Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 44 / Wednesday, March 6, 2013 / Notices 14521 

1This form has been under OMB No. 1905–0196. 

Due to a reorganization of EIA offices, the 

renewables data collection program is now housed 

with the electricity data collection program. 

Therefore, EIA proposes to change the OMB number 

to 1905–0129. 

Marta Gospodarczyk, EI–34, Forrestal 

Building, 1000 Independence Ave. 

SW., Washington, DC 20585, 202– 

586–0527, Fax at 202–586–3045, 

Email at marta.gospodarczyk@eia.gov. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information or 

copies of the information collection 

forms and instructions should be 

directed to Ms. Gospodarczyk at the 

contact information given above. 

Additionally, forms and instructions 

may be viewed at http://www.eia.gov/ 

survey/#GC-859. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

information collection request contains: 

(1) OMB No.: 1901–0287; 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form GC–859, ‘‘Nuclear Fuel Data 

Survey’’; 

(3) Type of Request: Reinstatement 

and three-year approval of a previously 

approved data collection; 

(4) Purpose: The Nuclear Fuel Data 

Survey collects data from 138 

respondents (primarily commercial 

utilities that operate nuclear reactors). 

Data are collected on all discharged 

nuclear assemblies, projections of future 

assembly discharges, nuclear fuel 

storage capacities and inventories at 

reactor sites and storage facilities, 

complete reactor operating history, data 

on special fuel forms including 

nonstandard and failed fuel, nonfuel 

components, and Greater Than Class C 

low-level waste data. 

(5) Number of Respondents: 138; 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: 46 (data collected once 

during three-year approval period); 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: 3106.7; 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: EIA 

estimates that there are no additional 

costs to respondents associated with the 

surveys other than the costs associated 

with the burden hours. 

Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the 

Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, 

Pub. L. 93–275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 772(b); 

Section 302 of the Nuclear Waste Policy Act 

of 1982, codified at 42 U.S.C. 10222. 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 28, 

2013. 

Renee Miller, 

Acting Director, Office of Survey Development 

and Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2013–05157 Filed 3–5–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Energy Information Administration 

Agency Information Collection 

Extension With Changes 

AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information 

Administration (EIA), U.S. Department 

of Energy. 

ACTION: Notice and request for OMB 

review and comment. 

SUMMARY: EIA, pursuant to the 

Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995 and 

with the approval of the Office of 

Management and Budget, intends to 

extend for 3 years, with changes, the 

following forms: 

• Form EIA–63B, ‘‘Annual 

Photovoltaic Cell/Module Shipments 

Report,’’ 

• Form EIA–411, ‘‘Coordinated Bulk 

Power Supply Program Report,’’ 

• Form EIA–826, ‘‘Monthly Electric 

Utility Sales and Revenue Report with 

State Distributions,’’ 

• Form EIA–860, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Generator Report,’’ 

• Form EIA–860M, ‘‘Monthly Update 

to the Annual Electric Generator 

Report,’’ 

• Form EIA–861, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Power Industry Report,’’ 

• Form EIA–861S, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Power Industry Report (Short Form),’’ 

and 

• Form EIA–923, ‘‘Power Plant 

Operations Report.’’ 

In addition, EIA proposes to create the 

following new form: 

• Form EIA–930, ‘‘Balancing 

Authority Operations Report.’’ 

Comments are invited on: (a) Whether 

the proposed collection of information 

is necessary for the proper performance 

of the functions of the agency, including 

whether the information shall have 

practical utility; (b) 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; (c) 

ways to enhance the quality, utility, and 

clarity of the information to be 

collected; and (d) ways to minimize the 

burden of the collection of information 

on respondents, including through the 

use of automated collection techniques 

or other forms of information 

technology. 

DATES: Comments regarding this 

proposed information collection must 

be received on or before May 6, 2013. 

If you anticipate difficulty in submitting 

comments within that period, contact 

the person listed in ADDRESSES as soon 

as possible. 

ADDRESSES: Send comments to Rebecca 

Peterson. To ensure receipt of the 

comments by the due date, email is 

recommended (ERS2014@eia.gov). The 

postal mailing address is U.S. 

Department of Energy, U. S. Energy 

Information Administration, Mail Stop 

EI–23, Forrestal Building, 1000 

Independence Avenue SW., 

Washington, DC 20585. 

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 

Requests for additional information 

should be directed to Ms. Peterson at 

the email address listed above. 

Alternatively, Ms. Peterson may be 

contacted on (202)-586–4509. The 

proposed forms and instructions, along 

with related information on this 

clearance package, can be viewed at 

http://www.eia.gov/survey/changes/ 

electricity/. 

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This 

information collection request contains 

the following: 

(1) OMB No. 1905–0129 1

For the Forms EIA–411, 826, 860, 

860M, 861, 861S, 923, and 930, EIA 

proposes to protect all contact 

information associated with the ‘‘Survey 

Contact’’ and the ‘‘Supervisor of Contact 

Person for Survey’’ on Schedule 1, 

including name, email address, 

telephone, and Fax number to the extent 

that it satisfies the criteria for exemption 

under the Freedom of Information Act 

(FOIA), 5 U.S.C. 552, the Department of 

Energy (DOE) regulations; 10 CFR 

1004.11, implementing the FOIA, and 

the Trade Secrets Act, 18 U.S.C. 1905. 

The name and business address of the 

survey respondents shown in Schedule 

1 will continue to be released as public 

information. 

For the Forms EIA–63B, 411, 826, 860 

and 923, EIA proposes to discontinue 

applying disclosure limitation rules that 

test aggregate statistics for the risk of 

disclosing identifiable information. EIA 

intends to add the following paragraph 

to the section on data confidentiality: 

‘‘Disclosure limitation procedures are 

not applied to the statistical data 

published from the survey information 

reported on this form. There may be 

some statistics that are based on data 

from fewer than three respondents, or 

that are dominated by data from one or 

two large respondents. In these cases, it 

may be possible for a knowledgeable 

person to closely estimate the 

information reported by a specific 

respondent.’’ 


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14522 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 44 / Wednesday, March 6, 2013 / Notices 

2NERC is the official national Electric Reliability 

Organization as designated by FERC pursuant to the 

Energy Policy Act of 2005. EIA has had a longstanding relationship with NERC and its 

predecessor for the collection of the EIA–411 data. 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–63B, ‘‘Annual 

Photovoltaic Cell/Module Shipments 

Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: The Form EIA–63B tracks 

photovoltaic cell/module 

manufacturing, shipments, technology 

types, revenue and related information. 

The data collected on this form appear 

in various EIA publications. The data 

are used by the U.S. Department of 

Energy, the Congress, other government 

and non-government entities, and the 

public to monitor the current status and 

trends of the photovoltaic industry and 

to evaluate the future of the industry. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: Currently there are about 

168 respondents. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is about 168. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 840 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–411, ‘‘Coordinated 

Bulk Power Supply Program Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection 

(4) Purpose: The Form EIA–411 

collects information relating to the 

reliability of the electric power system 

in the lower 48 states, including 

regional electricity supply and demand 

projections for a 10-year advance 

period, the characteristics and 

frequency of outages occurring on the 

Bulk Electric System, and other 

information on the transmission system 

and supporting facilities. The data are 

collected from the regional reliability 

entities by the North American Electric 

Reliability Corp. (NERC), 2 which then 

organizes and edits the information and 

submits the data to EIA. The proposed 

changes include: 

• Schedule 6, Part B, Characteristics 

of Projected Transmission Lines: EIA 

proposes to remove several questions on 

conductor size and material, bundling 

arrangements, and type of pole or tower. 

This information has been determined 

to have limited value that is outweighed 

by respondent burden. 

• Schedule 7, Part A, Annual Data on 

Transmission Line Outages for AC 

Lines: The transmission line sustained 

outage section of the form will have a 

new voltage category: below 199kV. 

This change will make the form 

consistent with the expansion of the 

Bulk Electric System definition 

requested by the Federal Energy 

Regulatory Commission (FERC) and 

specific recommendations from NERC. 

In this section, there are other minor 

refinements to the outage data collected, 

such as disaggregating outages into the 

three principal classifications. 

• New Schedule 8, Annual Data on 

Generating Unit Outages, Deratings and 

Performance Indexes: This new 

Schedule will present information on 

generating unit reliability, 

supplementing the reliability 

information on the transmission grid 

and the power supply/demand balance 

historically collected by this survey. 

The information will be extracted by 

NERC directly from its existing 

Generating Availability Data System 

(GADS). The additional burden on 

respondents is therefore 0. 

• New Schedule 9, Smart Grid 

Transmission System Devices and 

Applications, will collect information 

on smart grid technologies now being 

deployed to improve the reliability of 

the transmission system. This includes 

phasor measurement units, which are 

used for real-time monitoring of the 

condition of the grid and for forensic 

review of grid performance and events. 

Information will also be collected on 

dynamic capability rating systems on 

transmission circuits. These systems 

provide operators with information on 

the true operational limits of 

transmission lines. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: Nine respondents (the 

eight NERC regional entities and NERC 

Headquarters). 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 9. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 1,098 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–826, ‘‘Monthly Electric 

Sales and Revenue with State 

Distributions Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–826 collects 

monthly information from a sample of 

electric utilities, energy service 

providers, and distribution companies 

that sell or deliver electric power to end 

users. Data collected on this form 

includes sales and revenue for all enduse sectors (residential, commercial, 

industrial, and transportation). This 

survey is the monthly complement to 

the annual data collection from the 

universe of respondents made by the 

short and long form versions of the 

Form EIA–861 survey (see below). EIA 

proposes to make the following changes 

to the form: 

• Schedule 3, Part A, Green Pricing: 

Remove the green pricing schedule. 

EIA’s understanding is that green 

pricing programs currently have a 

minimal presence in the retail power 

market and that this situation is not 

expected to change. The value of the 

data collection is therefore outweighed 

by the burden on respondents. EIA 

plans to continue to monitor this market 

and if necessary will propose 

reintroduction of this data collection in 

the future. 

• Schedule 3, Part C, Advanced 

Metering: Separate Advanced Metering 

Infrastructure (AMI) into two 

subgroups—AMI operated solely as 

Automated Meter Reading (AMR) 

equipment, and AMI operated as AMI. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: There are approximately 

526 respondents. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 6,312. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 8,647. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–860, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Generator Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–860 collects 

data on existing and planned electric 

generation plants and associated 


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equipment including generators, boilers, 

cooling systems, and environmental 

control systems. Data are collected from 

all existing units and from planned 

units scheduled for initial commercial 

operation within 10 years of the 

specified reporting period (depending 

on the type of plant). EIA proposes the 

following changes: 

• Schedule 1, Identification: collect 

the ownership type of the reporting 

entity (e.g., investor owned utility, 

electric power cooperative, etc.). This 

information is frequently requested 

within DOE and by outside analysts. 

• Schedule 2, Power Plant Data, and 

Schedule 3, Part C, Generator 

Information—Proposed Generators: 

These schedules currently collect data 

from plants and generators expected to 

begin commercial operation within 10 

years of the survey year. EIA proposes 

to reduce this time horizon to 5 years for 

all types of plants other than coal, 

nuclear, and conventional and pumpedstorage hydroelectric power plants. This 

change reflects the relatively short 

planning and construction horizon for 

the predominant types of power plants 

now being proposed in the United 

States, such as combined cycle, wind, 

and solar generators. Coal, nuclear, and 

hydroelectric plants, in contrast, have 

long planning and construction periods. 

• Schedule 2, Power Plant Data: 

i. Collect the name of each plant’s 

balancing authority instead of its 

regional transmission organization 

(RTO) or independent system operator 

(ISO). This change reflects an effort by 

EIA to align its data collections with the 

actual operation of the electric power 

system, which is based on 

approximately 100 ‘‘balancing 

authorities’’ that manage the grid. No 

information will be lost because EIA can 

use balancing authority designations to 

assign plants to RTOs and ISOs. 

ii. Collect information on ash 

impoundments. The condition of ash 

impoundments has been an area of 

increasing environmental concern at the 

federal and state levels. The data to be 

collected include whether any 

impoundments exist at a plant, the 

impoundments’ statuses, and whether 

they are lined. 

iii. Put space on the schedule to 

collect up to three grid voltages at the 

power plant’s point of interconnection 

with the grid. In the current form plants 

with multiple interconnection voltages 

must enter information into the 

comments section of the form, a 

cumbersome procedure. The revised 

question will simply provide space on 

the survey form to directly enter three 

voltages. 

iv. Stop collection of the datum 

associated with a plant’s geographic 

coordinates. EIA has found that many 

and probably most respondents are 

unable to provide a correct answer to 

this question. 

v. Stop collection of plant geographic 

coordinates in minutes and seconds. 

The form will ask for coordinates only 

in modern digital format. 

vi. Collect information on whether a 

plant that has a primary purpose other 

than electricity generation for sale is net 

metered. This information is needed to 

improve the accuracy with which EIA 

can determine small renewable 

capacity, particularly solar. 

vii. Collect information on whether a 

plant or any of the individual generating 

units at the plant is a blackstart unit. For 

those units that are blackstart units, the 

survey will collect information on 

nameplate capacity and whether any of 

the units are identified as a ‘‘Blackstart 

Resource’’ in a Transmission Operator’s 

System Restoration Plan (pursuant to 

NERC Reliability Standards EOP–005–1 

and EOP–005–2). These new questions 

are intended to enhance the information 

on power system reliability made 

available by EIA to analysts and policy 

makers. 

• Schedule 3, Part A, Generator 

Information—Generators: 

i. Collect whether a combined-cycle 

unit can operate in simple-cycle mode 

by bypassing the heat recovery steam 

generator. These questions relate to the 

reliability and operational flexibility of 

combined cycle generators, which 

account for a growing share of 

generation capacity and actual 

generation. Operational flexibility is an 

issue of growing importance due to the 

introduction of variable renewable 

technology (solar and wind) and wider 

use of demand response programs. The 

combination of more renewable power 

and demand response puts a premium 

on the ability of generating units to 

rapidly start, stop, and change output to 

meet variations in load. 

ii. Delete three questions on whether 

the generator is an electric utility, the 

date of a unit’s sale, and whether the 

unit can deliver power to the 

transmission grid. EIA has determined 

that these questions are either 

duplicative or provide information of 

limited value. 

• Schedule 3, Part B, Generator 

Information—Existing Generators: 

i. Collect information on whether an 

uprate or derate was completed during 

the reporting period. This information is 

needed in particular to confirm when an 

uprate became operational at nuclear 

units, a subject of great interest to power 

market analysts and modelers. 

ii. Collect data on nameplate power 

factor. This information, which is an 

indicator of the maximum potential 

output from a generator, will be used in 

verifying the reported nameplate and 

net capacity of the unit. 

iii. Collect data on generator 

minimum load and minimum time 

required to reach full load from standby 

and shutdown. These questions address 

the operating flexibility of the power 

system, a topic of increased interest due 

to the introduction of renewable power 

with variable output and demand 

response programs. These questions are 

limited to units burning combustible 

fuels. 

iv. Delete the questions relating to 

reactive power. EIA has been unable to 

collect consistent or clearly correct data 

on reactive power. NERC, which 

originally requested these data, has 

informed EIA that the need no longer 

exists. 

v. Reduce the number of questions 

relating to fuel switching and multi-fuel 

operation from 13 questions to eight. 

The remaining questions relate to oil 

and gas units only. This change is made 

to reduce respondent burden by 

focusing on the fuel switching questions 

of greatest interest, which is essentially 

the issue of backup fuel for gas and oil 

fired units. 

vi. Add new questions on the 

characteristics of wind turbines such as 

turbine manufacturer, designed average 

annual wind speed, wind quality class, 

and average hub height; and add new 

questions on the characteristics of solar 

energy systems such as identification of 

tracking, concentrating and collector 

technology, and photovoltaic panel 

material. These questions will provide 

important information on the renewable 

technologies which increasingly 

account for the additions to the nation’s 

generating fleet. 

• Schedule 3, Part C, Generator 

Information—Proposed Generators: 

Consistent with changes discussed 

above to Part B (existing generators), 

EIA proposes to delete questions 

relating to reactive power, fuel 

switching and multi-fuel operations at 

planned units. 

• Schedule 5, Generator Cost 

Information: 

i. Delete all questions relating to 

interconnection costs. 

ii. Add new questions on generator 

construction and financing costs. There 

is no public source of information on 

the actual cost of building new power 

plants. Nonetheless, cost estimates are 

critical elements to projections of, for 

example, power industry capital 

requirements and forecasts of new 

builds. The proposed questions will 


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collect construction and financing costs 

as of the time of completion for most 

generating units. Long-lead coal and 

nuclear units will be required to provide 

annual estimates of the total cost to 

completion. All of the data will be 

treated as sensitive and protected to the 

extent that it satisfies the criteria for 

exemption under the Freedom of 

Information Act. 

• Schedule 6, Boiler Information: 

i. Part A, Plant Configuration: 

Reorganize the manner in which data on 

environmental equipment are collected 

to reflect that fact that a single pollution 

control technology can reduce 

emissions of more than one pollutant. 

ii. Part C, Boiler Information: Delete 

the question that collects boiler 

manufacturer. EIA cannot identify a 

need for this information. 

iii. Part D, Nitrogen Oxide Emission 

Controls, and Part E, Mercury Emission 

Controls: Collect information on the 

operating status, and installed cost of 

nitrogen oxide and mercury control 

systems. 

iv. Part F, Cooling System 

Information—Design Parameters: Add a 

new question that collects the name of 

the cooling water discharge body if it is 

different than the intake body. This 

information was requested as part of 

EIA’s joint review with U.S. Geological 

Survey of data relating to the energy/ 

water nexus (an initiative recommended 

by the Government Accountability 

Office). 

v. Part H, Flue Gas Desulfurization 

Unit Information: Delete the question 

that collects the flue gas desulfurization 

unit manufacturer. This information had 

value in the past when scrubber 

technology was still in the 

developmental stage, which is no longer 

the case. 

vi. Part I, Stack and Flue 

Information—Design Parameters: Delete 

the questions that collect the geographic 

coordinate datum of stacks. As noted 

above, EIA’s experience is that many 

and probably most respondents cannot 

provide a correct answer to this 

question. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: There are approximately 

3,500 respondents. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 3,500. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 29,617 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–860M, ‘‘Monthly 

Update to the Annual Electric Generator 

Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

change, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–860M collects 

data on the status of proposed new 

generators scheduled to begin 

commercial operation within the 

forward 12-month period; existing 

generators scheduled to retire from 

service within the forward 12-month 

period; and existing generators that have 

proposed modifications that are 

scheduled for completion within one 

month. The information is needed to 

ensure a complete and accurate 

inventory of the nation’s generating 

fleet, for such purposes as reliability 

and environmental analyses. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: During a typical year a 

total of about 412 entities will file the 

form for at least one month. Note, 

however, that in any given month only 

about 170 entities fall within the 

reporting threshold (i.e., have a new 

generator that is within 12 months of 

entering commercial operation) and are 

therefore required to file the survey. 

Most respondents file fewer than 12 

forms a year; the average is currently 

about 5.6 filings per year per 

respondent. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 2,307. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 692 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–861, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Power Plant Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–861 collects 

annual information on the retail sale, 

distribution, transmission and 

generation of electric energy in the 

United States, its territories, and Puerto 

Rico. The data include related activities 

such as energy efficiency and demand 

response programs. In combination with 

the Form EIA–861S short form (see 

below) and the monthly Form EIA–826, 

this annual survey provides coverage of 

retail sales of electric power and related 

activities 

The Form EIA–861 requests a full 

array of data from approximately 2,200 

larger power companies. EIA proposes 

the following: 

• For most schedules that request 

information by state, add a requirement 

to report by state and balancing 

authority combination. This reflects an 

effort by EIA to align data collection 

with the actual operation of the power 

system, which is managed by about 100 

balancing authorities. As a consequence 

of this proposal, in states that have more 

than one balancing authority, the 

respondent may have more than one 

schedule reported per state. 

• Schedule 2, Part C, Green Pricing: 

Remove the green pricing schedule. As 

discussed above in relation to the Form 

EIA–826 monthly survey the limited 

presence of green pricing in the retail 

power market does not appear to justify 

the burden of this schedule on 

respondents. 

• Schedule 4, Part A, Sales to 

Ultimate Customers, Full Service: Add 

questions about ‘‘rate decoupling,’’ a 

form of ratemaking intended to keep 

utilities revenue-neutral in a situation in 

which sales are dropping due to energy 

efficiency and demand response 

programs. These programs have been 

common for retail sales of natural gas 

and are now being implemented for 

electricity sales. 

• Schedule 6, Parts A and B, Demand 

Side Management Programs: Over the 

past 18 months EIA consulted with 

government, academic, and other 

experts on steps to improve the 

collection of Energy Efficiency data. The 

primary objective of the changes is to 

focus on the data respondents are best 

able to provide and to improve the 

consistency of responses. The specific 

changes to Part A, Energy Efficiency 

Programs, are as follows: 

i. Change the collection of Net Energy 

Savings to Gross Energy Savings (MWh); 

ii. Change the collection of 

Annualized Incremental Effects and 

Actual Annual Effects to Incremental 

Annual Savings and Incremental Life 

Cycle Savings. 

iii. Replace Annual Costs with 

Reporting Year Incremental Costs and 

Incremental Life Cycle Costs; also 

reduce the number of cost components 

collected. 

iv. Add the collection of the Weighed 

Average Life of a portfolio of Energy 

Efficiency programs and provide an 

automated spreadsheet to calculate this 

number based on program data entered 

into the spreadsheet. 

v. Remove questions about 

verification and reporting on another 

company’s form. 

vi. Add question about Web site 

address to energy efficiency reports. 


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• For Part B, Demand Response 

Programs, add the numbers of 

customers enrolled and reduce the 

number of cost components collected. 

• Schedule 2, Part D, Net Metering: 

Increase the capacity limit for reporting 

net metering installations from 2 MWs 

to unlimited. This change will help 

identify the amount of net metering 

capacity by technology type and, 

combined with other changes to 

generation capacity data collection, help 

EIA to identify all the renewable 

capacity installed. 

• Schedule 6, Part C, Dynamic Pricing 

Programs: Dynamic pricing is a form of 

ratemaking that exposes retail customers 

to short-term changes in power prices. 

These rate structures, particularly in 

combination with smart meters, are of 

increasing interest as a integrated part of 

overall Demand Side Management 

Programs and as a means to improve the 

operation of restructured power 

markets. Consistent with the increased 

interest in this topic, EIA proposes to 

enhance the demand response 

questions, for example by asking 

respondents to identify how many 

customers they have signed up in these 

types of programs and also whether they 

have customers signed up for any of five 

major time-based rate programs, i.e. 

Time-of-Use Pricing, Real Time Pricing, 

Variable Peak Pricing, Critical Peak 

Pricing, and Critical Peak Rebate. 

• Schedule 6, Part C, Advanced 

Metering and Customer 

Communications: Separate AMI into 

two subgroups—AMI operated as AMR 

and AMI operated as AMI. In addition, 

the definitions of advanced metering 

infrastructure (AMI, or ‘‘smart meters’’) 

and automated meter reading 

technologies have been adjusted to 

provide better estimates of total AMI 

meter installations. This statistic is of 

interest because of federal and state 

programs intended to encourage the use 

of smart meters and the possible value 

of smart meters in energy efficiency and 

demand response programs. EIA also 

proposed to add to the data collection 

the total number of meters (of all types 

including mechanical ones), number of 

customers that receive certain types of 

communication from the service 

provider, frequency of this 

communication, and the number of 

customers participating in direct load 

control programs. 

• Schedule 6, Parts E and Part F, 

Distribution System Information and 

Reliability Information: Parts E and F 

add new questions dealing with 

distribution system automation and the 

reliability of electric power distribution 

systems. This information expands 

EIA’s coverage of power system 

reliability, which has historically been 

limited to the transmission grid (see 

discussion of Form EIA–411, above), to 

the distribution level at which most 

customer interruptions actually occur. 

The initial recommendation to add 

these questions came from Lawrence 

Berkeley National Laboratory, which 

identified the lack of a central 

repository of distribution system 

reliability statistics. The need for this 

data collection is further indicated by 

requests EIA has received for these data 

from Congressional and state energy 

offices. The impact on respondent 

burden is expected to be minimal 

because respondents can respond with 

statistics that are typically computed in 

the normal course of business. Utilities 

that do not collect this information do 

not have to respond. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: There are approximately 

2,200 respondents. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 2,200. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 24,706 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–861S, ‘‘Annual Electric 

Power Plant Report (Short Form)’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–861S collects 

a limited set of information annually 

from 1,100 small companies involved in 

the retail sale of electricity. A complete 

set of annual data is collected from 

2,200 larger companies on the Form 

EIA–861 and monthly data are collected 

on the Form EIA–826 (see above). EIA 

proposes changes to the Form EIA–861S 

to comport with those planned for the 

EIA–861 long form, specifically: 

• For most schedules that request 

information by state, add a requirement 

to report by state and balancing 

authority combination. As noted earlier, 

this reflects an effort by EIA to align 

data collection with the actual operation 

of the power system, which is managed 

by about 100 balancing authorities. As 

a consequence of this proposal, in states 

that have more than one balancing 

authority, the respondent may have 

more than one schedule reported per 

state. 

• Schedule 2, Part C, Remove the 

green pricing schedule. As discussed 

above, the limited presence of green 

pricing in the retail power market does 

not appear to justify the burden of this 

schedule on respondents. 

• Schedule 2, Part D, Net Metering: 

Add a Yes or No question concerning 

whether the respondent has a net 

metering program. 

• Schedule 6, Part D, Advanced 

Metering and Customer 

Communications: Separate AMI into 

two subgroups—AMI operated as AMR 

and AMI operated as AMI. In addition, 

the definitions of advanced metering 

infrastructure and automated meter 

reading technologies have been adjusted 

to provide better estimates of total AMI 

meter installations. This statistic is of 

interest because of federal and state 

programs intended to encourage the use 

of smart meters and the possible value 

of smart meters in energy efficiency and 

demand response programs. 

• Schedule 6, Part C, Time-Based 

Rate Programs (Dynamic Pricing 

Programs): Add a single Yes/No 

question asking if the respondent 

operates any time-based rate programs. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: There are approximately 

1,100 respondents. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 1,100. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 2,200 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–923, ‘‘Power Plant 

Operations Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: Extension, with 

changes, of a currently approved 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–923 collects 

information from electric power plants 

in the United States. Data collected 

include electric power generation, 

energy source consumption, end of 

reporting period fossil fuel stocks, as 

well as the quality and cost of fossil fuel 

receipts. EIA proposes to make the 

following changes: 

• Schedule 2, Cost and Quality of 

Fuel Purchases: Add to the collection of 

coal quality characteristics two 

additional elements: coal moisture and 

chloride content. These factors relate to 

the propensity of the coal to produce 

acid gases and assist in assessment of 

the quality of the various coal ranks. 

• Schedule 2, Cost and Quality of 

Fuel Purchases: Add the collection of 

the names of the pipeline systems 

connected to natural gas burning power 


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14526 Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 44 / Wednesday, March 6, 2013 / Notices 

3A Balancing Authority is ‘‘The responsible 

entity that integrates resource plans ahead of time, 

maintains load-interchange-generation balance 

within a Balancing Authority Area, and supports 

Interconnection frequency in real time.’’ (NERC, 

Glossary of Terms Used in NERC Reliability 

Standards, December 21, 2012.) In most, but not all 

cases, a balancing authority is an electric utility 

company or a Regional Transmission Organization. 

The electric power grid in the contiguous United 

States is managed on a moment to moment basis by 

98 Balancing Authorities. If the Southwest Power 

Pool RTO proceeds as planned to consolidate its 17 

member Balancing Authorities, the number of 

Balancing Authorities will drop to 82. 

4Alaska and Hawaii do not have integrated 

electric power grids as in the contiguous United 

States. Alaska has numerous small regional electric 

power systems. In the case of Alaska, EIA proposes 

to collect data from 1) the six interconnected 

systems in the Railbelt Intertie extending from the 

Kenai Peninsula north to Fairbanks, including 

Chugach Electric Association, Anchorage Municipal 

Light & Power, Matanuska Electric Association, 

Golden Valley Electric Association, Homer Electric 

Association, and Seward Electric System; and 2) 

Alaska Electric Light & Power, which provides 

power to Juneau. These utilities are believed by EIA 

to account for over 75 percent of electric power load 

in Alaska. 

In the case of Hawaii, EIA proposes to collect data 

from the Hawaiian Electric Industries, Inc. 

operating companies, including Hawaii Electric Co., 

Hawaii Electric Light Company, Inc. and Maui 

Electric Company, Ltd. These companies provide 

service to the islands of Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Lanai, 

and Molokai, encompassing about 95% of Hawaiian 

electric power customers. This approach provides 

acceptable coverage of Alaska and Hawaii without 

incurring the costs and burden of collecting 

complete data for these states. 

plants. This information is needed to 

help reconcile natural gas sales 

information collected on other surveys 

with the data collected on the Form 

EIA–923, and by doing so help ensure 

that EIA has a complete picture of the 

disposition of natural gas. 

• Schedule 4, Fossil Fuel Stocks at 

the End of the Reporting Period: EIA 

collects coal stocks held for power plant 

use to measure the adequacy of shortterm coal supply for power generation. 

The proposed change will add questions 

to clarify the relationship between 

stocks held off-site at coal terminals 

with the plants the terminals serve. 

• Schedule 3, Boiler and Generator 

Information for Steam-Electric 

Combustible-Fueled Plants: This change 

would simplify the form by combining 

two schedules dealing with generation 

and fuel consumption (Schedules 3 and 

5) into one schedule. 

• Schedule 6, Nonutility Annual 

Source and Disposition of Electricity: 

add ‘‘Energy provided under tolling 

arrangements’’ to the Disposition of 

Electric Energy; and request 

identification of the nature of ‘‘other 

incoming’’ and ‘‘other out-going’’ 

electric energy. These changes are 

needed to distinguish power delivered 

under tolling agreements from the more 

generic category of ‘‘other out-going 

power.’’ Plants selling power under 

tolling agreements have increased from 

about a dozen in 2007 to over 200 in 

2012. 

• Schedule 7, Annual Revenues from 

Retail Sales and/or Sales for Resale: 

This schedule will collect data on retail 

sales by entities (power plants) that 

normally sell power at wholesale. These 

data are needed to complete the 

disposition of electricity by inclusion of 

retail sales by nonutility plants (utilities 

report retail sales on the Form EIA–861, 

but independent power producers are 

not required to complete the Form EIA– 

861). 

• Schedules 8, Annual Environmental 

Information, Parts C, E and F: 

Reconfigure these schedules to be 

equipment-oriented, rather than 

emission type oriented, because 

installed environmental controls can 

reduce more than one type of air 

emission. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: There are approximately 

6,295 respondents. The monthly form is 

filed by 2,052 respondents; the annual 

form is filed by 4,243 respondents; and 

the supplemental form is filed by 1,625 

respondents. (Those same 1,625 

respondents also file the monthly form 

and are included in the 2,052 

respondents on the monthly form.) 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 30,492. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 69,602 hours. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden hours. 

(1) OMB No.: 1905–0129 

(2) Information Collection Request 

Title: Form EIA–930, ‘‘Balancing 

Authority Operations Report’’ 

(3) Type of Request: New data 

collection. 

(4) Purpose: Form EIA–930 is a new 

survey of hourly electric power 

operating data from Balancing 

Authorities in the contiguous United 

States 3 and from selected electric 

utilities in Alaska and Hawaii.4 The 

data include: 

• Hourly demand, 

• Hourly next-day demand forecast, 

• Hourly net generation, 

• Hourly actual interchange with 

each interconnected Balancing 

Authority. 

The purpose of this survey is to 

provide basic operating statistics for the 

nation’s electric power systems on a 

current basis. While electric utilities 

individually and as an industry have 

primary responsibility for system 

operations, many other entities, such as 

other industry participants, 

policymakers, legislators, regulators, 

emergency and disaster response 

officials, entrepreneurs, economic 

analysts, industry researchers, and the 

public, have a direct interest in electric 

systems operations and the associated 

data. There is currently no central or 

comprehensive source for hourly 

electric industry operating statistics. 

The burden of providing these data is 

extremely low relative to their value, 

particularly since the information 

requested is already collected by or 

known to the proposed respondents in 

the course of their normal operations, 

and a number of proposed respondents 

are already posting much of it. Based on 

the information in the respondent 

postings, EIA would make available a 

comprehensive set of the current day’s 

system demand data on an hourly basis 

and the prior day’s basic hourly electric 

system operating data on a daily basis. 

Respondents will post hourly demand 

data at a web address in a standard 

format within ten minutes of the end of 

the reported hour. They will also post 

separately the prior day’s hourly 

demand, demand forecast, net 

generation, and actual interchange data 

in a standard format by 7:00 a.m. 

Eastern Time the next day. The posting 

web address must be accessible by EIA 

and respondents may, at their 

discretion, provide the public with 

access to this address. In either case, 

EIA will treat this data as public. EIA 

requests comment on alternatives or 

supplements to the web posting 

requirement and the format for the 

posted data. 

The same-day, soon after the reporting 

hour posting of demand provides a basic 

measure of the current status of electric 

systems and the United States electric 

industry as a whole. Comparing actual 

system demand with the day-ahead 

forecast provides a measure of the 

accuracy of forecasting used to commit 

resources. 

Data regarding the time-varying 

nature of electricity supply and demand 

is essential to addressing smart grid 

related issues such as integrating wind 

and solar generation, better coordination 

of natural gas and electric short-term 

operations, and expanding the use of 

demand response, storage, and electric 

vehicles in electric system operations. 

Due to the lack of sufficient costeffective electricity storage, electricity 

must be produced at the moment it is 

used. This presents the electric industry 

with significant challenges in delivering 

its primary product: electricity ondemand. The industry meets the 


pmangrum on DSK3VPTVN1PROD with NOTICES
Federal Register / Vol. 78, No. 44 / Wednesday, March 6, 2013 / Notices 14527 

challenge by always having more 

capacity available than needed and 

relying on certain entities to ensure the 

moment-to-moment balancing of supply 

and demand. Electric utilities that 

perform the balancing function are 

called Balancing Authorities. Due to the 

interconnected nature of power grids, 

collecting operating information from 

only a subset of the entities involved 

significantly undermines the usefulness 

of the survey. 

Balancing Authority operators 

monitor their systems continuously and 

may act whenever necessary to maintain 

reliability. However, Balancing 

Authority operating procedures, such as 

scheduling supply, demand and 

interchange (the flow of electricity 

between Balancing Authorities), and the 

mandatory reliability standards that 

apply to them, use the hour as the 

primary operating period. Consequently, 

the proposed survey uses the operating 

hour as its data measurement interval. 

The proposed survey is specifically 

designed to minimize burden on electric 

system operators. The surveyed data is 

typically produced in the normal course 

of business by Balancing Authority 

energy management systems. Hourly 

demand and demand forecast data is 

currently posted on public Web sites in 

the proposed posting timeframes by a 

number of Balancing Authorities, 

including most Regional Transmission 

Organizations. These balancing 

authorities supply over half of end-use 

electricity consumption in the United 

States. A few Balancing Authorities post 

publicly more detailed operating data. 

Under Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission (FERC) Order 890, 

Transmitting Utilities are required to 

post on their Open Access Same-time 

Information System (OASIS) Web sites 

prior-day’s peak hour demand and the 

associated demand forecast value. Most 

Balancing Authorities are also 

Transmitting Utilities. Therefore, the 

Balancing Authorities subject to Order 

890 already have in place the means for 

posting some of the data requested by 

the proposed survey. 

The proposed survey does not 

duplicate existing data collections. EIA 

currently collects monthly and annual 

production from electric generators and 

demand from load-serving entities. The 

data are published about 52 days after 

the end of a month for major generators 

and systems, and about eight months 

after the end of the year for smaller 

entities. 

FERC currently collects demand, net 

generation and actual interchange from 

Balancing Authorities on an annual 

survey, the FERC Form 714. The 

reporting is on a monthly and annual 

basis. In addition, Balancing Authorities 

report actual interchange received and 

delivered with each directly 

interconnected Balancing Authority on 

an annual basis. Monthly or annual 

values for demand, net generation and 

actual interchange do not provide 

relevant information about the timevarying nature of these operating values 

as would be provided by the proposed 

survey. 

The FERC Form 714 also collects 

historical hourly demand by Planning 

Area. Most Balancing Authorities are 

also Planning Areas, but not all. The 

hourly demand data is collected 

annually and posted with the rest of the 

form data in August of the year 

following the reporting year. The FERC 

Form 714 data is both less complete and 

far less timely than the data collected by 

the proposed survey, and does not offer 

current information on the status of the 

nation’s electric system that the 

proposed survey would provide. 

Certain real-time system information 

is made available by NERC to DOE’s 

Office of Electricity Delivery and Energy 

Reliability. However, this data is not 

made available to the public and under 

the agency’s agreement with NERC the 

data is not recorded or otherwise 

retained by DOE. 

EIA does not believe that this 

information is business sensitive. As 

noted above, Regional Transmission 

Organizations that serve as Balancing 

Authorities and some other Balancing 

Authorities currently post publicly 

hourly operating data. A potential 

commercial issue is whether these data 

will reveal whether a specific utility is 

short on available generating capacity 

and may be willing to pay premium 

prices for electricity to meet load. The 

proposed survey data, including sameday posting of hourly demand, does not 

provide information about the 

availability of generating units. The 

next-day posting of operating data is 

after the relevant short-term wholesale 

power markets have closed. 

Multiple power plants supply most 

Balancing Authorities. Therefore, the 

generation data reported under the 

proposed survey will not reveal which 

specific generators are operating or a 

history of their operating trends. 

However, some individual generators 

and small utilities with little or no 

generation have chosen for commercial 

reasons to operate as Balancing 

Authorities. Most Balancing Authorities 

of this type are embedded within 

another Balancing Authority and have a 

single interconnection with that 

Balancing Authority. 

While the proposed survey data does 

not provide information about the 

current availability of a single-generator 

Balancing Authority power plant, it 

does provide a history of the plant’s 

hourly output. There is little value in 

collecting system level operating data 

from these Balancing Authorities. 

However, their information is needed to 

provide comprehensive operating 

statistics. EIA requests comments on 

how to exempt these Balancing 

Authorities or limit their reporting 

while maintaining the 

comprehensiveness of the survey. 

(5) Estimated Number of Survey 

Respondents: The annual estimated 

number of respondents is 107. This 

includes 98 Balancing Authorities in the 

contiguous United States, 6 electric 

utilities in Alaska, and 3 electric 

utilities in Hawaii. 

(6) Annual Estimated Number of 

Total Responses: The annual estimated 

number of total responses is 39,055. 

(7) Annual Estimated Number of 

Burden Hours: The annual estimated 

burden is 7,534 hours for the first year 

(to include start-up activities) and 3,254 

hours each subsequent year. 

(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and 

Recordkeeping Cost Burden: Additional 

costs to respondents are not anticipated 

beyond costs associated with response 

burden. 

Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the 

Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, 

Pub. L. 93–275, codified at 15 U.S.C. 772(b). 

Issued in Washington, DC, on February 27, 

2013. 

Renee Miller, 

Acting Director, Office of Survey Development 

and Statistical Integration, U.S. Energy 

Information Administration. 

[FR Doc. 2013–05152 Filed 3–5–13; 8:45 am] 

BILLING CODE 6450–01–P 

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY 

Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission 

[Docket No. IC13–4–000; (FERC–538)] 

Commission Information Collection 

Activities; Comment Request 

AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory 

Commission. 

ACTION: Comment request. 

SUMMARY: In compliance with the 

requirements of the Paperwork 

Reduction Act of 1995, the Federal 

Energy Regulatory Commission 

(Commission or FERC) is submitting the 

information collection FERC–538, Gas 

Pipeline Certificates: Section 7(a) 

Mandatory Initial Service, to the Office 

of Management and Budget (OMB) for 

review of the information collection 


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