Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2011 / Notices 12091 

1Number of hours an employee works each year. 

2Average annual salary per employee. 

This service life data is submitted on 

FERC Form No. 73. 

The data submitted are used by the 

Commission to assist in the selection of 

appropriate service lives and book 

depreciation rates. Book depreciation 

rates are used by oil pipeline companies 

to compute the depreciation portion of 

their operating expense which is a 

component of their cost of service 

which in turn is used to determine the 

transportation rate to assess customers. 

FERC staff’s recommended book 

depreciation rates become legally 

binding when issued by Commission 

order. These rates remain in effect until 

a subsequent review is requested and 

the outcome indicates that a 

modification is justified. The 

Commission implements these filings in 

18 CFR parts 347 and 357. 

Action: The Commission is requesting 

a three-year approval of the collection of 

data with no changes to the information 

that is collected on Form 73. This is a 

mandatory information collection 

requirement. 

Burden Statement: Public reporting 

burden for this collection is estimated as 

follows: 

Data collection 

Number of 

respondents 

annually 

(1) 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

(2) 

Average 

burden hours 

per response 

(3) 

Total annual 

burden hours 

(1)×(2)×(3) 

FERC Form 73 ................................................................................................ 3 1 40 120 

The estimated total cost to 

respondents is $8,214 [120 hours/2080 

hours 1 per year, times $142,372 2 equals 

$8,214]. The cost per respondent 

annually is $2,738. 

The reporting burden includes the 

total time, effort, or financial resources 

expended to generate, maintain, retain, 

disclose, or provide the information 

including: (1) Reviewing instructions; 

(2) developing, acquiring, installing, and 

utilizing technology and systems for the 

purposes of collecting, validating, 

verifying, processing, maintaining, 

disclosing and providing information; 

(3) adjusting the existing ways to 

comply with any previously applicable 

instructions and requirements; (4) 

training personnel to respond to a 

collection of information; (5) searching 

data sources; (6) completing and 

reviewing the collection of information; 

and (7) transmitting, or otherwise 

disclosing the information. 

The estimate of cost for respondents 

is based upon salaries for professional 

and clerical support, as well as direct 

and indirect overhead costs. Direct costs 

include all costs directly attributable to 

providing this information, such as 

administrative costs and the cost for 

information technology. Indirect or 

overhead costs are costs incurred by an 

organization in support of its mission. 

These costs apply to activities which 

benefit the whole organization rather 

than any one particular function or 

activity. 

Comments are invited on: (1) Whether 

the proposed 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 of 

the proposed collection of information, 

including the validity of the 

methodology and assumptions used; (3) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (4) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on those who are to respond, including 

the use of appropriate automated, 

electronic, mechanical, or other 

technological collection techniques or 

other forms of information technology 

e.g. permitting electronic submission of 

responses. 

Dated: February 24, 2011. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4858 Filed 3–3–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket Nos. IC11–520–000, IC11–561–000, 

and IC11–566–000] 

Commission Information Collection 

Activities, Proposed Collections; 

Comment Request; Extension 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Notice of proposed information 

collections and request for comments. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

requirements of section 3506(c)(2)(A) of 

the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, 

44 U.S.C. 3506(c)(2)(A) (2006), (Pub. L. 

104–13), the Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission (Commission or FERC) is 

soliciting public comment on the 

proposed information collection 

activities described below. 

DATES: Comments in consideration of 

the collection of information are due 

May 3, 2011. 

ADDRESSES: Comments may be filed 

either electronically (eFiled) or in paper 

format, and should refer to Docket Nos. 

IC11–520–000, IC11–561–000, and 

IC11–566–000. (For comments that only 

pertain to one of the collections, specify 

the appropriate collection and the 

related docket number.) Documents 

must be prepared in an acceptable filing 

format and in compliance with 

Commission submission guidelines at 

http://www.ferc.gov/help/submissionguide.asp. eFiling instructions are 

available at: http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/efiling.asp. First time users must 

follow eRegister instructions at: http:// 

www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/ 

eregistration.asp, to establish a user 

name and password before eFiling. The 

Commission will send an automatic 

acknowledgement to the sender’s e-mail 

address upon receipt of eFiled 

comments. Commenters making an 

eFiling should not make a paper filing. 

Commenters that are not able to file 

electronically must send an original of 

their comments to: Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the 

Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 

Washington, DC 20426. 

Users interested in receiving 

automatic notification of activity in 

these dockets may do so through 

eSubscription at http://www.ferc.gov/ 

docs-filing/esubscription.asp. In 

addition, all comments and FERC 

issuances may be viewed, printed or 

downloaded remotely through FERC’s 

eLibrary at http://www.ferc.gov/docsfiling/elibrary.asp, by searching on 

Docket Nos. IC11–520, IC11–561, and 

IC11–566. 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. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Ellen Brown may be reached by e-mail 

at DataClearance@FERC.gov, telephone 


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12092 Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2011 / Notices 

at (202) 502–8663, and fax at (202) 273– 

0873. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The 

Federal Power Act (FPA) as amended by 

the Public Utility Regulatory Policies 

Act of 1978 (PURPA) mandates Federal 

oversight and approval of certain 

electric corporate activities and put in 

place related information filing 

requirements. The FERC–520, the Form 

561 and the FERC–566 are the data 

collections currently helping ensure that 

FPA-mandated oversight can occur and 

that neither public nor private interests 

are adversely affected by the electric 

activities the FPA provisions cover. 

The implementing processes and 

regulatory requirements for the 

collections are codified in Chapter 18 of 

the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR). 

Information collection number OMB Number CFR Cite Statutory cite 

FERC–520 ............................................ 1902–0083 18 CFR Part 45.

Form 561 .............................................. 1902–0099 18 CFR 46.6 and 131.31 .................... FPA Section 305, as amended by PURPA 

Title II, section 211 (16 U.S.C. 825d) 

FERC–566 ............................................ 1902–0114 18 CFR 46.3.

To clarify the aim and better publicize 

the relationships among these 

information activities, FERC is 

combining its processes for noticing and 

renewing its OMB authority to conduct 

these information collections. 

Overview of the Three Forms. The 

FERC–520, Form 561 and FERC–566 

provide views into complex electric 

corporate activities and serve to 

safeguard public and private interests, 

as the FPA requires. The Commission 

can use its enforcement authority when 

violations and omissions of FPA 

requirements occur. 

FERC–520. The FERC–520, 

‘‘Application for Authority to Hold 

Interlocking Directorate Positions’’ is an 

application requesting FERC 

authorization for board members of 

regulated electric utilities that plan to 

simultaneously hold positions on the 

corporate boards of related or similar 

businesses. This corporate activity is 

known as an ‘‘interlocked directorate.’’ 

The FERC–520 originates in FPA 

Section 305(b) of the FPA. This part of 

the FPA makes the holding of certain 

defined interlocking corporate positions 

unlawful unless the Commission has 

authorized the interlocks to be held. 

Before assuming an interlocked board 

position, an applicant must demonstrate 

that neither public nor private interests 

will be adversely affected by the holding 

of the position. The FERC–520 identifies 

the applicant and describes the various 

interlocking positions the applicant 

seeks authorization to hold. Moreover, 

the form collects information related to 

the applicant’s financial interests, other 

officers and directors of the firms 

involved, and the nature of business 

relationships among the firms. 

FERC allows two types of FERC–520 

applications to implement the FPA 

requirements for holding interlocked 

positions. The first, in 18 CFR 45.8, is 

a ‘‘full’’ application. ‘‘Full’’ applications 

are made by (1) an officer or director of 

more than one public utility; (2) an 

officer or director of a public utility and 

of a public utility securities 

underwriter; or (3) an officer or director 

of a public utility and of an electrical 

equipment supplier to that utility. They 

provide detailed information about the 

position for which authorization is 

sought, including a description of 

duties, estimated time devoted to the 

position, and the applicant’s 

indebtedness to the public utility. 

The second type of FERC–520 

application, in 18 CFR 45.9, is an 

‘‘informational’’ application for 

automatic authorization. These 

‘‘informational applications’’ are made 

by (1) An officer or director of two or 

more public utilities where the same 

holding company owns, directly or 

indirectly, wholly or in part, the other 

public utility; (2) an officer or director 

of two public utilities, if one utility is 

owned, wholly or in part, by the other; 

or (3) an officer or director of more than 

one public utility, if such person is 

already authorized under Part 45 to hold 

different positions where the interlock 

involves affiliated public utilities. 

As part of the FERC–520 application 

process, the FERC requires notices of 

change if the applicant resigns or 

withdraws from a Commissionauthorized interlocked position or if the 

applicant is not re-elected or reappointed to the interlocked position. 

Form 561. The Commission uses the 

FERC Form 561, ‘‘Annual Report of 

Interlocking Positions’’ to implement the 

FPA requirement that those who are 

authorized to hold interlocked 

directorates annually disclose all the 

interlocked positions they held the prior 

year. The positions that must be 

disclosed in the Form 561 are those 

public utility officers and directors hold 

with financial institutions, insurance 

companies, utility equipment and fuel 

providers, and with any of an electric 

utility’s twenty largest purchasers of 

electric energy. The FPA specifically 

defines most of the information 

elements in the Form 561, including the 

information that must be filed, the 

required filers, the directive to make the 

information available to the public, and 

the filing deadline. The Commission 

determined administrative aspects of 

the Form 561 such as the filing format 

and instructions for filling out the form. 

FERC–566. The FERC–566 ‘‘Annual 

Report of a Utility’s Twenty Largest 

Purchasers’’ implements FPA 

requirements that each public utility 

annually publish a list of the purchasers 

of the twenty largest annual amounts of 

electric energy sold by such public 

utility during any one of three previous 

calendar years pursuant to rules 

prescribed by the Commission. The 

public disclosure of this information 

provides officers and directors with the 

information necessary to determine 

whether any of the entities with whom 

they are related are any of the largest 

twenty purchasers of the public utility 

with which they are affiliated. Similar 

to the statutory detail in the FPA for the 

FERC 561, the FPA identifies who must 

file the FERC–566 report and sets the 

filing deadline. Additionally, the FPA 

specifies that those entities required to 

report who have a holding company 

system can calculate their total volumes 

of energy sold by including the amounts 

sold by utilities within their holding 

company system. The FERC details in 

its regulations special rules about the 

information to be provided in the 

FERC–566 report. For example, FERC 

allows required filers to file estimates of 

volumes based on actual information 

available to them if actual volumes are 

not available by the statutory due date. 

However, the FERC also requires 

revisions of those filed estimates with 

final numbers by March 1st. 

Filings Information. Under FERC 

regulations, respondents must file their 

FERC–520, Form 561 and FERC–566 in 

various formats, including electronically 

via the Commission’s eFiling web page. 

Most are submitted this way. 

FERC has especially encouraged Form 

561 respondents to file their forms via 

the FERC eFiling system and to use a 

Microsoft Excel version of the Form 561. 

The Microsoft Excel version of the Form 

561 has been available since 1998. 


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Federal Register / Vol. 76, No. 43 / Friday, March 4, 2011 / Notices 12093 

1This number of unique respondents corresponds 

to the number of initial filers plus the number of 

informational filers. 

2Number of hours an employee works each year. 

3Average annual salary per employee. 

There have been many efforts since 

1998 to use evolving and advanced 

features of the Excel software to make 

filling the form out easier and compiling 

the filed information more easily. The 

following table shows the number of 

filings FERC has received for each of the 

three information collections. 

NUMBER OF FILINGS RELATED TO INTERLOCKED POSITIONS AND REPORTS OF UTILITIES’ TWENTY LARGEST CUSTOMERS

2008–2010 

Filing name 2008 2009 2010 

FERC–520 (Total) ............................................................................................................................................................ 689 600 594 

Æ Initial ..................................................................................................................................................................... 24 36 26 

Æ Informational ......................................................................................................................................................... 469 326 335 

Æ Notice of Change .................................................................................................................................................. 196 238 233 

Form 561 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 2,441 2,420 2,432 

Form 566 ......................................................................................................................................................................... 403 457 443 

Action: The FERC is requesting a 

three-year extension of the current 

expiration dates for these three 

information collections. It proposes to 

continue to explore making the filing of 

the FERC–520, FERC Form 561 and 

FERC–566 more efficient by evaluating 

and possibly adopting more modern 

information transfer technology. 

Burden Statement: Public reporting 

burden for this collection is estimated in 

the following table. 

ESTIMATED BURDEN OF FERC COLLECTIONS RELATED TO INTERLOCKED POSITIONS AND REPORTS OF UTILITIES’ TWENTY

LARGEST CUSTOMERS

Form name 

Number of respondents annually 

(average) 

(1) 

Number of 

responses per 

respondent 

(2) 

Average 

burden hours 

per response 

(3) 

Total annual 

burden hours 

(1)x(2)x(3) 

FERC–520 ............................... 4061 (total) ........................ ........................ 12,680 

Æ Initial ............................. 29 1 51.8 1,502 

Æ Informational ................. 377 1 29.5 11,122 

Æ Notice of Change .......... 222 1 .25 56 

Form 561 ................................. 2,431 1 .25 608 

FERC–566 ............................... 434 1 6 2,604 

Total ........................... ................................................................................................ ........................ ........................ 15,873 

The estimated total cost to FERC–520 

respondents is $867,922. [12,680 hours/ 

2080 hours 2 per year, times $142,372 3

equals $867,922]. The cost per FERC– 

520 respondent annually is $2,138. 

The estimated total cost to FERC–561 

respondents is $41,616. [608 hours/2080 

hours per year, times $142,372 equals 

$41,616]. The cost per FERC–561 

respondent annually is $68. 

The estimated total cost to FERC–566 

respondents is $178,239. [2,604 hours/ 

2080 hours per year, times $178,239 

equals $178,239]. The cost per FERC– 

566 respondent annually is $68. 

The estimated total cost to 

respondents for these three information 

collections is $1,087,777. 

The reporting burden includes the 

total time, effort, or financial resources 

expended to generate, maintain, retain, 

disclose, or provide the information 

including: (1) Reviewing instructions; 

(2) developing, acquiring, installing, and 

utilizing technology and systems for the 

purposes of collecting, validating, 

verifying, processing, maintaining, 

disclosing and providing information; 

(3) adjusting the existing ways to 

comply with any previously applicable 

instructions and requirements; (4) 

training personnel to respond to a 

collection of information; (5) searching 

data sources; (6) completing and 

reviewing the collection of information; 

and (7) transmitting, or otherwise 

disclosing the information. 

The estimate of cost for respondents 

is based upon salaries for professional 

and clerical support, as well as direct 

and indirect overhead costs. Direct costs 

include all costs directly attributable to 

providing this information, such as 

administrative costs and the cost for 

information technology. Indirect or 

overhead costs are costs incurred by an 

organization in support of its mission. 

These costs apply to activities which 

benefit the whole organization rather 

than any one particular function or 

activity. 

Comments are invited on: (1) Whether 

the proposed collections of information 

are 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 of the proposed 

collections of information, including the 

validity of the methodology and 

assumptions used; (3) ways to enhance 

the quality, utility and clarity of the 

information to be collected; and (4) 

ways to minimize the burden of the 

collections of information on those who 

are to respond, including the use of 

appropriate automated, electronic, 

mechanical, or other technological 

collection techniques or other forms of 

information technology e.g. permitting 

electronic submission of responses. 

Dated: February 24, 2011. 

Kimberly D. Bose, 

Secretary. 

[FR Doc. 2011–4859 Filed 3–3–11; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6717–01–P 


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