Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G); Comment Request; Extension

<NOTICE> DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY <SUBAGY>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</SUBAGY> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. IC25-4-000]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Commission Information Collection Activities (FERC-725G); Comment Request; Extension</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, DOE. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Notice of information collection and request for comments. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> In compliance with the requirements of the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission or FERC) is soliciting public comment on the currently approved information collections, FERC 725G, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: Regional Reliability Standard PRC standards; FERC-725G1, Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: Reliability Standard PRC-004-6 (Protection System Misoperation Identification and Correction), FERC-725G4, Mandatory Reliability Standards: Reliability Standard PRC-010-2 (Under Voltage Load Shedding) and 725P1, PRC-005-6 (Protection System, Automatic Reclosing, and Sudden Pressure Relaying Maintenance). There are no changes made to the reporting requirements for this information collection. </SUM> <DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> Comments on the collection of information are due March 3, 2025. </DATES> <HD SOURCE="HED">ADDRESSES:</HD> You may submit copies of your comments (identified by Docket No. IC25-4-000) by one of the following methods: Electronic filing through <E T="03">https://www.ferc.gov,</E> is preferred. • <E T="03">Electronic Filing:</E> Documents must be filed in acceptable native applications and print-to-PDF, not in scanned or picture format. • For those unable to file electronically, comments may be filed by USPS mail or by other delivery methods: ○ <E T="03">Mail via U.S. Postal Service Only:</E> Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426. ○ <E T="03">All other delivery services:</E> Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the Secretary, 12225 Wilkins Avenue, Rockville, MD 20852. <E T="03">Instructions:</E> All submissions must be formatted and filed in accordance with submission guidelines at: <E T="03">https://www.ferc.gov.</E> For user assistance, contact FERC Online Support by email at <E T="03">ferconlinesupport@ferc.gov,</E> or by phone at (866) 208-3676 (toll-free). <E T="03">Docket:</E> 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 <E T="03">https://www.ferc.gov.</E> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> Kayla Williams may be reached by email at <E T="03">DataClearance@FERC.gov,</E> telephone at (202) 502-6468. </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> In this information collection request, the Commission is merging the FERC-725G1 (OMB Control No. 1902-0284), FERC-725G4 (OMB Control No. 1902-0282) and FERC-725P1 (OMB Control No. 1902-0280) into the FERC-725G (OMB Control No. 1902-0252). <HD SOURCE="HD1">FERC-725G1</HD> <E T="03">Title:</E> Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System: Reliability Standard PRC-004-6. <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  16 U.S.C.824 <E T="03">o.</E> <SU>2</SU>  As defined at 16 U.S.C. 824 <E T="03">o</E> (a)(1) and 18 CFR 39.1, the term “bulk-power system” means facilities and control systems necessary for operating an interconnected electric energy transmission network (or any portion thereof), and electric energy from generating facilities needed to maintain transmission system reliability. The term does not include facilities used in the local distribution of electric energy. <SU>3</SU>  16 U.S.C. 824 <E T="03">o</E> (e). </FTNT> <E T="03">OMB Control No.:</E> 1902-0284. <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>4</SU>  Using the November 20, 2024, NERC compliance registration information for entities that are Generator Owners, Transmission Owners, and Distribution Providers (in the US), the number of potential respondents is 1,861. However, not every entity will have a misoperation event during a year. Based on our previous experience with this information collection, we are estimating that approximately half of the 1,861 potential respondents annually will have a reportable misoperation, <E T="03">i.e.,</E> 930 (rounded) responses per year for FERC-725G1. </FTNT> <E T="03">Type of Request:</E> Three-year extension of the FERC-725G1 information collection requirements. <E T="03">Abstract:</E> The Commission collects information under FERC-725G1 in accordance with section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA)  <SU>1</SU> and 18 CFR parts 39 and 40. Section 215 of the FPA gives the Commission and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (as the Commission-approved Electric Reliability Organization) to establish and enforce reliability standards for all users, owners, and operators of the bulk-power system. <SU>2</SU> Once approved, the Reliability Standards may be enforced by the Electric Reliability Organization subject to Commission oversight, or by the Commission independently. <SU>3</SU> Reliability Standard PRC-004-6 requires transmission owners, generator owners, and distribution providers to identify and correct causes of mis-operations of certain protection systems for bulk-power system elements. It also requires retention of evidence of misoperations for a minimum of 12 calendar months. <E T="03">Types of Respondents:</E> Transmission Owners, Generator Owners, and Distribution Providers. <E T="03">Frequency of Response:</E> On occasion. <E T="03">Estimate of Annual Burden:</E> The Commission estimates 930 responses annually, and per-response burdens of 16 hours and $1,130.72. <SU>4</SU> The total estimated burdens per year are 930 responses, 14,880 hours, and $1,051,570 (rounded). These burdens are itemized in the following table: <GPOTABLE COLS="6" OPTS="L2(,0,),p7,7/7,i1" CDEF="s25,12,20,r40,r50,20"> <TTITLE>Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System—Reliability Standard PRC-004-6 (FERC-725G1) Annual Estimates of Respondents' Burdens</TTITLE> C. Total number of responses </CHED> <CHED H="1"> D. Average burden & cost per response  <SU>5</SU> </CHED> <CHED H="1"> E. Total annual burden hours & total annual cost </CHED> <CHED H="1"> F. Cost per respondent ($) </CHED> <ROW RUL="s"> <ENT I="25"> </ENT> <ENT O="xl"/> <ENT>(column A × column B)</ENT> <ENT>16 hrs.; $1,130.72</ENT> <ENT>14,880 hrs.; $1,051,570 (rounded)</ENT> <ENT>$1,130.72</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">FERC-725G4</HD> <E T="03">Title:</E> Mandatory Reliability Standards: Reliability Standard PRC-010-2 (Under Voltage Load Shedding). <E T="03">OMB Control No.:</E> 1902-0282. <E T="03">Type of Request:</E> Three-year extension of the FERC-725G4 information collection requirements. <SU>6</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>5</SU>  The estimated hourly cost (salary plus benefits) is a combination based on the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), as of 2024, for 75% of the average of an Electrical Engineer (17-2071) $79.31/hr., 79.31 × .75 = 59.4825 ($59.48-rounded) ($59.48/hour) and 25% of an Information and Record Clerk (43-4199) $44.74/hr., $44.74 × .25% = 11.185 ($11.19 rounded) ($11.19/hour), for a total ($59.48 + $11.19 = $70.67/hour). <SU>6</SU>  If OMB renews FERC-725G4, the Commission subsequently may consider requesting that OMB combine that information collection activity with FERC-725G1. Such action would be administrative only and would not indicate the discontinuation of the information collection requirements in FERC-725G4. <SU>7</SU>  “Load shedding” means disconnecting consumers from the grid to prevent demand from exceeding supply, which can cause widespread grid collapse. A “UVLS Program” provides for automatic load shedding, utilizing voltage inputs, in specific circumstances and locations. <SU>8</SU>  “UVLS Entities,” as defined at the NERC website at <E T="03">https://www.nerc.com/pa/Stand/Reliability%20Standards/PRC-010-2.pdf,</E> are distribution providers and transmission owners responsible for the ownership, operation, or control of UVLS equipment, as required by a UVLS Program. </FTNT> <E T="03">Abstract:</E> The Commission collects information under FERC-725G4 in accordance with section 215 of the FPA and 18 CFR parts 39 and 40. Reliability Standard PRC-010-2 requires respondents to submit date-stamped documentation of their compliance with the relevant UVLS Program. <SU>7</SU> <E T="03">Types of Respondents:</E> UVLS Entities. <SU>8</SU> <E T="03">Frequency of Response:</E> On occasion. <E T="03">Estimate of Annual Burden:</E> The Commission estimates 25 responses annually, and per-response burdens of 48 hours and $4,176. <SU>9</SU> The total estimated burdens per year are 25 responses, 1,200 hours, and $104,400. These burdens are itemized in the following table: <GPOTABLE COLS="6" OPTS="L2(,0,),p7,7/8,i1" CDEF="s25,12,20,r40,r50,20"> <TTITLE>Mandatory Reliability Standards—Reliability Standard PRC-010-2 (Under Voltage Load Shedding) (FERC-725G4) Annual Estimates of Respondents' Burdens</TTITLE> D. Average burden & cost per response  <SU>10</SU> </CHED> <CHED H="1"> E. Total annual burden hours & total <ENT>48 hrs.; $3,392.16</ENT> <ENT>1,488 hrs.; $105,156.96</ENT> <ENT>$3,392.16</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> <HD SOURCE="HD1">  Using the November 20, 2024, NERC compliance registration information for only unique US entities that are Transmission Owners (325) and Distribution Providers (298), the number of potential respondents is 623, considering overlap betwe ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 23k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━