II

107TH CONGRESS

1ST SESSION S. 1231

To amend the Federal Power Act to establish a system for market participants, regulators, and the public to have access to certain information

about the operation of electricity power markets and transmission systems.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

JULY 24, 2001

Mr. WYDEN (for himself and Mr. BURNS) introduced the following bill; which

was read twice and referred to the Committee on Energy and Natural

Resources

A BILL

To amend the Federal Power Act to establish a system

for market participants, regulators, and the public to

have access to certain information about the operation

of electricity power markets and transmission systems.

1 Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representa2 tives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

3 SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

4 This Act may be cited as the ‘‘Electricity Informa5 tion, Disclosure, Efficiency, and Accountability Act’’.
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1 SEC. 2. DEFINITIONS.

2 Section 3 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C. 796)

3 is amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(26) BULK-POWER SYSTEM.—

5 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘bulk-power

6 system’ means all facilities and control systems

7 necessary for operating an interconnected

8 transmission grid or any portion of an inter9 connected transmission grid.

10 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘bulk-power

11 system’ includes—

12 ‘‘(i) high-voltage transmission lines,

13 substations, control centers, communica14 tions, data, and operations planning facili15 ties necessary for the operation of all or

16 any part of the interconnected trans17 mission grid;

18 ‘‘(ii) energy exchanges associated by

19 law or contract with system operators and

20 used to determine dispatch priority; and

21 ‘‘(iii) the output of generating units

22 necessary to maintain bulk-power system

23 reliability.

24 ‘‘(27) BULK-POWER SYSTEM OPERATING

25 DATA.—The term ‘bulk-power system operating

26 data’ means—
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1 ‘‘(A) transmission line and generation fa2 cility data necessary for a system operator to

3 ascertain—

4 ‘‘(i) available transmission line capac5 ity;

6 ‘‘(ii) transmission line capacity con7 straints; and

8 ‘‘(iii) supply and demand for electrical

9 energy; and

10 ‘‘(B) other relevant operating data that is

11 available to the system operator and used to

12 maintain bulk-power system reliability.

13 ‘‘(28) BULK-POWER SYSTEM RELIABILITY.—

14 The term ‘bulk-power system reliability’ means the

15 degree of performance of a bulk-power system that

16 results in the delivery of electricity to purchasers

17 within industry standards and in the amount nec18 essary to maintain adequacy and security of the

19 bulk-power system.

20 ‘‘(29) BULK-POWER SYSTEM USER.—The term

21 ‘bulk-power system user’ means an entity that—

22 ‘‘(A) sells, purchases, or transmits electric

23 power over a bulk-power system; or
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1 ‘‘(B) owns, operates, or maintains facilities

2 or control systems that are part of a bulk-power

3 system.

4 ‘‘(30) MARKET-BID DATA.—The term ‘market5 bid data’ means the price, amount, and delivery lo6 cation of electric power offered by a bidder in a com7 petitive bidding or price auction process that is used

8 to schedule or allocate use of the bulk-power system

9 transmission capacity or to maintain bulk-power sys10 tem reliability.

11 ‘‘(31) SYSTEM OPERATOR.—

12 ‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—The term ‘system op13 erator’ means an entity that operates or is re14 sponsible for the operation of a bulk-power sys15 tem.

16 ‘‘(B) INCLUSIONS.—The term ‘system op17 erator’ includes—

18 ‘‘(i) a control-area operator;

19 ‘‘(ii) an independent system operator;

20 ‘‘(iii) a security coordinator;

21 ‘‘(iv) a regional transmission organi22 zation;

23 ‘‘(v) a transmission company; and

24 ‘‘(vi) a transmission system oper25 ator.’’.
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1 SEC. 3. DISCLOSURE OF BULK-POWER SYSTEM DATA.

2 Section 213 of the Federal Power Act (16 U.S.C.

3 824l) is amended by adding at the end the following:

4 ‘‘(c) BULK-POWER SYSTEM DATA.—

5 ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Not later than 180 days

6 after the date of enactment of this subsection, the

7 Commission shall promulgate a regulation requiring

8 that each system operator establish an information

9 system that provides, in a standardized format, all

10 users of the bulk-power system, State regulatory au11 thorities, and the public access, including access on

12 the Internet,—

13 ‘‘(A) to bulk-power system operating data;

14 and

15 ‘‘(B) in the case of a system operator that

16 uses a competitive bidding or price auction

17 process conducted by the system operator or by

18 an energy exchange associated by law or con19 tract with the system operator that is used to

20 schedule or allocate use of the bulk-power sys21 tem transmission capacity or to maintain bulk22 power system reliability, to market-bid data.

23 ‘‘(2) PROTECTION OF COMMERCIALLY SEN24 SITIVE DATA.—

25 ‘‘(A) PETITION BY BULK-POWER SYSTEM

26 USER.—A bulk-power system user may petition
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1 the Commission to keep data subject to disclo2 sure under paragraph (1) confidential due to its

3 commercially sensitive nature.

4 ‘‘(B) DETERMINATION BY THE COMMIS5 SION.—On receiving a petition under subpara6 graph (A), the Commission shall—

7 ‘‘(i) determine whether there is good

8 cause for keeping the data confidential;

9 and

10 ‘‘(ii) if good cause is found under

11 clause (i), instruct the system operator—

12 ‘‘(I) not to disclose the data; or

13 ‘‘(II) to disclose the data only

14 after a time period specified by the

15 Commission after which the data are

16 no longer commercially sensitive.

17 ‘‘(3) PROVISION OF REAL TIME DATA.—A sys18 tem operator shall make all bulk-power system oper19 ating data available to all users of the bulk-power

20 system on a real time basis, updated hourly to re21 flect changes to data in the aggregate.

22 ‘‘(4) DISCLOSURE OF IDENTITY OF BIDDERS.—

23 A system operator or energy exchange shall be re24 quired to disclose the identity of a bidder only to

25 State regulatory authorities and other authorized
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1 Federal or State agencies acting in an official capac2 ity on motion filed with the Commission dem3 onstrating that the authority or agency is con4 ducting an investigation within the jurisdiction of

5 the authority or agency.’’.

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