Department of Energy 2018 – Federal Register Recent Federal Regulation Documents

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is proposing to require all public utility transmission providers with transmission rates under an Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT), a transmission owner tariff, or a rate schedule to revise those rates to account for changes caused by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 (Tax Cuts and Jobs Act). Specifically, for transmission formula rates, the Commission is proposing to require that public utilities deduct excess accumulated deferred income taxes (ADIT) from or add deficient ADIT to their rate bases and adjust their income tax allowances by amortized excess or deficient ADIT. The Commission is also proposing to require all public utilities with transmission formula rates to incorporate a new permanent worksheet into their transmission formula rates that will annually track ADIT information. Additionally, the Commission is proposing to require all public utilities with transmission stated rates to determine the amount of excess and deferred income tax caused by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act's reduction to the federal corporate income tax rate and return or recover this amount to or from customers.

The Office of Fossil Energy (FE) of the Department of Energy gives notice that during September 2018, it issued orders granting authority to import and export natural gas, to import and export liquefied natural gas (LNG), to amend authority, and vacating prior authorization. These orders are summarized in the attached appendix and may be found on the FE website at https://www.energy.gov/fe/listing- doefe-authorizationsorders-issued-2018-0. They are also available for inspection and copying in the U.S. Department of Energy (FE-34), Division of Natural Gas Regulation, Office of Regulation, Analysis, and Engagement, Office of Fossil Energy, Docket Room 3E-033, Forrestal Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-9478. The Docket Room is open between the hours of 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m., Monday through Friday, except Federal holidays.

This notice announces a meeting of the Advanced Scientific Computing Advisory Committee (ASCAC). The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of these meetings be announced in the Federal Register.

The Department of Energy (DOE) has prepared and is making available its portion of the semiannual Unified Agenda of Federal Regulatory and Deregulatory Actions (Agenda), including its Regulatory Plan (Plan), pursuant to Executive Order 12866, ``Regulatory Planning and Review,'' and the Regulatory Flexibility Act.

This notice announces a meeting of the Environmental Management Site-Specific Advisory Board (EM SSAB), Hanford. The Federal Advisory Committee Act requires that public notice of this meeting be announced in the Federal Register.

On October 12, 2018, the Department of Energy (DOE) received a petition from the Air-Conditioning, Heating, and Refrigeration Institute (AHRI) asking DOE to initiate notice-and-comment rulemaking to develop a new, unified test procedure for residential furnaces which would replace the three currently required performance metrics (i.e., annual fuel utilization efficiency (AFUE), fan efficiency ratio (FER), and standby mode/off mode energy consumption (PW,SB and PW,OFF)) with a single new metric (AFUE2). As the petition acknowledges, a combined metric would necessitate a translation of the existing energy conservation standards applicable to residential furnaces using an appropriate crosswalk. Through this announcement, DOE seeks comment on the petition, as well as any data or information that could be used in DOE's determination whether to proceed with the petition.