERC submitted a notice of withdrawal for its
petition for approval of the proposed Reliability Standard MOD-001-2
to replace the MOD A Standards in Docket No. RM14-7-000.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
I. Background
6. NAESB is a non-profit standards development organization
established in January 2002 that serves as an industry forum for the
development and promotion of business practice standards that promote a
seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural gas and
electricity. Since 1995, NAESB and its predecessor, the Gas Industry
Standards Board, have been accredited members of the American National
Standards Institute (ANSI), complying with ANSI's requirements that its
standards reflect a consensus of the affected industries.
7. NAESB's standards include business practices intended to
standardize and streamline the transactional processes of the natural
gas and electric industries, as well as communication protocols and
related standards designed to improve the efficiency of communication
within each industry. NAESB supports the Wholesale Electric Quadrant
(WEQ), the Wholesale Gas Quadrant, and the Retail Market Quadrant.\7\
All participants in the natural gas and electric industries are
eligible to join NAESB and participate in standards development.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\7\ The retail gas quadrant and the retail electric quadrant
were combined into the retail markets quadrant. NAESB continues to
refer to these working groups as ``quadrants'' even though there are
now only three.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. NAESB develops its standards under a consensus process so that
the standards draw support from a wide range of industry members.
NAESB's procedures are designed to ensure that all industry members can
have input into the development of a standard, whether or not they are
members of
[[Page 10573]]
NAESB, and each standard NAESB adopts is supported by a consensus of
the relevant industry segments. Standards that fail to gain consensus
support are not adopted. NAESB's consistent practice has been to submit
a report to the Commission after it has revised existing business
practice standards or has developed and adopted new business practice
standards. NAESB's standards are voluntary standards, which become
mandatory for public utilities upon incorporation by reference by the
Commission.
9. In Order No. 676, the Commission not only adopted business
practice standards and communication protocols for the wholesale
electric industry, it also established a formal ongoing process for
reviewing and upgrading the Commission's Open Access Same Time
Information System (OASIS) standards and other wholesale electric
industry business practice standards. In later orders in this series,
the Commission incorporated by reference: (1) The Version 001 Business
Practice Standards; \8\ (2) the Version 002.1 Business Practice
Standards; \9\ (3) business practice standards categorizing various
demand response products and services; \10\ (4) OASIS-related Business
Practice Standards related to Demand Side Management and Energy
Efficiency; \11\ and (5) the Version 003 Business Practice
Standards.\12\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols
for Public Utilities, Order No. 676-C, 73 FR 43,848, (July 29,
2008), 124 FERC ] 61,070 (2008), reh'g denied, Order No. 676-D, 124
FERC ] 61,317 (2008).
\9\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols
for Public Utilities, Order No. 676-E, 74 FR 63,288 (Dec. 3, 2009),
129 FERC ] 61,162 (2009). This order also incorporated revisions
made in response to Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 890-B. See Preventing
Undue Discrimination and Preference in Transmission Service, Order
No. 890, 118 FERC ] 61,119, order on reh'g, Order No. 890-A, 121
FERC ] 61,297 (2007), order on reh'g, Order No. 890-B, 123 FERC ]
61,299 (2008), order on reh'g, Order No. 890-C, 126 FERC ] 61,228,
order on clarification, Order No. 890-D, 129 FERC ] 61,126 (2009).
\10\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities, Order No. 676-F, 75 FR 20,901 (Apr.
22, 2010), 131 FERC ] 61,022 (2010).
\11\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities, Order No. 676-G, 78 FR 14,654 (Mar.
7, 2013), 142 FERC ] 61,131 (2013). In this rule, the Commission
incorporated by reference into its regulations updated business
practice standards adopted by NAESB's WEQ to categorize various
products and services for demand response and energy efficiency and
to support the measurement and verification of these products and
services in organized wholesale electric markets.
\12\ See Order No. 676-H, 148 FERC ] 61,205 (2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
10. NAESB informed the Commission of the changes it had made to its
Version 003 standards in its October 26 Filing to the Commission. NAESB
adopted certain new and revised WEQ Version 003.1 Business Practice
Standards based on developments involving NERC. In part, NAESB
developed the WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards in response
to a NERC petition to delete and retire the six ``MOD A'' Reliability
Standards. NERC had previously filed a petition with the Commission on
February 10, 2014, proposing to retire NERC's six MOD A Reliability
Standards and replace them with Reliability Standard MOD-001-2, which
NERC stated will focus exclusively on the reliability aspects of
Available Flowgate Capability (AFC) and Available Transfer Capability
(ATC). On February 7, 2014, NERC submitted a request to NAESB asking
NAESB to consider adopting standards that address the commercial and
business aspects of the MOD standards proposed for retirement. NAESB
subsequently developed the WEQ-023 Business Practice Standards to
support and complement the proposed retirement of the MOD A Reliability
Standards.
11. The WEQ-023 Business Practice Standards specify the
requirements for calculating ATC and AFC and support the tasks of
reporting on the commercial aspects of these calculations.\13\ WEQ-023
also includes two new requirements not previously included in the NERC
Reliability Standards related to contract path management. These two
standards, WEQ-023-1.4 and WEQ-023-1.4.1, limit the amount of firm
transmission service across a path between balancing authorities to the
contract path limit for that given path.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\13\ NAESB October 26 Filing at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
12. After consideration of the October 26 Filing, the Commission
issued the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR on July 21, 2016, wherein the
Commission proposed to incorporate the WEQ Version 003.1 Standards,
with certain enumerated exceptions. In the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, the
Commission announced that it will address separately NAESB's WEQ-023
Modeling Business Practice Standards, which concern technical issues
affecting ATC/AFC calculation for wholesale electric transmission
services.\14\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ See WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, 156 FERC ] 61,055 at P 42.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
13. In response to the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, eight stakeholders
filed comments.\15\ A number of comments expressed general support for
the Commission's proposals in the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, and no
comments were received opposing the basic direction of the NOPR,
although commenters did make suggestions on several specific details of
the NOPR proposals.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\15\ Commenters on the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, and the
abbreviations used in this final rule to identify them, are listed
in the Appendix.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
14. On May 27, 2017, NAESB filed a report with the Commission \16\
stating that it ``reserved'' the WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction
Standards to correspond to the NERC retirement of Reliability Standard
BAL-004-0 Time Error Correction.\17\ NERC continues to provide
Reliability Coordinators serving as time monitors in the North American
Interconnections with a time monitoring reference document that
specifies how manual time error corrections are to be implemented if
needed to resolve time error issues and outlines procedural
responsibilities assigned to the time monitor.\18\ NERC provides the
time monitoring reference document for guidance, and the information
therein does not reflect binding norms or mandatory requirements.\19\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\16\ NAESB Status Report on the Reservation of WEQ-006 Manual
Time Error Correction Business Practice Standards, March 27, 2017
(March 27 Filing), Docket Nos RM05-000 and RD17-1-000.
\17\ See N. Amer. Elec. Reliability Corp., Docket No. RD17-1-000
(Jan. 18, 2017) (delegated order). The delegated letter order
approved NERC's Nov. 10, 2016 filing of the petition for approval of
retirement of then-effective Reliability Standard BAL-004-0.
\18\ NERC, Time Monitoring Reference Document--Version 4
(approved by the NERC Operating Committee on Sept. 14, 2018).
\19\ Id. at n.1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
15. On December 8, 2017, NAESB filed the WEQ Version 003.2
Standards. The WEQ Version 003.2 Standards build upon the standards
included in the WEQ Version 003.1 Standards and include, in their
entirety, the modifications submitted to the Commission in WEQ Version
003.1, which were the subject to the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, with the
addition of certain revisions and corrections. After consideration of
the December 8 Filing, the Commission issued the WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR
on May 16, 2019, wherein the Commission proposed to incorporate the WEQ
Version 003.2 Standards, with certain enumerated exceptions.\20\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\20\ See Standards for Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 84 FR
24,050 (May 16, 2019), 167 FERC ] 61,127 (2019) (WEQ Version 003.2
NOPR).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
16. On June 5, 2019, NAESB submitted informational comments in the
WEQ 003.2 docket to inform the Commission of ongoing NERC and NAESB
coordination efforts, and clarified that it had reserved certain WEQ-
001 OASIS Business Practice Standards included as part of WEQ Version
003.2 to avoid duplication with
[[Page 10574]]
the WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards.
17. On July 23, 2019, NAESB submitted informational comments in
response to the WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR stating that a minor correction
to the WEQ-003-0 OASIS Data Dictionary was approved to remove
references to two data elements and their definitions.\21\ The removal
to the references occurred as a result of NAESB's ongoing coordination
activities with NERC.
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\21\ Both data elements, PROCEDURE_NAME and PROCEDURE_LEVEL,
contain references to the retired NERC Reliability Standards IRO-
006-TRE-1--IROL and SOL Mitigation in the ERCOT Region, approved by
the Commission for retirement on January 29, 2019.
\22\ As discussed later in this final rule, the regulatory text
accompanying our WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR erroneously proposed to
exclude from incorporation several standards in the WEQ-001 suite of
standards and also erroneously proposed the incorporation by
reference of the entirety of Standard WEQ-023, even though the
preamble makes clear that we did not intend to incorporate this
standard. As discussed later in this final rule, we correct these
errors herein.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
II. Discussion
A. Overview
18. The specific revised or new NAESB business practice standards
that we incorporate by reference in this final rule are the following
WEQ standards:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
WEQ Business practice standards
------------------------------------------------------------------------
000.............................. Abbreviations, Acronyms, and
Definition of Terms.
001.............................. Open Access Same-Time Information
System (OASIS), OASIS Version
2.2.\22\
002.............................. OASIS Standards and Communication
Protocols (S&CP), OASIS Version 2.2.
003.............................. OASIS S&CP Data Dictionaries, OASIS
Version 2.2.
004.............................. Coordinate Interchange.
006.............................. Manual Time Error Correction.
008.............................. Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)--
Eastern Interconnection.
012.............................. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
013.............................. OASIS Implementation Guide, Version
2.2.
015.............................. Measurement and Verification of
Wholesale Electricity Demand
Response.
022.............................. Electric Industry Registry (EIR).
023.............................. Modeling.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
19. These standards establish a set of business practice standards
and communication protocols for the electric industry that will
continue to enable industry members to achieve efficiencies by
streamlining utility business and transactional processes and
communication procedures. All of these standards, except for Standards
WEQ-022 and WEQ-023, update and replace standards that the Commission
previously incorporated by reference in Order No. 676-H. In addition,
in this final rule we update our reference to Standard WEQ-019 in Part
2 of our regulations, which houses statements of general policy and
interpretations of the Commission, so that we refer to the latest
version of that standard.\23\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\23\ The references to the other smart grid standards that we
list informationally in Part 2 of our regulations, at 18 CFR 2.27
(2019), as non-mandatory guidance, are unchanged and do not require
updating. These are Standards WEQ-016, WEQ-017, and WEQ-020. We are
listing for informational purposes as non-mandatory guidance
Standard WEQ-018. We also note that the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, at P
49, in discussing Standard WEQ-019, referred to the ``International
Electrotechnical Commission Information Model.'' We clarify that the
full name of this model is the ``International Electrotechnical
Commission Common Information Model.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
20. In keeping with the prior practice that the Commission adopted
in Order No. 676-H, we are requiring public utilities and those
entities with reciprocity tariffs to modify their open access
transmission tariffs (OATTs) to include the WEQ standards that we are
incorporating by reference. In order to comply with this final rule,
public utilities and entities with reciprocity tariffs must make a
compliance filing through eTariff no later than 90 days from the date
the final rule is published in the Federal Register, using an
indeterminant effective date (12/31/9998) for the tariff records. The
Commission will establish an effective date for the proposed tariff
changes in the order(s) on the compliance filings no earlier than five
months from the date the final rule is published in the Federal
Register.\24\ Should any public utility that has previously been
granted a waiver of the regulations believe that its circumstances
warrant a continued waiver, the public utility may file a request for a
waiver wherein the public utility can detail the circumstances that it
believes warrant a waiver.\25\ In its request for continued waiver, the
public utility must include the date, Docket No. of the order(s)
previously granting the waiver(s), and an explanation for why the
waiver(s) was initially granted by the Commission. Any waiver requests
must be filed at the same time with the public utility's compliance
filing or in a separate FPA section 205 filing.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\24\ As we explained in Order No. 676-H, at n.26, to the extent
a public utility's OASIS obligations are administered by an
independent system operator (ISO) or regional transmission operator
(RTO) and are not covered in the public utility's OATT, the public
utility will not need to modify its OATT to include the OASIS
standards. Such a public utility will, however, be required to
comply with these standards unless granted a waiver by the
Commission. The business practice standards that we incorporate by
reference into our regulations in this final rule govern the terms
and conditions that public utilities must include in their OATTs and
the transactions that entities enter with public utilities under
these OATTs must be in accordance with the incorporated standards.
\25\ Order No. 676-E, 129 FERC ] 61,162 at P 107.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
21. As the Commission has explained in prior orders, NAESB approved
the standards under its consensus procedures.\26\ 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 must conduct 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, like NAESB, to carry out
policy objectives or activities.\27\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\26\ See Order No. 676-H at P 21, n.27 (``WEQ's procedures
ensure that all industry members can have input into the development
of a business practice standard, whether or not they are members of
NAESB, and each standard it adopts is supported by a consensus of
the seven industry segments: Transmission, generation, marketer/
brokers, distribution/load serving entities, end users, independent
grid operators/planners, and technology services. Under the WEQ
process, for a standard to be approved, it must receive a super-
majority vote of 67 percent of the members of the WEQ's Executive
Committee with support from at least 40 percent of each of the seven
industry segments. For final approval, 67 percent of the WEQ's
general membership must ratify the standards.'').
\27\ Public Law No. 104-113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996), 15
U.S.C. 272 note (1997).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
B. Issues Raised by Commenters
22. Eight stakeholders filed comments in response to the WEQ
Version 003.1 NOPR. Eight stakeholders also filed comments in response
to the WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR. Several comments filed in response to
the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR and WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR expressed general
support for the Commission's proposals and no comments were received
opposing the basic direction of the two NOPRs, although comments did
make suggestions on several specific details of the NOPR proposals.
Comments were also filed in response to the Time Error Correction NOPR
by five commenters. Commenters were divided with regard to the
Commission's proposal to remove the incorporation by reference of the
[[Page 10575]]
NAESB WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice Standards.
One commenter, Dr. Hardis, argued that his comments should be
considered a complaint pursuant to 16 U.S.C. 824o(d)(3), and argued
that the Commission should remand the matter of reliability standard
BAL-004 back to NERC for reconsideration.
1. Treatment of Requests for Redirects
a. Request for Comments
23. In Dynegy Power Marketing, Inc,\28\ the Commission established
its policy on 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. In the
WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, the Commission invited comment on whether the
Commission should extend the Dynegy policy to both conditional original
(parent) reservations for firm transmission service and non-firm
transmission service.\29\ In Dynegy, 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. The Commission's concern was that a
redirecting customer would lose its rights to the original parent path
upon confirmation of a redirect request and be left with no
transmission service during the redirect period if the requested
redirect was preempted by a competing service request.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\28\ 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).
\29\ WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR at P 25.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
24. The NAESB Version 003.1 WEQ-001 business practice standards
propose to permit a transmission customer to redirect point-to-point
transmission service on a firm basis (WEQ-001-9) from unconditional
parent reservations. While the standards do not explicitly permit
redirects on a firm or non-firm basis from conditional parent
reservations still subject to competition, the proposed standards
include an option allowing individual transmission providers to
implement alternative practices to the NAESB standards that apply to
redirects on a firm basis from parent reservations that are conditional
(text of WEQ-001-9 preamble).\30\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\30\ Standard WEQ-001-9 states: ``[t]he Business Practice
Standard WEQ-001-9 is defined in order to enhance consistency of the
reservation process that applies to Redirects on a firm basis from
Parent Reservations that are unconditional, as defined in Section
13.2(iii) of the pro forma tariff. The Transmission Provider shall
specify any reservation process that applies to Redirects on a firm
basis from Parent Reservations that are conditional, as defined in
Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma tariff in its Business Practices
that are posted in accordance with Business Practice Standard WEQ-
001-13.1.4.'' (emphasis added).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
25. In the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, the Commission explained that
the negative effects associated with the potential loss of a customer's
parent path when the parent reservation is conditional and subject to
competition is arguably less compelling than when the parent
reservation is unconditional. The Commission then invited comment on
whether the Commission should extend the Dynegy policy to both
conditional parent reservations for firm transmission service and non-
firm transmission service.\31\ To aid the Commission's consideration of
this issue, the Commission referenced four redirect issues on which
NAESB stakeholders were unable to reach consensus and invited comments
on whether the Commission should adopt regulations governing the
business practices to be followed for requests for redirects from
conditional parent reservations for short-term firm transmission
service and for non-firm transmission service. These issues are: (1)
The treatment of a firm redirect for transmission service following the
preemption of the conditional parent reservation; (2) the circumstances
under which a firm redirect for transmission service may return to the
conditional parent reservation; (3) the number of subsequent firm
redirects for transmission service that can stem from the original firm
redirect for transmission service; and (4) the proper treatment of
requests to redirect requests for non-firm transmission service. In the
WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR, the Commission proposed to adopt the NAESB
standards with the exception of the text from the WEQ-001-9 preamble,
which would allow the implementation of alternative practices.\32\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\31\ WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR at P 25.
\32\ The WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR does not request comments on the
WEQ-001-10 preamble, and the language used therein, as related to
treatment of redirects on a non-firm basis, is similar to that used
in the WEQ-001-9 preamble for firm redirects. For the reasons
outlined in this final rule to except the preamble to WEQ-001-9 from
incorporation by reference, the preamble to WEQ-001-10 is excepted
from incorporation by reference. See infra PP 35-39.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Comments
26. Virtually all the comments received on this subject oppose the
option of extending the Dynegy redirect policy to either conditional
parent reservations for short-term firm transmission service or non-
firm transmission service.\33\ As a result, most commenters express
support for NAESB's proposed redirect standards for unconditional
parent reservations,\34\ but did not express support for the proposed
language provided within the WEQ-001-9 preamble that would also allow
transmission providers the option of implementing alternative practices
for redirects from conditional reservations.\35\ In addition,
commenters did not express support for the proposed language provided
within the WEQ-001-10 preamble that would allow transmission providers
the option of implementing alternative practices for redirects from
non-firm reservations.\36\ Southern expressed support for retaining the
first sentence in the WEQ 001-9 and WEQ 001-10 preambles to make the
applicability of the Dynegy policy to these standards clear.\37\
Simultaneously, some commenters state that they recommend or at least
could support the application of a separate policy to provide
transmission customers with the ability to redirect from conditional
parent reservations.\38\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\33\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5; EEI WEQ Version
003.1 Comments at 5; Idaho Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2;
Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6; OATI WEQ Version
003.1 Comments at 3; Snohomish/Tacoma WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
1; Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
\34\ NAESB's redirect standards require a reservation for
service to be unconditional before it may be redirected.
\35\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4, 7; Idaho Power
WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2; Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1
Comments at 6; OATI at 3; and Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
4. Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3; MISO WEQ Version
003.2 Comments at 2; OATI WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2-3.
\36\ See e.g., MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2; OATI WEQ
Version 003.2 Comments at 2; SPP WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4.
\37\ Southern WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
\38\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6; OATI WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 4. Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments
at 2-3; MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 1-2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
27. Various commenters note that, under the Dynegy redirect policy,
the transmission provider must hold ATC for the original firm
reservation on the original path and simultaneously hold ATC on the
redirect reservation's path until the redirect reaches the conditional
deadline, and, at such time, capacity on the parent path may then be
[[Page 10576]]
released.\39\ Several commenters contend that this allows the
transmission customer to hold priority of service options on two or
more transmission paths at the same time.\40\ Joint Commenters ask the
Commission if there may be benefits to revisiting specifics of the
Dynegy/Entergy orders since the requirement that a redirect's parent
passes the conditional reservation deadline sacrifices system
efficiency.\41\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\39\ See, e.g., OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2-3; NV
Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 1.
\40\ See, e.g., EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7; OATI WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 3. NV Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at
1.
\41\ Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 8-9.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
28. Several commenters oppose the proposal to extend the Dynegy
policy beyond an application to unconditional parent reservations.
These commenters point out that prior to the conditional reservation
deadline, when the parent reservation is still conditional and subject
to competition, there is no guarantee that firm service will be
provided to the transmission customer on either the original
transmission path or the requested redirect path since the reservation
remains subject to competition until the conditional period
expires.\42\ They observe that the transmission customer's expectation
as to the certainty of service is different in the conditional and
unconditional cases.\43\ Specifically, EEI references sections of the
Commission's pro forma OATT to support its conclusion that a firm
capacity reservation under which the transmission customer is already
taking service must already exist, and a reservation for service must
be unconditional before it may be redirected.\44\ Bonneville notes that
a customer with a conditional parent reservation has no reasonable
expectation of service, since a later-queued, higher-priority request
may preempt or compete with that customer's conditional parent
reservation. And because this expectation of service is different from
a customer's expectation of service with an unconditional firm
reservation, Bonneville argues it is inappropriate to extend the
protections afforded by Dynegy to conditional parent reservations.\45\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\42\ See, e.g., EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6; OATI WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 3; Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
5.
\43\ See, e.g., Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5; EEI
WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
\44\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5-6.
\45\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4-5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
29. Commenters also contend that there may be many difficulties in
administering scenarios with multiple conditional, confirmed
reservations consuming more transmission capacity than available, since
capacity would be retained on both the parent path and all the
redirected paths.\46\ Some commenters advise that, if transmission
customers are able to redirect from conditional parent reservations, it
could result in potentially troublesome administrative, billing, and
liability issues.\47\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\46\ Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5; Bonneville WEQ
Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
\47\ Idaho Power WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 2; Southern WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 5-6. Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments
at 3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
30. Specifically, Joint Commenters and Southern argue that a
transmission customer should only be permitted to redirect transmission
service from unconditional parent reservations.\48\ However, EEI argues
individual transmission providers should be allowed the option to also
permit redirects from conditional parent reservations by moving firm
capacity to the redirect path upon confirmation.\49\ Snohomish/Tacoma
suggests that the Commission should either: (1) Allow individual
transmission providers to craft specific tariff provisions for how
redirects from conditional parent reservations will be addressed; or
(2) explicitly not apply the Dynegy redirect policy, nor any other
restriction on redirects from conditional parent reservations.\50\ OATI
comments that it is generally not in favor of adopting standards that
allow for options to implement transmission provider alternative
practices to the NAESB standards.\51\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\48\ Joint Commenters WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 5; Southern
WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
\49\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
\50\ Snohomish/Tacoma WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 1.
\51\ OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
31. OATI notes that, while it supports the application of Dynegy to
redirects on a firm basis where the parent reservation is confirmed but
still within the conditional reservation period (prior to the
conditional reservation deadline),\52\ it could also support a NAESB
standard where the capacity held on the conditional firm parent
reservation is released immediately and lost on the parent path upon
confirmation of the redirect on a firm basis.\53\ Other commenters
agree and prefer such a NAESB standard for conditional parent
reservations.\54\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\52\ Id. at 3.
\53\ Id. at 4.
\54\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2-3, MISO WEQ
Version 003.2 Comments at 1-2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
32. With respect to the Commission implementing a policy where a
transmission customer redirects from a conditional parent reservation
and the transmission customer loses the rights to the parent
reservation once the redirect is confirmed, Bonneville advises that
transmission providers will have a straightforward solution that is
implementable and that can leverage technical capabilities that
currently exist in most of the industry, and will not be burdened with
accounting for capacity on multiple conditional paths.\55\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\55\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
33. As to requests for redirects of requests for non-firm
transmission service, all the commenters who addressed this issue
oppose extending the Dynegy redirect policy to non-firm transmission
service. Commenters note that the Commission's pro forma OATT only
permits transmission customers taking firm point-to-point service to
make modifications to points of receipt (PORs) and points of delivery
(PODs), and the OATT does not state transmission customers may modify
PORs and PODs on a non-firm basis.\56\ OATI states that non-firm
(secondary) redirect is the lowest priority service under the OATT and
would be subject to preemption or interruption at any time to process
either a request to reserve or schedule an existing reservation for
either firm or non-firm transmission service.\57\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\56\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 10; Joint Commenters WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 7; Southern WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at
7.
\57\ OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
34. Commenters also believe that a request to redirect firm
transmission service on a non-firm basis should only be allowed from an
unconditional, firm parent reservation.\58\ EEI advises that the
potential for gaming, the impact on queue positions and processing, and
the problem of undertaking ATC/AFC calculations, outweigh any potential
benefits given that a customer can just as easily submit a new request
for non-firm transmission service with a modified POR and/or POD.\59\
Commenters state that it is unnecessary to adopt changes to the
proposed standards, since a customer can relinquish a capacity
reservation
[[Page 10577]]
associated with a non-firm redirect back to the parent reservation.\60\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\58\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 11; Idaho Power WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 4; OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 6.
\59\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 11.
\60\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 7; Idaho Power WEQ
Version 003.1 Comments at 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Commission Determinations
35. Based on our consideration of the comments, we incorporate by
reference the WEQ-001-9 and WEQ-001-10 standards with the exception of
the text contained in the preambles to WEQ-001-9 and WEQ 001-10, which
appear to allow transmission providers to adopt alternative procedures
for redirects from conditional parent reservations. NAESB revised its
standards by adding Standard WEQ 001-9.5.4 to apply the Dynegy policy
to redirects from unconditional firm service. This standard provides
for retention of parent transmission rights when the transmission
provider confirms a redirect from unconditional firm service but during
the period when the redirect remains conditional (i.e., before the
conditional deadline under pro forma OATT section 13.2).
36. We conclude that limiting the Dynegy policy to redirects from
unconditional firm service is reasonable. We base this finding on
several factors. With respect to redirect requests with conditional
parent reservations, we note that, prior to the conditional reservation
deadline, there is no guarantee that firm service will be provided to
the transmission customer on the original transmission path. Moreover,
the Dynegy policy was designed to protect a firm transmission customer
that requests a redirect from losing its rights on the original path
while its redirect request is pending. This is not the same as
establishing a right that requires the transmission provider to hold
ATC simultaneously on both the original path and the redirect path when
the customer has no right to use a path service on either path. The
only risk to a customer that requests a redirect for a conditional
parent reservation would be the customer losing a right to use a path
it does not yet have. As a result, the Dynegy policy will extend to
neither short-term firm point-to-point transmission service nor non-
firm transmission service, and the Dynegy policy continues to be
limited to parent reservations that are unconditional, as defined in
Section 13.2 of the pro forma OATT.
37. We decline to incorporate by reference the preamble to WEQ-001-
9, which appears to exempt redirects from conditional firm parents from
the remainder of the redirect standards and permits transmission
providers to implement their own procedures for redirect requests from
conditional firm parents. The preamble to standard WEQ -001-9 states:
The Business Practice Standard WEQ-001-9 is defined in order to
enhance consistency of the reservation process that applies to
Redirects on a firm basis from Parent Reservations that are
unconditional as defined in Section 13.2(iii) of the pro forma
tariff. The Transmission Provider shall specify any reservation
process that applies to Redirects on a firm basis from Parent
Reservations that are conditional, as defined in Section 13.2(iii)
of the pro forma tariff in its Business Practices that are posted in
accordance with Business Practice Standard WEQ-001-13.1.4.
38. Prior to the revision from WEQ Version 003.1, the WEQ 001-9
section did not contain a preamble and all the redirect standards for
firm service applied to redirects from both unconditional and
conditional firm parents. We see no reason to exempt redirects from
conditional firm parents from these standards with the exception of
standard WEQ 001-9.54 implementing the Dynegy policy with respect to
unconditional firm parents, as discussed above. The application of the
remaining redirect standards to redirects from conditional parents will
help ensure consistency across the grid. For these same reasons we also
decline to incorporate by reference the preamble included at the
beginning to WEQ-001-10, which, as of WEQ Version 003.2, applies the
above-quoted preamble to redirect requests for non-firm service.
39. We agree with commenters who highlighted the administrative
burden associated with standards that allow individual transmission
providers to specify their own various business processes for
redirects. Without consistent standards, transmission providers and
transmission customers would then have to incur the costs of developing
different business processes to adapt to the differing requirements,
increasing the cost and complexity of their businesses. Furthermore,
consistent standards help achieve greater efficiency and reduce costly
disparities.
2. Time Error Correction
a. Request for Comments
40. In the Time Error Correction NOPR, the Commission proposed to
approve NAESB's latest version of its Business Practice Standards to
remove the incorporation by reference of the Wholesale Electric
Quadrant (WEQ) WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice
Standards as adopted by NAESB in its WEQ Version 003.0 Businesses
Practice Standards.\61\ The WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction
Business Practice Standards outline the commercial based procedures to
be used for reducing time error to keep the system's time within
acceptable limits of true time. NAESB's latest version of its Business
Practice Standards retires and eliminates the Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards to correspond with NERC's
retirement of the Time Error Correction requirements, which the
Commission approved in 2017. In the Time Error Correction NOPR, the
Commission also proposed to incorporate by reference Standard WEQ-000,
Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms Business Practice
Standards (Version 003.2), which would eliminate the definitions of
``Time Error'' and ``Time Error Correction'' as well as making
unrelated minor corrections.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\61\ Time Error Correction NOPR, 165 FERC ] 61,007 at P 1.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
b. Comments
41. Commenters were divided in their response to NAESB's proposal
to remove the incorporation by reference of the WEQ-006 Manual Time
Error Correction Business Practice Standards. NERC states that NAESB
reserved WEQ-006 in coordination with NERC's retirement of Reliability
Standard BAL-004-0, as approved by the Commission in 2017, and removing
the reference to WEQ-006 in 18 CFR 38.1(b) ensures clarity and avoids
inadvertent, uncoordinated, manual time error correction.\62\ SPP adds
that removal of WEQ-006 from the Commission's regulations and the
update of Standard WEQ-000 will promote clarity and ensure consistency
between the Commission's regulations and current NERC and NAESB
standards.\63\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\62\ NERC Time Error Correction NOPR Comments at 1-2.
\63\ SPP Time Error Correction NOPR Comments at 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
42. By contrast, Dr. Demetrios Matsakis and Dr. Jonathan Hardis
\64\ state that the proposed rule change is not in the public
interest,\65\ and Dr. Hardis asserts the public interest standard is
the appropriate standard of review.\66\ Dr. Hardis states that his
[[Page 10578]]
comments should also serve as a complaint pursuant to 16 U.S.C.
824o(d)(5) \67\ and asserts that the Commission should remand the
matter of Reliability Standard BAL-004 back to NERC for
reconsideration.\68\ Additionally, Dr. Hardis and Dr. Matsakis advise
that the business practice of ``Time Error Correction'' works so well
as a commercial service that the public gives little thought to why
their synchronous clocks and appliances work. They state that, without
Time Error Correction, synchronous clocks and appliances, which provide
accurate time through the utilization of power line frequency, will not
be accurate or work properly.\69\ Referring to Docket No. RD17-1-000,
in which the Commission approved the retirement of Reliability Standard
BAL-004-0, Dr. Hardis states the record in that proceeding contained
statements that suggest a basic misunderstanding regarding Time Error
Correction. He asserts that better regulating the grid frequency to be
60 Hz does not substitute for or eliminate the need for Time Error
Correction.\70\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\64\ Dr. Matsakis and Dr. Hardis submit their comments as
individual citizens and not on behalf of any organization or
employee. Dr. Matsakis is Chief Scientist for Time Services at the
U.S. Naval Observatory. Dr. Hardis is a Senior Scientific Advisor
for the Physical Measurement Laboratory at the National Institute
for Standards and Technology.
\65\ Dr. Matsakis Time Error Correction Comments at 1.
\66\ Dr. Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at 1.
\67\ Id. at 17.
\68\ Id. at 2, 17.
\69\ Id. at 1-3; Dr. Matsakis Time Error Correction Comments at
1.
\70\ Dr. Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at 4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
43. Dr. Hardis also responds to the major arguments presented in
Docket No. RD17-1-000 that support the retirement of Reliability
Standard BAL-004-0.\71\ In support of his arguments, Dr. Hardis
references a research paper that analyzes industry-supplied Time Error
Correction data to conclude that without Time Error Correction being in
effect between March 2016, when Daylight Saving Time was implemented,
and November 2016, when Standard Time was re-implemented, there would
have been approximately 7.5 minutes of time drift on the Eastern
Interconnection.\72\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\71\ Id. at 9-13.
\72\ Id. at 14 (citing J.E. Hardis, B. Fonville, and D.
Matsakis, ``Time and frequency from electrical power lines,''
Proceedings of the 48th Annual Precise Time and Time Interval
Systems and Applications Meeting, Monterey, California, January
2017, pp. 372-386, https://www.nist.gov/publications/time-and-frequency-electrical-power-lines).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
44. Dr. Hardis also asserts that the decision to retire WEQ-006 was
primarily made by those involved within NAESB's Wholesale Energy
Quadrant, without adequate notice, which results in a lack of balance
and underrepresentation from other interests (e.g., retail consumers,
appliance manufactures, and state regulatory agencies).\73\
Additionally, Dr. Hardis contends that Time Error Correction is an
interstate issue and that some kind of enforceable standards are still
needed.\74\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\73\ Dr. Hardis Time Error Correction Comments at 16.
\74\ Id. at 14-15, 17.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
45. NAESB filed comments clarifying that NAESB: (1) Is accredited
by the ANSI; (2) is obligated to adhere to the ANSI principles of
standards development, including the principles of openness and
balance; and (3) employed extensive efforts to distribute notice to
more than 200 different entities regarding the standards development
effort, the formal comment period, and the intent of the NAESB WEQ
Executive Committee to consider and vote on the recommended standard
reservations and modifications.\75\ NAESB notes that it adheres to its
governing principle of openness during the standards development
process, with publicly noticed meetings, agendas, and items set for
discussion and/or possible vote. NAESB notes that its process allows
for all interested parties, regardless of membership, to have the
opportunity to participate in the development of standards.\76\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\75\ NAESB Time Error Correction Comments at 1-2.
\76\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
c. Commission Determinations
46. Upon consideration of the record, we will not adopt the Time
Error Correction NOPR proposal to remove the incorporation by reference
to NAESB's latest version of the WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction
Business Practice Standards. We find that NAESB has not provided
sufficient justification for retiring Time Error Correction as a
business standard; the only support provided for its retirement is that
NERC retired the corresponding Reliability Standard as being
unnecessary for reliability. In their comments, Dr. Hardis and Dr.
Matsakis, however, raise considerable unrebutted concerns about the
retirement of NAESB's Time Error Correction standards, citing
significant reasons for why there is a continued need for, and possibly
expansion, of such standards. While the Commission previously approved
the retirement of NERC's BAL-004-0 (Time Error Correction) as related
to reliability,\77\ NOPR commenters provide significant evidence that
Time Error Correction remains an important business practice that
requires robust and meaningful business practice standards. Moreover,
NERC continues to provide Reliability Coordinators serving as time
monitors in the North American Interconnections with a time monitoring
reference document that specifies how manual time error corrections are
to be implemented if needed and outlines procedural responsibilities
assigned to the time monitor. After considering this record, we advise
public utilities to work through the NAESB business practices
development processes to revisit the rationale for removing the Time
Error Correction standards to determine whether they should be retained
or revised. Therefore, we do not adopt the NOPR proposal to incorporate
by reference the reservation of the WEQ-006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards, nor do we adopt the elimination
to the definitions of ``Time Error'' and ``Time Error Correction'' in
Standard WEQ-000 (Version 003.2). Rather, in this final rule, we
incorporate by reference the WEQ-006 Version 003.1 Standard for Time
Error Correction.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\77\ See North American Electric Reliability Corp., Docket No.
17-1-000 (Jan. 18, 2017) (delegated order).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
47. With regard to Dr. Hardis' comments on the retirement of
Reliability Standard BAL-004-0, we find that those comments are outside
the scope of this proceeding and therefore we do not address them here.
Moreover, we dismiss that portion of Dr. Hardis' comments wherein he
requests that the Commission treat his pleading also as a complaint
under 16 U.S.C. 824o(d)(5).\78\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\78\ The Commission has consistently rejected efforts to combine
complaints with other types of filings. See Midwest Indep.
Transmission Sys. Operator, Inc., 108 FERC ] 61248, at 62,383 n.8
(2004) (citing Entergy Servs., Inc., 52 FERC ] 61,317 at 62,270
(1990) (stating that the Commission has determined that complaints
must be filed separately from motions to intervene and protests)).
In rejecting these combined requests, we have stated that a combined
filing does not assure that the procedural and other requirements
applicable to the processing of a complaint will be met. Our
dismissal of the conditional complaint is without prejudice to Dr.
Hardis filing a separate complaint consistent with Rule 206 of the
Commission's Rules of Practice and Procedure. See 18 CFR 385.206
(2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Other Issues Raised by Commenters
a. NERC/NAESB Coordination
i. Comments
48. NAESB states that it developed the WEQ-023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards in WEQ Version 003.1 to support and complement the
proposed retirement of certain NERC MOD A Reliability Standards which
were to be replaced by NERC MOD-001-2 Reliability Standards. It states
that the proposed NERC MOD-001-2 Reliability Standards were before the
Commission in Docket No. RM14-7-
[[Page 10579]]
00.\79\ As part of the WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards,
NAESB proposes to move 13 WEQ-001 standards and one appendix that
relate to the calculation of ATC/AFC to WEQ-023.\80\ NAESB states that
these 13 standards are currently included in WEQ-001-18 Postback
Requirements and WEQ-019 Grandfathered Agreements. On June 5, 2019,
NAESB submitted comments in the WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR proceeding
reiterating that the WEQ-001 OASIS Business Practice Standards,
included as part of WEQ Business Practice Standards Version 003.2,
reserved 13 individual standards and one appendix for consistency
purposes to avoid duplication with the WEQ-023 Modeling Business
Practice Standards.\81\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\79\ NAESB October 26 Filing at 13.
\80\ Id. at 14.
\81\ NAESB enumerates the following standards as reserved WEQ-
001-18, WEQ-001-18.1, WEQ-001-18.1.1, WEQ-001-18.1.2, WEQ-0018-
1.2.1, WEQ-001-18.1.2.2, WEQ-001-18.1.2.3, WEQ-001-18.1.3, WEQ-001-
18.2, WEQ-001-19, WEQ-001-19.1, WEQ-001-19.1.1, WEQ-001-19.1.2, and
WEQ-001-D Appendix D. NAESB December 8, 2017 Filing at 3-4.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
49. NAESB also submitted separate comments to the Commission
detailing the ongoing coordination activities between NAESB and NERC,
which led to NAESB's submission of a minor correction to WEQ-003-0
OASIS Data Dictionary to remove references to two data elements and
their definitions.\82\ NAESB states that both data elements,
PROCEDURE_NAME and PROCEDURE_LEVEL, contain references to the retired
NERC Reliability Standards IRO-006-TRE-1--IROL and SOL Mitigation in
the ERCOT Region, approved by the Commission for retirement on January
29, 2019.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\82\ NAESB WEQ Version 003.2 July 23, 2019 Comments at 2.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
50. The Commission appreciates and supports the ongoing
coordination activities between NAESB and NERC. We decline NAESB's
request to incorporate by reference the entire WEQ-023 Modeling
Business Practice Standards, and are instead incorporating by reference
only those standards moved from WEQ-001 to WEQ-023. The Commission is
considering NERC's proposed retirement of its ATC-related Reliability
Standards in Docket No. RM14-7-000. In addition, the Commission
established a proceeding in Docket No. AD15-5-000 to consider the
proposed changes to the calculation of ATC, and has conducted a
technical conference and received comments regarding such changes.\83\
As a result, we do not incorporate by reference the entire WEQ-023
Modeling Business Practice Standards in this final rule, but instead
only incorporate by reference those sections listed below, and will
consider the remaining standards as part of the overall inquiry into
ATC calculation.
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\83\ See, e.g., the December 18, 2014 status report filed by
NAESB in Docket Nos. RM05-5-000 and RM14-7-000, and the Commission's
April 21, 2015 workshop, Available Transfer Capability Standards for
Wholesale Electric Transmission Services, Docket No. RM15-5-000.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
51. In its WEQ Version 003.1 filing, NAESB requested to move 13
standards and Appendix D related to ATC/AFC that are currently included
in WEQ-001 to WEQ-023. In addition to moving the enumerated standards
to WEQ-023, NAESB seeks to reserve the 13 standards and Appendix D in
WEQ-001. In this final rule, we approve NAESB's request to move the 13
standards and Appendix D to WEQ-023 and reserve the same standards and
appendix within WEQ-001. Accordingly, the regulatory text accompanying
this final rule incorporates by reference certain of the WEQ-023
Standards, including: WEQ-023-5; WEQ-023-5.1; WEQ-023-5.1.1; WEQ-023-
5.1.2; WEQ-023-5.1.2.1; WEQ-023-5.1.2.2; WEQ-023-5.1.2.3; WEQ-023-
5.1.3; WEQ-023-5.2; WEQ-023-6; WEQ-023-6.1; WEQ-023-6.1.1; WEQ-023-
6.1.2; and WEQ-023-A Appendix A. Consistent with our support of the
ongoing NAESB and NERC collaborative standards development activities,
in this final rule, we also grant NAESB's request and incorporate by
reference the removal of references to the two data elements,
PROCEDURE_NAME and PROCEDURE_LEVEL, and their definitions within the
WEQ-003-0 OASIS Data Dictionary.
b. Corrections to Regulatory Text
i. Comments
52. A number of commenters have noted minor inconsistencies between
the discussion in the preamble of the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR of the
standards proposed to be incorporated by reference and the proposed
regulatory text. They suggest that the regulatory text be corrected to
better match up with the discussion in the preamble. We agree.
Commenters note an inconsistency in the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR, between
paragraph 27 of the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR stating that the Commission
proposed to incorporate the revised standards on timing of ATC
narrative posting and the final proposed action to amend Sec. 38.1
which continued to exclude 001-14.1.3 and 001-15.1.2.\84\ Commenters
note that there is no further discussion of this action in the Version
003.2 NOPR.\85\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\84\ OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3; Southern WEQ Version
003.1 Comments at 7-8.
\85\ OATI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 3; Southern WEQ Version
003.1 Comments at 7-8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
53. Commenters also note minor inconsistencies between the
Commission's WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR to adopt revised standard WEQ 001-
106.25, and the Commission's exclusion of WEQ 001-106.25 in the WEQ
Version 003.2 NOPR.\86\ In the Version 003.1 NOPR, the Commission
proposed to incorporate by reference, into the Commission's regulations
at 18 CFR 38.1, NAESB's revised Standards WEQ-WEQ-001-106.2.21, WEQ-
001-106.2.1.1, and WEQ-001-106.2.5, as set forth in the WEQ Version
003.1 Business Practice Standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\86\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4; OATI WEQ
Version 003.2 Comments at 3-4; Southern WEQ Version 003.2 Comments
at 8-9; SPP WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 5.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
54. In consideration of these comments, in this final rule we
incorporate by reference 001-14.1.3 and 001-15.1.2 into the
Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 38.1. We also incorporate by
reference WEQ 001-106.25 into the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR
38.1.
c. Suggested Modifications to WEQ-004
i. Comments
55. CAISO offers two suggestions for modifying Standard WEQ-004 and
suggests that the Commission make a request to NAESB to address these
issues. Its first suggestion relates to Appendix A of revised NAESB
Standard WEQ-004, Section B.3, which requires a Sink Balancing
Authority to communicate a message via email only to adjacent Balancing
Authorities during an e-Tag Authority Service failure.\87\ CAISO
suggests that the Sink Balancing Authority be allowed to broadcast its
message to adjacent Balancing Authorities ``by email or similar
alternate method.'' CAISO argues that this broader language would allow
for alternate methods of communication to be used in instances where
the e-Tag Authority Service is not functioning because the internet
itself is unavailable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\87\ CAISO WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at n.3 (citing WEQ-004-A,
Appendix A, Section B (e-Tag Authority Service Failure Actions, No.
3)).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
56. CAISO's second suggestion relates to the language in Standard
WEQ-004, Section B.4 and the subsequent table under the heading
``Singular Failure
[[Page 10580]]
Actions.'' It argues this language should be amended to broaden the
method of communication beyond telephone.\88\ CAISO recommends that
this language should be amended to state ``communicate and confirm,''
which would not only take into account other methods of communication
that have been developed and are being used as a result of
technological advances (e.g., electronic messaging or industry specific
messaging systems like the WECC Net messaging system), but would also
allow the messaging contemplated by these provisions to be accomplished
by alternate routes should telephone use be unavailable.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\88\ Id. at n.6 (citing WEQ-004-A, Appendix A, Section B (e-Tag
Authority Service Failure Actions, No.4).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
57. We make no finding with regard to CAISO's suggested
modifications, as the proposed changes have not been formally
considered by NAESB and have not gone through the requisite consensus
proceeding. CAISO can present these suggested revisions to NAESB and
work through the NAESB process to build consensus for its position and,
if successful, implement these changes at the time when NAESB next
updates its business practice standards for public utilities.
d. Suggested Continued Optional Use of DUNS Numbers
i. Comments
58. In its WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR comments EEI states that it
supports the Commission's finding eliminating the use of DUNS numbers
to identify organizations in OASIS postings. However, EEI encourages
the Commission to recognize that the NAESB standards allow transmission
providers who wish to continue using DUNS numbers for other purposes
the option to do so, while allowing transmission providers who do not
wish to use the numbers simply to fill in the DUNS number field with
9s. While many EEI members prefer not to have to use the DUNS numbers,
some members prefer to continue using them for a variety of reasons,
for example, to avoid back-office problems and to reconcile with their
use of DUNS numbers in the network integration transmission service
(NITS) context. Thus, EEI argues that the NAESB approach is an
appropriate compromise that the Commission should allow.
ii. Commission Determination
59. The revised Standard WEQ-001-3.1 included in the Version 003.1
package of standards no longer makes any reference to the use of DUNS
numbers to identify an organization in OASIS postings. However, we
agree with EEI that the revised standard does not prohibit the
continued use of DUNS numbers to identify an entity in the Electric
Industry Registry or for other purposes. We do not find this solution
objectionable and do not find this an obstacle to our incorporating the
standard by reference as we proposed in the WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR.
e. Timing for Source and Sink Unmasking
i. Comments
60. In its WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR comments, EEI notes that the
revised NAESB standards ``unmask the source and sink for a request for
transmission service for all instances where the request for
transmission service is moved to any final state,'' and the Commission
proposes to adopt this change.\89\ However, EEI recommends against
adopting this change and instead encourages the Commission to clarify
that source and sink information should continue to be unmasked only
when a transmission service request is ``confirmed.'' EEI argues that,
if this standard is incorporated as it currently stands, the Commission
could be understood to require unmasking of the source and sink
information when a request's status is withdrawn, refused, invalid,
declined, superseded, annulled, or retracted because these can all be
considered to be ``final states.'' However, EEI is concerned that the
unmasking of source and sink for these additional statuses could expose
market information during the request process, prior to the
transmission request being in the actual final state of ``confirmed''
intended by the submitter.\90\ As an example, EEI describes a situation
where a transmission request was submitted with an error and as a
result was declined.\91\ In such a situation, EEI is concerned that if
``declined'' were treated as a final state, the source and sink would
be exposed prior to obtaining the corrected final state of transmission
reservation as ``confirmed.'' EEI argues that, at a minimum, adding
some sort of time delay on all status states other than ``confirmed''
until the replacement transmission reservation was ``confirmed'' could
allow the submitter to get the corrected request before the source and
sink are exposed.\92\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\89\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 16.
\90\ Id. at 17.
\91\ Id.
\92\ Id.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
61. In effect, EEI asks the Commission to modify Standard WEQ-002-
4.3.6.2 by ``clarifying'' that, despite the language of the standard
that source and sink are to be unmasked at the time when the request
for transmission service is moved to any final state, the standard
should be interpreted to mean that source and sink should not be
unmasked until the request reaches the final state of ``confirmed''
intended by the submitter. Notwithstanding EEI's concerns, there has
been an industry consensus for the standard as adopted by NAESB and we
decline to modify the standard as suggested by EEI. EEI or its members
may, if they wish, seek to build a consensus through the NAESB process
to revise the standard as recommended in its comments.
f. Waivers
i. Comments
62. PJM asks the Commission to continue to acknowledge in its final
rule that consistent with Commission precedent and currently-effective
policy, each public utility may seek as part of its compliance filing
waiver of new or revised standards in the WEQ Version 003.2 Standards,
and renewal of existing waivers previously granted by the Commission.
PJM requests a similar clarification be included in the final rule for
this proceeding.\93\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\93\ PJM WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2-3.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
63. The Commission has previously stated that if a public utility
asserts that its circumstances warrant a continued waiver of the
regulations, the public utility may file a request for a waiver wherein
public utility can detail the circumstances that it believes warrant a
waiver.\94\ In its request for continued waiver, the public utility
must include the date, Docket No. and explanation for why the waiver
was initially granted by the Commission. The Commission will decide on
any such waiver request on a case-by-case basis, and absent a
Commission-approved waiver, compliance with the standards is required
by all public utilities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\94\ Order No. 676-E, 129 FERC ] 61,162 at P 107.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Implementation
i. Comments
64. Bonneville recommends the Commission set the implementation
timeline to account for implementation of both the Version 003.1 and
003.2 Standards and suggests a timeline of 12 to 15 months to implement
changes to OASIS Templates and 24 to 30 months
[[Page 10581]]
to implement the WEQ Version 003.1 and 003.2 Standards.\95\ MISO
requests that the time allotted for OASIS to support the Version 2.2
OASIS Templates be modified to 12 months, and that the time for
Transmission Providers to implement all changes be modified to 24
months.\96\ NV Energy recommends that the Commission allow a total time
of 24 months for all the steps required for implementation of Version
003.1 and Version 003.2.\97\ SPP states that the Commission should
allow six additional months to implement the changes proposed in
Version 003.2 to the 12 months to implement Version 003.1 for a total
of 18 months.\98\ EEI notes that the Commission proposes to adopt NAESB
standards implementing a one-day posting of ATC narratives explaining
changes in monthly or yearly ATC values on a constrained path as a
result of a 10-percent change in total transfer capability. EEI argues
that in order to provide adequate time for software developers to
develop the automation needed to meet the one-day deadline, the
Commission should provide at least one year from the effective date of
the standard to make these necessary changes.\99\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\95\ Bonneville WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 4.
\96\ MISO WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
\97\ NV Energy WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 2. (NV Energy
argues that the Commission should provide ``sufficient time for the
complete implementation of the changes and new functionalities
required by taking into consideration the need for building the
functionalities, testing by vendors, testing by transmission
providers, training in-house and training of the industry for
implementation.'').
\98\ SPP WEQ Version 003.2 Comments at 3.
\99\ EEI WEQ Version 003.1 Comments at 15.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
ii. Commission Determination
65. Public utilities must make a compliance filing to comply with
the requirements of this final rule through eTariff no later than 90
days from the date the final rule is published in the Federal Register,
using an indeterminant effective date (12/31/9998) for the tariff
records. The Commission will establish an effective date for the
proposed tariff changes in the order(s) on compliance filings. To give
parties sufficient time to make computer and other modifications
required by this final rule, the Commission will set an effective date
no earlier than five months from the date the final rule is published
in the Federal Register. A few commenters requested additional time to
make compliance filings. EEI points to the need to develop software to
implement the revisions to ATC; but as discussed earlier, the ATC
standards will be addressed in a separate proceeding. Other comments
request additional time to implement both Versions 003.1 and 003.2.
This final rule adopts only Version 003.2, except for WEQ-006 Manual
Time Error Correction, and does not require combined implementation.
Other than these rationales, the comments do not provide specific
justification for their longer than usual implementation timelines, so
we find no reason to extend the normal implementation schedule.
66. Those utilities that revised their tariff after Order No. 676-H
to incorporate the complete set of NAESB standards without modification
need to implement the standards incorporated by reference in this final
rule no later than five months from the date the final rule is
published in the Federal Register. For public utilities that do not
incorporate the NAESB standards without modification in their tariffs,
and consistent with Order No. 587-Y and the Commission's requirement
for natural gas pipelines to provide information on the NAESB WGQ
Standards incorporated by reference, we are adopting a requirement in
this final rule for public utilities to include a single tariff sheet
in which they list every NAESB standard currently incorporated by
reference by the Commission.\100\ This section should be a separate
tariff record under the Commission's electronic tariff filing
requirement and should be filed electronically using the eTariff portal
using the Type of Filing Code 580. The public utility must specify in
the tariff record a list of all the NAESB standards currently
incorporated by reference by the Commission: (a) Whether the standard
is incorporated by reference; (b) for those standards not incorporated
by reference, the tariff provision that complies with the standard; and
(c) a statement identifying any standards for which the public utility
has been granted a waiver, extension of time, or other variance with
respect to compliance with the standard.
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\100\ See Standards for Business Practices of Interstate Natural
Gas Pipelines, 165 FERC ] 61,109 at P 25 (2018) (Order 587-Y).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
67. Moreover, utilities that now wish to comply by incorporating
the complete set of NAESB standards into their tariffs without
modification may do so by making a filing with the Commission to
include the following language in their tariffs: ``The current versions
of the NAESB WEQ Business Practice Standards incorporated by reference
into the Commission's regulations as specified in Part 38 of the
Commission's regulations (18 CFR part 38) are incorporated by reference
into this tariff.''
III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards
68. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119 (section 11)
(Feb. 10, 1998) provides that when a federal agency issues or revises a
regulation containing a standard, the agency should publish a statement
in the final rule stating whether the adopted standard is a voluntary
consensus standard or a government-unique standard. In this final rule,
the Commission is incorporating by reference voluntary consensus
standards developed by the NAESB's WEQ.
IV. Incorporation by Reference
69. The Office of the Federal Register requires agencies
incorporating material by reference in final rules to discuss, in the
preamble of the final rule, the ways that the materials it incorporates
by reference are reasonably available to interested parties and how
interested parties can obtain the materials.\101\ The regulations also
require agencies to summarize, in the preamble of the final rule, the
material it incorporates by reference. The standards we incorporate by
reference in this final rule can be summarized as follows:
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\101\ 1 CFR 51.5 (2019). See Incorporation by Reference, 79 FR
66267 (Nov. 7, 2014).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
70. 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. We are incorporating by
reference WEQ Version 003.2 of the WEQ-000 Abbreviations, Acronyms, and
Definition of Terms and incorporating by reference certain definitions
from WEQ Version 003.1 related to the WEQ-006 Manual Time Error
Correction Business Practice Standards. The definitions from WEQ
Version 003.1 are: Interconnection Time Monitor, Time Error, and Time
Error Correction.
71. 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
[[Page 10582]]
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.
72. 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.
73. The WEQ-003 OASIS Data Dictionary Business Practice Standards
define the data element specifications for OASIS.
74. 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).
75. The WEQ-005 Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases
Business Practice Standards define commercial based 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.
76. The WEQ-006 Manual Time Error Correction Business Practice
Standards define the commercial based procedures to be used for
reducing time error to within acceptable limits of true time. These
standards have subsequently been marked reserved by NAESB.
77. 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 in-kind payback, or other methods as agreed to.
78. The WEQ-008 Transmission Loading Relief--Eastern
Interconnection Business Practice Standards define the business
practices for cutting transmission service during a 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.
79. 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.
80. 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 through the use
of 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.
81. The WEQ-013 OASIS Implementation Guide Business Practice
Standards detail the implementation of the OASIS Business Practice
Standards. The standards detail requirements related to point-to-point
OASIS transaction processing, OASIS template implementation, preemption
and right-of-first-refusal processing, NITS application and
modification of service processing, and secondary network transmission
service.
82. 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.
83. 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.
84. 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.
85. The WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice Standards specify the
requirements for incorporating postbacks in the ATC posted on OASIS and
the treatment of grandfathered agreements in the calculation of ATCs
and AFCs. In the event of a conflict between these Business Practice
Standards and the Transmission Service Provider's tariff or FERC
approved seams agreement(s), the tariff or FERC approved seams
agreement(s) shall have precedence.
[[Page 10583]]
86. In addition, NAESB has adopted an additional nine suites of
standards that, consistent with our past decisions, we are not
incorporating by reference.\102\ Additionally, as mentioned above, we
are addressing the WEQ-023 ATC Modeling Standards, with the exception
of the sections listed herein, in a separate rulemaking proceeding.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\102\ The suites of NAESB business practice standards we are not
incorporating by reference in this final rule are: (1) The WEQ-009
Standards of Conduct for Electric Transmission Providers, which
NASESB has now eliminated as they duplicate the Commission's
regulations; (2) the WEQ-010 Contracts Related Business Practice
Standards that establish model contracts for the wholesale electric
industry, and which the Commission has not incorporated as they are
not mandatory; (3) the WEQ-014 WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Business
Practice Standards, which provide an implementation guide describing
the various mechanisms, data tables, code values/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; (4) the WEQ-023 Modeling Business Practice
Standards, with enumerated exceptions, which the Commission is
addressing in a separate rulemaking; and (5) the WEQ-016, WEQ-017,
WEQ-018, WEQ-019, and WEQ-020 Business Practice Standards that were
developed as part of the Smart Grid implementation and which the
Commission adopted as non-mandatory guidance in 18 CFR 2.27 (2019).
See Order No. 676-H, 148 FERC ] 61,205.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
87. Our regulations provide that copies of the standards
incorporated by reference may be obtained from NAESB, whose offices are
located at 801 Travis Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002, Phone:
(713) 356-0060. NAESB's website can be accessed at https://www.naesb.org. Copies of the standards may be inspected at the Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference and Files Maintenance
Branch, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, Phone: (202) 502-
8371, https://www.ferc.gov.\103\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\103\ 18 CFR 284.12 (2019).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
88. NAESB is a private, consensus standards developer that develops
voluntary wholesale and retail standards related to the energy
industry. The procedures utilized by NAESB make its standards
reasonably available to those affected by the Commission's
regulations.\104\ Participants can join NAESB, for an annual membership
cost of $7,500, which entitles them to full participation in NAESB and
enables them to obtain these standards at no additional cost.\105\ Non-
members may obtain the Individual Standards Manual or Booklet for $250
per manual or booklet.\106\ Non-members also may obtain the complete
set of Business Practice Standards on USB flash drive for $2,000. NAESB
also provides a free electronic read-only version of the standards for
a three-business day period or, in the case of a regulatory comment
period, through the end of the comment period.\107\ In addition, NAESB
considers requests for waivers of the charges on a case-by-case basis
based on need.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\104\ As a private, consensus standards developer, NAESB needs
the funds obtained from its membership fees and sales of its
Individual Standards Manual or Booklet to finance the organization.
The parties affected by these Commission regulations generally are
highly sophisticated and have the means to acquire the information
they need to effectively participate in Commission proceedings.
\105\ NAESB Membership Application, https://www.naesb.org/pdf4/naesbapp.pdf.
\106\ NAESB Materials Order Form, https://www.naesb.org//pdf/ordrform.pdf.
\107\ Procedures for non-members to evaluate work products
before purchasing are available at https://www.naesb.org/misc/NAESB_Nonmember_Evaluation.pdf.
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V. Information Collection Statement
89. The Paperwork Reduction Act (PRA) \108\ requires each federal
agency to seek and obtain the Office of Management and Budget's (OMB)
approval before undertaking a collection of information (including
reporting, record keeping, and public disclosure requirements) directed
to ten or more persons or contained in a rule of general applicability.
OMB regulations require approval of certain information collection
requirements imposed by rules (including deletion, revision, or
implementation of new requirements).\109\ Upon approval of a collection
of information, OMB will assign an OMB control number and an expiration
date. Respondents subject to the filing requirements of a rule will not
be penalized for failing to respond to the collection of information
unless the collection of information displays a valid OMB control
number.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\108\ 44 U.S.C. 3501-21.
\109\ 5 CFR part 1320.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
90. The Commission solicits comments from the public on the
Commission's need for this information, whether the information will
have practical utility, the accuracy of the burden estimates, ways to
enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collected
or retained, and any suggested methods for minimizing respondents'
burden, including the use of automated information techniques.
Specifically, the Commission asks that any revised burden or cost
estimates submitted by commenters be supported by sufficient detail to
understand how the estimates are generated.
91. Comments concerning the information collections modified in
this final rule and the associated burden estimates should be sent to
the Commission in this docket and may also be sent 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
FERC-516E (OMB Control No. 1902-0290) and FERC-717 (OMB Control No.
1902-0173).
92. This final rule will affect the following existing data
collections: Standards for Business Practices and Communication
Protocols for Public Utilities (FERC-717) and Electric Rate Schedule
Filings and Tariff Filings (FERC-516E).\110\ Estimates of the PRA-
related burden and cost \111\ follow.
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\110\ The reporting and recordkeeping requirements would
normally be covered by FERC-516 (OMB Control No. 1902-0096) and
FERC-717. However, another request for an unrelated final rule is
pending OMB review under FERC-516, and only one item per OMB Control
Number may be pending OMB review at a time. In order to be submitted
timely, the PRA requests for this final rule will be submitted to
OMB in FERC-516E (a temporary placeholder collection number, as was
done for Docket Nos. RM05-5-025 and RM05-5-027), and FERC-717.
\111\ The Commission staff estimates that industry is similarly
situated in terms of hourly cost (for wages plus benefits). Based on
the Commission's Fiscal Year (FY) 2019 average cost of $167,091/year
(for wages plus benefits, for one full-time employee), $80.00/hour
is used.
\112\ This includes any burden associated with waiver requests.
Modifications due to the final rule in Docket Nos. RM05-5-025, RM05-5-026, and RM05-5-027
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annual number
Number of of responses Total number Average burden (hrs.) & cost ($) Total annual burden hrs. & total
respondents per of responses per response annual cost ($)
respondent
(1) (2) (1) * (2) = (4).............................. (3) * (4) = (5)
(3)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERC-516E (one-time tariff filing) 165 1 165 6 hrs.; $480..................... 990 hrs.; $79,200
\112\.
[[Page 10584]]
FERC-717 (compliance with 165 1 165 30 hrs.; \114\ $2,400............ 4,950 hrs.; $396,000
standards) \113\.
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Total.......................... .............. .............. 330 ................................. 5,940 hrs.; $475,200
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93. The Commission sought comments on the burden of complying with
the requirements imposed by these requirements. No comments were filed
addressing the reporting burden. While a number of utilities have
reduced their actual filing burden by revising their tariffs as
suggested in Order No. 676-H (and explained again in paragraph 66 of
this final rule), we have not reduced the burden estimate to reflect
this. Thus, our burden estimate is conservative in the regard.
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\112\ This includes any burden associated with waiver requests.
\113\ FERC-717 corresponds to OMB Control No. 1902-0173 that
identifies the information collection associated with Standards for
Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities.
\114\ The 30-hour estimate was developed in Docket No. RM05-5-
013, when the Commission prepared its estimate of the scope of work
involved in transitioning to the NAESB Version 002.1 Business
Practice Standards. See Order No. 676-E, 129 FERC ] 61,162 at P 134.
We have retained the same estimate here, because the scope of the
tasks involved in the transition to Version 003.2 of the Business
Practice Standards is very similar to that for the transition to the
Version 003 Standards.
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94. The Commission's regulations adopted in this rule are necessary
to establish a more efficient and integrated wholesale electric power
grid. Requiring such information ensures both a common means of
communication and common business practices that provide entities
engaged in the wholesale transmission of electric power with timely
information and uniform business procedures across multiple
Transmission Providers. These requirements conform to the Commission's
goal for efficient information collection, communication, and
management within the electric power industry. The Commission has
assured itself, by means of its internal review, that there is
specific, objective support for the burden estimates associated with
the information requirements.
Title: Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols
for Public Utilities (FERC-717); \115\ and Electric Rate Schedules and
Tariff Filings (FERC-516E).
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\115\ FERC-717 was formerly known as Open Access Same-Time
Information System and Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols.
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Action: Final rule.
OMB Control No.: 1902-0290 (FERC-516E); 1902-0173 (FERC-717).
Respondents: Business or other for profit, (Public Utilities--Not
applicable to small businesses).
Frequency of Responses: One-time.
Necessity of the Information: This rule will upgrade the
Commission's current business practice and communication standards.
Specifically, these standards will provide common nomenclature for
terms within the wholesale electric industry; define the general and
specific transaction processing requirements and related business
processes required for OASIS; define the commercial processes necessary
to facilitate interchange transactions via RFI; define the business
practices for cutting transmission service during a TLR event; assist
with supporting the short-term pre-emption process and the merger of
like transmission services; establish the cybersecurity framework for
parties partaking in transactions via a transmission provider's OASIS
or e-Tagging system; detail requirements related to point-to-point
OASIS transaction processing; define a common framework for
transparency, consistency, and accountability applicable to the
measurement and verification of wholesale electric market demand
response practices; ensure several suites of standards are consistent
with or accurately reflect modifications to the NERC Reliability
Standards, including dynamic tagging, pseudo-times, the full transfer
of the Electric Industry Registry and additional changes to support
market operator functionalities. These practices will ensure that
potential customers of open access transmission service receive access
to information that will enable them to obtain transmission service on
a non-discriminatory basis and will assist the Commission in
maintaining a safe and reliable infrastructure and also will assure the
reliability of the interstate transmission grid. The implementation of
these standards and regulations is necessary to increase the efficiency
of the wholesale electric power grid. This final rule also updates the
reference to NAESB's Smart Grid Standards that the Commission has
listed informationally as non-mandatory guidance in Part 2 of the
Commission's regulations.
95. The information collection requirements of this final rule are
based on the transition from transactions being made under the
Commission's existing business practice standards to conducting such
transactions under the standards incorporated by reference in this
final rule and to account for the burden associated with the new
standard(s) being incorporated by reference here (e.g., WEQ-000).
96. Internal Review: The Commission has reviewed the revised
business practice standards and has determined that the revisions
adopted in this final rule are necessary to maintain consistency
between the business practice standards and reliability standards on
this subject. The Commission has assured itself, by means of its
internal review, that there is specific, objective support for the
burden estimate associated with the information requirements.
97. Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting
requirements by contacting the following: Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, [Attn: Ellen
Brown, Office of the Executive Director, email: [email protected],
phone: (202) 502-8663, fax: (202) 273-0873.
VI. Environmental Analysis
98. 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.\116\ The
Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these
requirements as not having a
[[Page 10585]]
significant effect on the human environment.\117\ The actions adopted
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 natural gas and electric power that
requires no construction of facilities. Therefore, an environmental
assessment is unnecessary and has not been prepared in this final rule.
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\116\ Order No. 486, Regulations Implementing the National
Environmental Policy Act, 52 FR 47897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. &
Regs. Preambles 1986-1990 ] 30,783 (1987).
\117\ 18 CFR 380.4.
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VII. Regulatory Flexibility Act
99. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) \118\ generally
requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities.
As shown in the information collection section, this final rule applies
to 165 entities. More specifically, this final rule imposes the latest
version (Version 003.2) of the Standards for Business Practices and
Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the WEQ and the
associated financial burden upon these entities. Comparison of the
applicable entities with the Commission's small business data indicates
that approximately 26 are small entities \119\ or 15.8 percent of the
respondents affected by this final rule.
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\118\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
\119\ The Small Business Administration sets the threshold for
what constitutes a small business. Public utilities may fall under
one of several different categories, each with a size threshold
based on the company's number of employees, including affiliates,
the parent company, and subsidiaries. For the analysis in this final
rule, we are using a 500 employee threshold for each affected
entity. Each entity is classified as Electric Bulk Power
Transmission and Control (NAICS code 221121).
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100. The Commission estimates that each of the entities (small and
large) to whom the final rule applies will incur one-time paperwork
costs of $2,880.\120\ The Commission does not consider the estimated
cost to be a significant economic impact on a substantial number of
small entities. Accordingly, the Commission certifies that this final
rule will not have a significant economic impact on a substantial
number of small entities.
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\120\ $475,200 (total one-time paperwork cost) / 165 (number of
entities) = $2,880/entity.
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VIII. Document Availability
101. 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 FERC's Home Page (https://www.ferc.gov) and in FERC's
Public Reference Room during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Eastern time) at 888 First Street NE, Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426.
102. From FERC'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.
103. User assistance is available for eLibrary and the FERC's
website during normal business hours from FERC 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].
IX. Effective Date and Congressional Notification
104. These regulations are effective April 27, 2020. The Commission
has determined with the concurrence of the Administrator of the Office
of Information and Regulatory Affairs of OMB that this rule is not a
``major rule'' as defined in section 351 of the Small Business
Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act of 1996. The final rule will be
submitted to the Senate, House, and Government Accountability Office.
List of Subjects
18 CFR Part 2
Electric utilities, Guidance and policy statements.
18 CFR Part 38
Business practice standards, Electric utilities, Incorporation by
reference, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.
By the Commission.
Issued: February 4, 2020.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission amends parts 2
and 38, chapter I, title 18, Code of Federal Regulations, as follows:
PART 2--GENERAL POLICY AND INTERPRETATIONS
0
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.
0
2. Amend Sec. 2.27 by revising paragraphs (c) and (d) to read as
follows:
Sec. 2.27 Availability of North American Energy Standards Board
(NAESB) Smart Grid Standards as non-mandatory guidance.
* * * * *
(c) WEQ-018, Specifications for Wholesale Standard Demand Response
Signals (WEQ Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(d) WEQ-019, Customer Energy Usage Information Communication (WEQ
Version 003.1, Sep. 30, 2015); and
* * * * *
PART 38--STANDARDS FOR PUBLIC UTILITY BUSINESS OPERATIONS AND
COMMUNICATIONS
0
3. The authority citation for part 38 continues to read as follows:
Authority: 16 U.S.C. 791-825r, 2601-2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42
U.S.C. 7101-7352.
0
4. Revise Sec. 38.1 to read as follows:
Sec. 38.1 Incorporation by reference of North American Energy
Standards Board Wholesale Electric Quadrant standards.
(a) Any public utility that owns, operates, or controls facilities
used for the transmission of electric energy in interstate commerce or
for the sale of electric energy at wholesale in interstate commerce and
any non-public utility that seeks voluntary compliance with
jurisdictional transmission tariff reciprocity conditions must comply
with the business practice and electronic communication standards
promulgated by the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB)
Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) that are incorporated by reference in
paragraph (b) of this section.
(b) The material cited in this paragraph (b) was approved by the
Director of the Federal Register for incorporated by reference in this
section in accordance with 5 U.S.C. 552(a) and 1 CFR part 51. Copies of
the material may be obtained from North American Energy Standards Board
(NAESB), 801 Travis Street, Suite 1675, Houston, TX 77002, Tel: (713)
356-0060. NAESB's website is at www.naesb.org/. The material may be
inspected at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Public Reference
and Files Maintenance Branch, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC
20426, Tel: (202) 02-8371, www.ferc.gov, or at the National Archives
and Records Administration (NARA). For information on the availability
of this material at NARA, email [email protected], or go to:
www.archives.gov/federal-register/cfr/ibr-locations.html. The NAESB WEQ
[[Page 10586]]
Business Practice Standards; Standards and Models approved for
incorporation by reference are:
(1) WEQ-000, Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms,
standard WEQ-000-2 ([WEQ] Version 003.1, September 30, 2015), including
only: the definitions of Interconnection Time Monitor, Time Error, and
Time Error Correction;
(2) WEQ-000, Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Definition of Terms,
([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017)(with minor correction applied July
23, 2019);
(3) WEQ-001, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS),
[OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017), excluding:
standards WEQ-001-9 preamble text, WEQ-001-10 preamble text;
(4) WEQ-002, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS)
Business Practice Standards and Communication Protocols (S&CP), [OASIS]
Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(5) WEQ-003, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Data
Dictionary, [OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017)
(with minor corrections applied July 23, 2019);
(6) WEQ-004, Coordinate Interchange ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017);
(7) WEQ-005, Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases ([WEQ]
Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(8) WEQ-006, Manual Time Error Correction ([WEQ] Version 003.1,
Sept. 30, 2015);
(9) WEQ-007, Inadvertent Interchange Payback ([WEQ] Version 003.2,
Dec. 8, 2017);
(10) WEQ-008, Transmission Loading Relief (TLR)--Eastern
Interconnection ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(11) WEQ-011, Gas/Electric Coordination ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec.
8, 2017);
(12) WEQ-012, Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) ([WEQ] Version 003.2,
Dec. 8, 2017);
(13) WEQ-013, Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS)
Implementation Guide, [OASIS] Version 2.2 ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8,
2017);
(14) WEQ-015, Measurement and Verification of Wholesale Electricity
Demand Response ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017);
(15) WEQ-021, Measurement and Verification of Energy Efficiency
Products ([WEQ] Version 003.2,Dec. 8, 2017);
(16) WEQ-022, Electric Industry Registry ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec.
8, 2017); and
(17) WEQ-023, Modeling ([WEQ] Version 003.2, Dec. 8, 2017),
including only: standards WEQ-023-5; WEQ-023-5.1; WEQ-023-5.1.1; WEQ-
023-5.1.2; WEQ-023-5.1.2.1; WEQ-023-5.1.2.2; WEQ-023-5.1.2.3; WEQ-023-
5.1.3; WEQ-023-5.2; WEQ-023-6; WEQ-023-6.1; WEQ-023-6.1.1; WEQ-023-
6.1.2; and WEQ-023-A Appendix A.
Appendix
Note: The Following Appendix Will Not Be Published in the Code
of Federal Regulations.
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ Version 003.1 NOPR in Docket
No. RM05-5-025, and the Abbreviations Used To Identify Them
Bonneville Power Administration (9/26/16) (Bonneville)
California Independent System Operator Corporation (9/
26/16) (CAISO)
Edison Electric Institute (9/26/16) (EEI)
Idaho Power Company (9/23/16) (Idaho Power)
Open Access Technology International (9/27/16) (OATI)
Public Utility District No. 1 of Snohomish County,
Washington and the City of Tacoma, Department of Public Utilities,
Light Division (collectively, Snohomish/Tacoma) (9/26/16)
Southern Company Services, Inc. (9/26/16) (Southern)
Southwest Power Pool, Inc. and Midwest Independent
System Operator, Inc. (9/26/16) (collectively, Joint Commenters)
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ Version 003.2 NOPR in Docket
No. RM05-5-027, and the Abbreviations Used To Identify Them
Bonneville Power Administration (7/23/2019)
(Bonneville)
Midcontinent Independent System Operator, Inc. (7/23/
2019) (MISO)
North American Energy Standards Board (6/5/2019)
(NAESB)
Nevada Power Company and Sierra Pacific Power Company
(7/23/2019) (NV Energy)
Open Access Technology International, Inc. (7/22/2019)
(OATI)
PJM Interconnection, L.L.C. (7/23/2019) (PJM)
Southern Company Services, Inc. (7/23/2019) (Southern)
Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (7/23/2019) (SPP)
List of Entities Filing Comments on WEQ Time Error Correction NOPR in
Docket No. RM05-5-026, and the Abbreviations Used To Identify Them
Dr. Jonathan E. Hardis (11/13/18)
Dr. Demetrios Matsakis (11/13/18)
North American Electric Reliability Corporation (10/24/
2018) (NERC)
North American Energy Standards Board (11/28/2018)
(NAESB)
Southwest Power Pool, Inc. (11/13/18) (SPP)
[FR Doc. 2020-03244 Filed 2-24-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6717-01-P
