Department of Energy October 31, 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) published a direct final rule to establish amended energy conservation standards for residential furnaces and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps in the Federal Register on June 27, 2011. DOE has determined that the adverse comments received in response to the direct final rule do not provide a reasonable basis for withdrawing the direct final rule. Therefore, DOE provides this notice confirming adoption of the energy conservation standards for residential furnaces and residential central air conditioners and heat pumps established in the direct final rule and announcing the effective date of those standards.

In compliance with the requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) (2006), (Pub. L. No. 104-13), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the proposed information collection described below.

This notice announces the cancellation of the November 1, 2011, meeting of the Secretary of Energy Advisory Board (SEAB) Natural Gas Subcommittee. The public meeting was scheduled to be held at the U.S. Department of Energy, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585. The Federal Register notice announcing this meeting was published on Thursday, October 13, 2011, (76 FR 63613). Please note, the October 31, 2011, meeting will continue as scheduled. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting cancellation be announced in the Federal Register.

Pursuant to section 206 of the Federal Power Act, the Commission is revising its regulations to remedy undue discrimination in the procurement of frequency regulation in the organized wholesale electric markets and ensure that providers of frequency regulation receive just and reasonable and not unduly discriminatory or preferential rates. Frequency regulation service is one of the tools regional transmission organizations (RTOs) and independent system operators (ISOs) use to balance supply and demand on the transmission system, maintaining reliable operations. In doing so, RTOs and ISOs deploy a variety of resources to meet frequency regulation needs; these resources differ in both their ramping ability, which is their ability to increase or decrease their provision of frequency regulation service, and the accuracy with which they can respond to the system operator's dispatch signal. The Commission finds that current frequency regulation compensation practices of RTOs and ISOs result in rates that are unjust, unreasonable, and unduly discriminatory or preferential. Specifically, current compensation methods for regulation service in RTO and ISO markets fail to acknowledge the inherently greater amount of frequency regulation service being provided by faster-ramping resources. In addition, certain practices of some RTOs and ISOs result in economically inefficient economic dispatch of frequency regulation resources. By remedying these issues, the Commission is removing unduly discriminatory and preferential practices from RTO and ISO tariffs and requiring the setting of just and reasonable rates. Specifically, this Final Rule requires RTOs and ISOs to compensate frequency regulation resources based on the actual service provided, including a capacity payment that includes the marginal unit's opportunity costs and a payment for performance that reflects the quantity of frequency regulation service provided by a resource when the resource is accurately following the dispatch signal.