FERC 30-day notice, issued 8/29/2014

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION

[Docket No. RD14-7-000]

COMMISSION INFORMATION COLLECTION ACTIVITIES (FERC-725Y); COMMENT REQUEST

(August 29, 2014)

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Comment request.

SUMMARY: In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(a)(1)(D), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is submitting the information collection FERC-725Y,Mandatory Reliability Standard PER–005–2 (Operations Personnel Training) , to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for review of the information collection 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 solicited comments on the information collection associated with PER-005-2 in an order published in the Federal Register (79 FR 36305, 6/26/2014). FERC received no comments on the information collection and is making this notation in its submission to OMB.

DATES: Comments on the collection of information are due by [insert date that is 30 days after publication of this Notice in the Federal Register].

ADDRESSES: Comments filed with OMB, identified by collection FERC-725Y, should be sent via email to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: oira_submission@omb.gov, Attention: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Desk Officer. The Desk Officer may also be reached via telephone at 202-395-4718.

A copy of the comments should also be sent to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, identified by the Docket No. RD14-7-000, by either of the following methods:

• eFiling at Commission’s Web Site: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/efiling.asp.

• Mail/Hand Delivery/Courier: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street, NE, Washington, DC 20426.

Instructions: All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: http://www.ferc.gov/help/submission-guide.asp. For user assistance contact FERC Online Support by e-mail at ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov, or by phone at: (866) 208-3676 (toll-free), or (202) 502-8659 for TTY.

Docket: Users interested in receiving automatic notification of activity in this docket or in viewing/downloading comments and issuances in this docket may do so at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/docs-filing.asp.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail at DataClearance@FERC.gov, by telephone at (202) 502-8663, and by fax at (202) 273-0873.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:

Title: FERC-725Y,¹ Mandatory Reliability Standard PER–005–2 (Operations Personnel Training).

OMB Control No.: To Be Determined.

Type of Request: Three-year approval of the FERC-725Y information collection requirements.

Abstract: Reliability Standard PER-005-2 (Operations Personnel Training Standard) implements the Congressional mandate of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 to develop mandatory and enforceable Reliability Standards to better ensure the reliability of the nation’s Bulk-Power System. Specifically, the purpose of PER-005-2² is to ensure that personnel performing or supporting real-time operations on the Bulk Electric System (BES) are trained using a systematic approach. The Reliability Standard requires entities to maintain records subject to review by the Commission and NERC to ensure compliance with the Reliability Standard.

PER-005-2 contains six Requirements:

• R1 requiring reliability coordinators, balancing authorities, and transmission operators to develop and implement a training program for system operators

• R2 requiring transmission owners to develop and implement a training program for system operators

• R3 requiring reliability coordinators, balancing authorities, transmission operators and transmission owners to verify the capabilities of their identified personnel

• R4 requiring reliability coordinators, balancing authorities, transmission operators and transmission owners to provide those personnel with emergency operations training using simulation technology

• R5 requiring reliability coordinators, balancing authorities, and transmission operators to develop and implement training for their operations support personnel

• R6 requiring applicable generator operators to develop and implement training for certain of their dispatch personnel at a centrally located dispatch center.

Type of Respondents: Reliability coordinators, balancing authorities, transmission operators, transmission owners, and generator owners.

Estimate of Annual Burden³: Our estimate below regarding the number of respondents is based on the NERC compliance registry as of April 30, 2014. According to the NERC compliance registry, NERC has registered 15 reliability coordinators, 107 balancing authorities, 182 transmission operators, 337 transmission owners and 848 generator operators. However, under NERC’s compliance registration program, entities may be registered for multiple functions, so these numbers incorporate some double counting. The number of unique entities responding will be approximately 387 entities registered as a reliability coordinator, balancing authority, transmission operator, transmission owner, or generator operator.

The Commission estimates the additional annual reporting burden and cost as follows:

FERC-725Y, as implemented in Docket No. RD14-7
	Number and Type of Respondents4 (1)	Annual Number of Responses per Respondent (2)	Total Number of Responses	Avg. Burden & Cost Per Response5 (3)	Total Annual Burden Hours & Total Annual Cost (1)x(2)x(3)	Cost per Respondent
(One-time) Development of a training program and materials, and task list [R2]	TO (337)6	1	337	15 hrs. & $59.62/hour	5,055 hours & $301,379.10	$894.30
(One-time) Development of a training program [R5]	RC, BA, TOP (216)	1	216	15 hrs. & $59.62/hour	3,240 hours & $193,168.80	$894.30
(One-time) Development of a training program [R6]	GOP (848)	1	848	15 hrs. & $59.62/hour	12,720 hours & $758,366.40	$894.30
(Ongoing) Annual Evaluation and update of training program and task list [R2 and R6]	TO (337), GOP (848)	1	1,0507	6 hrs. & $59.62/hour	6,300 hours & $375,606	$357.72
(Ongoing) Retention of records [M2, M6, and C.1.3]	TO (337), GOP (848)	1	1,050	10 hrs. & $28.95/hour	10,500 hrs. & $303,975	$289.50
(Ongoing) Verification and retention of evidence of capabilities of personnel [R3, M3, C1.3], and creation and retention of records on simulation training [R4 and M4]	TO (337)	1	337	10 hrs. & $28.95/hour	3,370 hrs. & $97,561.50	$289.50

Comments: Comments are invited on: (1) whether the collection of information is necessary for the proper performance of the functions of the Commission, including whether the information will have practical utility; (2) the accuracy of the agency's estimate of the burden and cost of the collection of information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance the quality, utility and clarity of the information collection; and (4) ways to minimize the burden of the collection of information on those who are to respond, including the use of automated collection techniques or other forms of information technology.

Kimberly D. Bose,

Secretary.

1 In the Order issued 6/19/2014, the proposed information collection was included in FERC-725A (Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System) under OMB Control No. 1902-0244. In this notice and the related Paperwork Reduction Act package to be submitted to the Office of Management and Budget for review and approval, the information collection will be included in a new FERC-725Y (rather than FERC-725A).

2 Reliability Standard PER-005-2 expands the scope of the current Reliability Standard in order to address the Commission’s directives in Order Nos. 693 and 742.

3 Burden is defined as the total time, effort, or financial resources expended by persons to generate, maintain, retain, or disclose or provide information to or for a Federal agency. For further explanation of what is included in the information collection burden, reference 5 Code of Federal Regulations 1320.3.

4 TO=Transmission Owner; RC=Reliability Coordinator; BA=Balancing Authority; TOP=Transmission Operator; GOP=Generator Operator.

5 The estimated hourly costs (salary plus benefits) are based on Bureau of Labor and Statistics (BLS) information (available at http://bls.gov/oes/current/naics3_221000.htm#17-0000) for an electrical engineer ($59.62/hour for review and documentation), and for a file clerk ($28.95/hour for record retention).

6 Not all transmission owners are expected to have personnel who will be subject to the revised personnel training requirements, but this estimate conservatively includes all registered TOs. The same approach is taken with respect to generator operators.

7 Some transmission owners are also generator operators. To eliminate double counting some entities, this figure reflects the number of unique entities (1,050) within the group of TOs and GOPs. That approach is used throughout the table.