Department of Energy 2011 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

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.

As required by the Privacy Act of 1974, 5 U.S.C. 552a, and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circular A-130, the Department of Energy (DOE) is publishing notice of a proposed amendment to an existing system of records. DOE proposes to amend the system of records DOE-43 ``Personnel Security Files.'' This notice will create a new routine use to permit the disclosure of certain information to federal agencies for studies and analyses in support of evaluating and improving the effectiveness and efficiency of the agencies' investigative and adjudicative methodologies.

In compliance with the requirements of section 3507 of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information collections described below to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collections requirements. Any interested person may file comments directly with OMB and should address a copy of those comments to the Commission as explained below. The Commission issued a Notice in the Federal Register (76 FR 46781, 10/3/2011) requesting public comments. FERC received one comment on the FERC-1 and the FERC-1F and has provided a response in this notice as well as in its submission to OMB.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to revise its regulations to require each regional transmission organization (RTO) and independent system operator (ISO) to electronically deliver to the Commission, on an ongoing basis, data related to the markets that it administers. Ongoing electronic delivery of data relating to physical and virtual offers and bids, market awards, resource outputs, marginal cost estimates, shift factors, financial transmission rights, internal bilateral contracts, and interchange pricing will facilitate the Commission's development and evaluation of its policies and regulations and will enhance Commission efforts to detect anti-competitive or manipulative behavior, or ineffective market rules, thereby helping to ensure just and reasonable rates.

Transmission Planning (TPL) Reliability Standards are intended to ensure that the transmission system is planned and designed to meet an appropriate and specific set of reliability criteria. Reliability Standard TPL-002-0a references a table which identifies different categories of contingencies and allowable system impacts in the planning process. The table includes a footnote regarding planned or controlled interruption of electric supply where a single contingency occurs on a transmission system. North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), the Commission-certified Electric Reliability Organization, requests approval of a revision to the footnote. In this notice, the Commission proposes to remand NERC's proposed revision to the footnote.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Savannah River Site. The Federal Advisory Committee Act (Pub. L. 92-463, 86 Stat. 770) requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

On September 14, 2011, DOE published a notice of public meeting and availability of the framework document on general service fluorescent lamps and incandescent reflector lamps energy conservation standards in the Federal Register. This notice announces that the period for submitting comments on the framework document is extended to November 28, 2011.