Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities

<RULE> DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY <SUBAGY>Federal Energy Regulatory Commission</SUBAGY> <CFR>18 CFR Parts 2 and 38</CFR> <DEPDOC>[Docket No. RM05-5-031; Order No.676-K]</DEPDOC> <SUBJECT>Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities</SUBJECT> <HD SOURCE="HED">AGENCY:</HD> Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Department of Energy. <HD SOURCE="HED">ACTION:</HD> Final rule. <SUM> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUMMARY:</HD> The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission amends its regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain exceptions, the latest version (Version 004) of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). The revisions made by NAESB in the WEQ Version 004 standards are designed to aid public utilities with the consistent and uniform implementation of requirements promulgated by the Commission as part of the <E T="03">pro forma</E> Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT). </SUM> <EFFDATE> <HD SOURCE="HED">DATES:</HD> <E T="03">Effective date:</E> This rule is effective April 28, 2025. <E T="03">Incorporation by reference:</E> The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in this rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of April 28, 2025. <E T="03">Compliance dates:</E> Public utilities whose tariffs do not automatically incorporate by reference all new NAESB standards without modification must submit compliance filings to comply with the requirements in the final rule no later than June 27, 2025. <E T="03">Implementation dates:</E> Public utilities must implement the cybersecurity standards in WEQ Version 004 by February 27, 2026. Public utilities must implement the remainder of the standards in WEQ Version 004 adopted in this final rule by August 27, 2026. </EFFDATE> <FURINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:</HD> John O. Sillin (Technical Issues), Office of Energy Policy and Innovation, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6548, <E T="03">John.Sillin@ferc.gov.</E> Veronica Norman (Legal Issues), Office of the General Counsel, Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8751, <E T="03">Veronica.Norman@ferc.gov.</E> </FURINF> <SUPLINF> <HD SOURCE="HED">SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:</HD> <HD SOURCE="HD1">Table of Contents</HD> <EXTRACT> <GPOTABLE COLS="2" OPTS="L0,tp0,g1,t1,i1" CDEF="s200,9"> <TTITLE> </TTITLE> <CHED H="1"> </CHED> <CHED H="1"> Paragraph Nos. </CHED> <ROW> <ENT I="01">I. Overview</ENT> <ENT>1</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">II. Background</ENT> <ENT>3</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">III. Comments on the NOPR</ENT> <ENT>9</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IV. Discussion</ENT> <ENT>12</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">A. The NAESB WEQ Version 004 Standards</ENT> <ENT>12</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">B. Specific Standards Incorporated by Reference</ENT> <ENT>16</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">1. Modifications in Response to Commission Order Nos. 676-I and 676-J</ENT> <ENT>17</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">2. Modifications To Support Cybersecurity for the Wholesale Electric Industry</ENT> <ENT>21</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">3. Modifications To Complement NERC Reliability Standards</ENT> <ENT>23</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">4. Modifications to the WEQ OASIS Business Practice Standards</ENT> <ENT>24</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">5. Modifications To Coordinate Interchange Standards</ENT> <ENT>34</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">6. Modifications to Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Defined Terms</ENT> <ENT>36</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">7. Minor Corrections</ENT> <ENT>37</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="05">8. New Set of Cybersecurity Standards</ENT> <ENT>38</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">C. Standards That Will Not Be Incorporated by Reference</ENT> <ENT>39</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="03">D. Implementation Procedures</ENT> <ENT>43</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">V. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards</ENT> <ENT>51</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VI. Incorporation by Reference</ENT> <ENT>52</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VII. Information Collection Statement</ENT> <ENT>80</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">VIII. Environmental Analysis</ENT> <ENT>85</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">IX. Regulatory Flexibility Act</ENT> <ENT>86</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">X. Document Availability</ENT> <ENT>89</ENT> </ROW> <ROW> <ENT I="01">XI. Effective Date and Congressional Notification</ENT> <ENT>92</ENT> </ROW> </GPOTABLE> </EXTRACT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">I. Overview</HD> 1. In this final rule, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) amends its regulation at 18 CFR 2.27 and 38.1(b) to incorporate by reference, with certain exceptions, the latest version (Version 004) of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) (WEQ Version 004 Standards) applicable to the wholesale electric industry. This final rule requires public utilities whose tariffs do not automatically incorporate by reference all new NAESB standards without modification to submit compliance filings to comply with the requirements in the final rule no later than June 27, 2025. Public utilities must implement the cybersecurity standards in WEQ Version 004 by February 27, 2026. Public utilities must implement the remainder of the standards in WEQ Version 004 adopted in this final rule by August 27, 2026. 2. The implementation of these standards will promote greater efficiency and reliability of public utilities' operations and consolidate and strengthen cybersecurity protections provided within the NAESB standards. <SU>1</SU> <FTREF/> <FTNT> <SU>1</SU>  NAESB has developed and adopted, in response to recommendations from the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and Sandia National Laboratories (Sandia Labs), a new set of business practice standards to strengthen cybersecurity protections. </FTNT> <HD SOURCE="HD1">II. Background</HD> 3. NAESB is an American National Standards Institute-accredited, non-profit standards development organization formed for the purpose of developing voluntary standards and model business practices that promote more competitive and efficient natural gas and electric markets. 4. Since 2006, in the Order No. 676 series of orders, <SU>2</SU> <FTREF/> the Commission has incorporated by reference into its regulations NAESB's business practice standards and communication protocols for public utilities. As the Commission found in Order No. 676, adoption of consensus standards is appropriate because the consensus process helps ensure the reasonableness of the standards by requiring that the standards draw support from a broad spectrum of all segments of the industry. Moreover, since the industry itself conducts business under these standards, the Commission's regulations should reflect those standards that have the widest possible support. <FTNT> <SU>2</SU>  This series of orders began with the Commission's issuance of <E T="03">Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols for Pub. Utils.,</E> Order No. 676, 71 FR 26199 (May 4, 2006), 115 FERC ¶ 61,139 (2021). </FTNT> 5. The WEQ Version 004 Standards will replace the currently incorporated versions (Version 003.3) of those business practice standards. 6. On July 31, 2023, NAESB filed a report informing the Commission (Informational Report) that it had approved and published the WEQ Version 004 Standards. The WEQ Version 004 Standards include newly created standards, as well as modifications to existing standards, developed through the NAESB standards development process. The WEQ Version 004 Standards build upon the WEQ Version 003.3 Standards and include standards developed in response to the directives from Order Nos. 676-I and 676-J, <SU>3</SU> <FTREF/> business practice standards developed to support cybersecurity for the wholesale electric industry, modifications to complement the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Reliability Standards, the new NAESB Base Contract for Sale and Purchase of Voluntary Renewable Energy Certificates (NAESB REC Contract), and standards to identify definitions for common grid services to support distributed energy resource interactions in response to a request submitted by the DOE, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley Lab), and Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL). Additionally, the WEQ Version 004 Standards include modifications applied to Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Business Practice Standards, the Coordinate Interchange Business Practice Standards, and the Abbreviations, Acronyms, and Defined Terms. <FTNT> <SU>3</SU>   <E T="03">Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols for Pub. Utils.,</E> Order No. 676-I, 85 FR 1051 (Feb. 25, 2020), 170 FERC ¶ 61,062 (2020); <E T="03">Standards for Bus. Practices & Commc'n Protocols for Pub. Utils.,</E> No. 676-J, 86 FR 29491 (Jun. 2, 2021), 175 FERC ¶ 61,139 (2021). </FTNT> 7. The Informational Report includes an overview of all standard additions, modifications, and reservations applied to Version 004 of the WEQ Business Practice Standards and summarizes the deliberations that led to the changes. It also identifies changes to the existing standards that were considered but not adopted. 8. On April 25, 2024, the Commission issued a notice of proposed rulemaking (NOPR) proposing to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain enumerated exceptions, the WEQ Version 004 Standards applicable to public utilities. <SU>4</SU> <FT ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ Preview showing 10k of 73k characters. Full document text is stored and available for version comparison. ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━