Document ID: FERC-2009-0452-0001
Agency: ferc
Document Type: Proposed Rule
Title: Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities,
Posted Date: 2009-03-25T04:00Z

[Federal Register: March 25, 2009 (Volume 74, Number 56)]
[Proposed Rules]               
[Page 12739-12747]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr25mr09-46]                         

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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Federal Energy Regulatory Commission

18 CFR Part 38

[Docket No. RM05-5-013]

 
Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for 
Public Utilities

March 19, 2009.
AGENCY: Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

ACTION: Notice of proposed rulemaking.

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SUMMARY: The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes 
to incorporate by reference in its regulations the latest version 
(Version 002.1) of certain business practice standards adopted by the 
Wholesale Electric Quadrant of the North American Energy Standards 
Board (NAESB). NAESB's Version 002.1 Standards mainly modify NAESB's 
Version 001 Standards in response to Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 890-B.

DATES: Comments on the proposed rule are due April 24, 2009.

ADDRESSES: You may submit comments identified by Docket No. RM05-5-013, 
by one of the following methods:
     Agency Web Site: http://ferc.gov. Follow the instructions 
for submitting comments via the eFiling link found in the Comment 
Procedures Section of the preamble.
     Mail: Commenters unable to file comments electronically 
must mail or hand deliver an original and 14 copies of their comments 
to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the 
Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426. Please refer 
to the Comment Procedures Section of the preamble for additional 
information on how to file paper comments.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ryan M. Irwin (technical issues), Office of Energy Market Regulation, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-6454.
Valerie Roth (technical issues), Office of Energy Market Regulation, 
Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., 
Washington, DC 20426, (202) 502-8538.
Gary D. Cohen (legal issues), Office of the General Counsel, Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, 888 First Street, NE., Washington, DC 
20426, (202) 502-8321.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
    1. In this Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR), the Federal Energy 
Regulatory Commission (Commission) proposes to amend its regulations at 
18 CFR 38.2 under the Federal Power Act \1\ to incorporate by reference 
the latest version (Version 002.1) of certain business practice 
standards adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North 
American Energy Standards Board (NAESB). These revised standards update 
earlier versions that the Commission previously incorporated by 
reference into its regulations at 18 CFR 38.2 in Order Nos. 676, 676-B, 
698, and 676-C,\2\ as well as the Version 002.0 standards that NAESB 
filed with the Commission on September 2, 2008. The new and revised 
standards that NAESB adopted in its Version 002.0 and 002.1 standards 
implement requirements of Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 890-B.\3\ In 
addition, NAESB developed standards to support the Commission's eTariff 
program, modified the Commercial Timing Table (WEQ-004 Appendix D) and 
Transmission Loading Relief Standards (WEQ-008) to provide clarity and 
align NAESB's business practice standards with the reliability 
standards adopted by the North American Electric Reliability 
Corporation (NERC), revised the Manual Time Error Correction Standards 
(WEQ-006) to maintain consistency with revised NERC Standard BAL-004, 
and amended certain ancillary services definitions appearing in the 
Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Standards (WEQ-001) 
relating to the inclusion of demand resources as part of ancillary 
services.
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    \1\ 16 U.S.C. 791a, et seq.
    \2\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols 
for Public Utilities, Order No. 676, 71 FR 26,199 (May 4, 2006), 
FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles ] 31,216 (Apr. 25, 2006), 
reh'g denied, Order No. 676-A, 116 FERC ] 61,255 (2006), Order No. 
676-B, 72 FR 21,095 (Apr. 30, 2007), FERC Stats. & Regs., 
Regulations Preambles ] 31,246 (Apr. 19, 2007), Order No. 676-C, 73 
FR 43,848 (July 29, 2008), FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations 
Preambles ] 31,274 (July 21, 2008), Order No. 676-D, granting 
clarification and denying reh'g, 124 FERC ] 61,317 (2008); Standards 
for Business Practices for Interstate Natural Gas Pipelines, Order 
No. 698, 72 FR 38,757 (July 16, 2007), FERC Stats. & Regs., 
Regulations Preambles ] 31,251 (June 25, 2007), order on 
clarification and reh'g, Order No. 698-A, 121 FERC ] 61,264 (2007).
    \3\ Preventing Undue Discrimination and Preference in 
Transmission Service, Order No. 890, 72 FR 12,266 (March 15 2007), 
FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles ] 31,241 (2007) (Order 
No. 890); order on reh'g, Order No. 890-A, 73 FR 2984 (Jan. 16, 
2008), FERC Stats. & Regs., Regulations Preambles ] 31,261 (2007) 
(Order No. 890-A); order on reh'g and clarification, Order No. 890-
B, 123 FERC ] 61,299 (2008).
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I. Background

    2. NAESB is a non-profit standards development organization 
established in January 2002 that serves as an industry forum for the 
development of business practice standards. These standards promote a 
seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural gas and 
electricity.\4\ Since 1995, NAESB and its predecessor, the Gas Industry 
Standards Board, have been accredited members of the American National 
Standards Institute (ANSI), complying with ANSI's requirements that its 
standards reflect a consensus of the affected industries.\5\
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    \4\ See Standards for Business Practices and Communication 
Protocols for Public Utilities, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 72 FR 
8318 (Feb. 27, 2007), FERC Stats. & Regs., Proposed Regs. ] 32,612 
at P 3 (Feb. 20, 2007).
    \5\ Id.
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    3. NAESB's standards include business practices that streamline the 
transactional processes of the natural gas and electric industries, as 
well as communication protocols and related standards designed to 
improve the efficiency of communication within each industry. NAESB 
supports all four quadrants of the gas and electric industries--
wholesale gas, wholesale electric, retail gas, and retail electric. All 
participants in the gas and electric industries are eligible to join 
NAESB

[[Page 12740]]

and participate in standards development.\6\
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    \6\ Id. P 4.
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    4. NAESB develops its standards under a consensus process so that 
the standards draw support from a wide range of industry members. 
NAESB's procedures are designed to ensure that all industry members can 
have input into the development of a standard, whether or not they are 
members of NAESB.\7\ Furthermore, each standard the WEQ adopts is 
supported by a consensus of the six industry segments: transmission, 
generation, marketer/brokers, distribution/load serving entities, end 
users, and independent grid operators/planners. Under the WEQ process, 
for a standard to be approved, it must receive a super-majority vote of 
67 percent of the members of the WEQ's Executive Committee with support 
from at least 40 percent of each of the six industry segments. For 
final approval, 67 percent of the WEQ's general membership must ratify 
the standards.\8\
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    \7\ Id. P 5.
    \8\ Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols 
for Public Utilities, Notice of Proposed Rulemaking, 70 FR 28,222 
((May 17, 2005), FERC Stats. & Regs., Proposed Regs. ] 32,582, P 13 
(May 9, 2005).
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    5. In a series of Orders,\9\ the Commission has incorporated 
certain of NAESB's standards into its regulations. These standards 
include standards for business practices as well as standards and 
protocols for electronic communication, and business practice standards 
related to reliability standards promulgated by NERC and approved by 
the Commission. In Order No. 698, the Commission also incorporated by 
reference into its regulations the NAESB Gas/Electric Coordination 
Standards (WEQ-011). These standards established communication 
protocols between interstate natural gas pipelines and electric power 
plant operators designed to enhance reliability by improving 
communication between the gas and electric industries relating to the 
scheduling of gas-fired generators.
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    \9\ See n.2 supra.
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    6. On September 2, 2008, NAESB reported to the Commission that its 
WEQ Executive Committee had approved Version 002.0 of its business 
practice standards.\10\ The standards were published on September 30, 
2008. NAESB states that its leadership responded to Order Nos. 890, 
890-A, and 890-B, by requesting that its Electronic Scheduling 
Subcommittee/Information Technology Subcommittee (ESS/ITS) and its 
Business Practice Subcommittee (BPS) coordinate efforts to address the 
issues raised by those orders. NAESB also states that, in formulating 
its work schedule, it distinguished between the findings in Order No. 
890 that called for a specific completion date and other tasks that 
were less time sensitive and developed a work schedule to allow 
completion of the more time-sensitive items earlier in the process. As 
part of this process, NAESB states that the ESS/ITS and BPS worked in 
close coordination with the pertinent NERC committees to draft business 
practice standards on Order No. 890 issues that complement NERC's 
reliability standards related to these issues, so that the standards 
for both organizations will be consistent.\11\
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    \10\ See NAESB supplemental report dated Nov. 14, 2008.
    \11\ The Commission addresses the associated reliability 
standards proposed by NERC in a companion Notice of Proposed 
Rulemaking being issued in Docket No. RM08-19-000.
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    7. While the majority of the revisions made in NAESB's Version 
002.0 Standards were adopted in response to Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 
890-B, the Version 002.0 Standards also include: (1) The eTariff 
related standards developed by NAESB in coordination with Commission 
staff and the electric, gas, and oil industries; (2) modifications to 
WEQ's existing interconnection time monitor standards in the Manual 
Time Error Corrections Standards (WEQ-006) to ensure the NAESB 
standards remain consistent with NERC's BAL-004 standard; and (3) the 
explicit inclusion of demand resources in the definitions of certain 
ancillary services.
    8. On February 19, 2009, NAESB notified the Commission that the WEQ 
Executive Committee had approved its Version 002.1 standards, which 
include both new standards and modifications to existing Version 002.0 
standards.\12\ The Version 002.1 standards include new standards 
related to capacity benefit margin and rollover rights, and were 
developed in response to Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 676. Additional 
modifications included in the Version 002.1 standards include: (1) 
Modifications to existing standards pertaining to rollover rights; (2) 
modifications to the Coordinate Interchange Timing Tables contained in 
Appendix D of the Coordinate Interchange Standards (WEQ-004) to clarify 
the differences in timing requirements for the Western Electricity 
Coordinating Council and all other interconnections, complementary to 
the NERC reliability standards; and (3) modifications to the 
Transmission Loading Relief--Eastern Interconnection Standards (WEQ-
008) to add clarity and ensure that the business practice standards are 
consistent with NERC reliability standard IRO-006.
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    \12\ On March 12, 2009, NAESB submitted a report to the 
Commission documenting its ratification of the Version 002.1 
standards.
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    9. In total, NAESB's WEQ Version 002.1 business practice standards 
include the following standards:
     Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS), Version 
1.5 (WEQ-001);
     Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Standards & Communications Protocols, Version 1.5 (WEQ-002);
     Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Data 
Dictionary, Version 1.5 (WEQ-003);
     Coordinate Interchange (WEQ-004);
     Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases (WEQ-005);
     Manual Time Error Correction (WEQ-006);
     Inadvertent Interchange Payback (WEQ-007);
     Transmission Loading Relief--Eastern Interconnection (WEQ-
008);
     Standards of Conduct for Electric Transmission Providers 
(WEQ-009);
     Contracts Related Standards (WEQ-010);
     Gas/Electric Coordination (WEQ-011);
     Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) (WEQ-012);
     Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Implementation Guide, Version 1.5 (WEQ-013); and
     WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Standards (WEQ-014).

II. Discussion

    10. We propose to incorporate by reference into the Commission's 
regulations the NAESB WEQ Version 002.1 standards, with certain 
exceptions.\13\ The Version 002.1

[[Page 12741]]

standards will update the Version 001 standards currently incorporated 
by reference into the Commission's regulations.\14\
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    \13\ We do not propose to incorporate by reference in the 
Commission's regulations the following standards: Standards of 
Conduct for Electric Transmission Providers (WEQ-009); Contracts 
Related Standards (WEQ-010); and WEQ/WGQ eTariff Related Standards 
(WEQ-014). We do not propose to incorporate WEQ-009 into the 
Commission's regulations because it contains no substantive 
standards and merely serves as a placeholder for future standards. 
We do not propose to incorporate WEQ-010 because this standard 
contains an optional NAESB contract regarding funds transfers and 
the Commission does not require utilities to use such contracts. In 
addition, we do not propose to incorporate WEQ-014, eTariff Related 
Standards, because the Commission already has adopted standards and 
protocols for electronic tariff filing based on the NAESB standards. 
See Electronic Tariff Filings, 73 FR 57,515 (Oct. 3, 2008), FERC 
Stats. & Regs. ] 31,276 (Sept. 19, 2008). Also, we do not propose to 
incorporate NAESB's interpretation of its standards on Gas/Electric 
Coordination (WEQ-011) by reference in the regulations. While 
interpretations may provide useful guidance, they are not 
determinative and we will not require utilities to comply with 
interpretations. Lastly, as discussed more specifically in note 18, 
infra, we do not propose to incorporate by reference certain 
portions of WEQ-001.
    \14\ In this NOPR, the Commission is proposing to incorporate by 
reference into the Commission's regulations Version 002.1 of NAESB's 
business practice standards. These standards have been updated to 
include all revisions to the standards since Version 001. Thus, some 
of the revisions included in Version 002.1 were made from the 
Version 002.0 standards and others were made from the Version 001 
standards. Given that NAESB's Version 002.1 Standards represent the 
most up-to-date version of NAESB's business practice standards, we 
believe it is more productive for this NOPR to address this set of 
standards, rather than the Version 002.0 standards. Given our 
proposals in this NOPR, we do not see the need to propose any 
separate action addressing NAESB's Version 002.0 standards. 
Therefore, the proceeding in Docket No. RM05-5-007 is moot.
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    11. NAESB adopted the majority of the changes in the Version 002.1 
standards to support Order Nos. 890, 890-A, and 890-B, in which the 
Commission addressed and remedied opportunities for undue 
discrimination under the pro forma open access transmission tariff 
(OATT). While many of the Version 002.1 standards simply revise or 
update existing standards, some of these standards prescribe new 
business practices to accommodate the reforms adopted in Order No. 890. 
For example, NAESB has developed business practice and technical 
standards to support conditional firm service. Additionally, NAESB 
developed standards for the posting of narratives explaining changes in 
available transfer capability and total transfer capability, underlying 
load forecast assumptions for available transfer capability 
calculations and actual peak load, as well as metrics relating to the 
provision of transmission service and the completion of planning 
studies. Specific additions and revisions included in the NAESB WEQ 
Version 002.1 standards are discussed below.
    12. NAESB approved the Version 002.1 standards under its consensus 
procedures.\15\ Adoption of consensus standards is appropriate because 
the consensus process helps to 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 has to conduct business under these standards, the Commission's 
regulations should reflect those standards that have the widest 
possible support. In section12(d) of the National Technology Transfer 
and Advancement Act of 1995 (NTT&AA), Congress affirmatively requires 
federal agencies to use technical standards developed by voluntary 
consensus standards organizations, like NAESB, as a means to carry out 
policy objectives or activities determined by the agencies unless use 
of such standards would be inconsistent with applicable law or 
otherwise impractical.\16\
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    \15\ See P 4 supra.
    \16\ Pub L. No. 104-113, 12(d), 110 Stat. 775 (1996), 15 U.S.C. 
272 note (1997).
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    13. We propose that, once the Commission incorporates these 
standards by reference into its regulations, public utilities must 
implement these standards even before they have updated their tariffs 
to incorporate these changes. The Commission is also proposing, 
consistent with our regulation at 18 CFR 35.28(c)(1)(vii), to require 
each public utility to revise its OATT to include the Version 002.1 WEQ 
standards that we are proposing to incorporate by reference herein. For 
standards that do not require implementing tariff provisions, the 
Commission is proposing to permit the public utility to incorporate the 
WEQ standard by reference in its OATT. We are not, however, proposing 
to require a separate tariff filing to accomplish this change. 
Consistent with our prior practice, we are proposing to give public 
utilities the option of including these changes as part of an unrelated 
tariff filing.\17\
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    \17\ See Order No. 676, P 100.
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A. OASIS Standards

    14. In the NAESB WEQ Version 002.1 standards, NAESB has developed 
new standards and revised existing standards relating to OASIS to 
ensure consistency with certain policies articulated by the Commission 
in Order Nos. 890, 890-A and 890-B. A number of standards that the 
Commission directed transmission providers to develop have been 
included by WEQ in the Version 002.1 OASIS Standards, which include: 
(1) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS), Version 1.5 
(WEQ-001); (2) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Standards & Communication Protocols, Version 1.5 (WEQ-002); (3) Open 
Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Data Dictionary, Version 
1.5 (WEQ-003); and (4) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems 
(OASIS) Implementation Guide, Version 1.5 (WEQ-013). In addition, 
NAESB's WEQ Version 002.1 standards include various minor revisions to 
the OASIS Standards.
    15. In this NOPR, we propose to incorporate by reference into the 
Commission's regulations the Version 002.1 OASIS Standards (i.e., WEQ-
001, WEQ-002, WEQ-003, and WEQ-013), with certain exceptions.\18\
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    \18\ Consistent with the Commission's determination in Order 
Nos. 676 and 676-C, we are not proposing to incorporate by reference 
Standards 001-0.1, 001-0.9 through 001-0.13, and 001-1.0 through 
001-1.8 because these standards merely restate Commission 
regulations and Standard 001-9.7 because it is not consistent with 
the Commission's policy on redirects. Order No. 676, P 51 & n.40.
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    16. We note that Standard 001-13.1.2, which requires the posting of 
Standards of Conduct-related information, contains references to 
various Commission regulations that were subsequently revised in Order 
No. 717.\19\ Thus, these references are no longer accurate and the 
information required to be posted by this standard does not conform, in 
some instances, to the Commission's current requirements. We understand 
that NAESB is working on making a revision to this standard. Because 
the standard contains posting requirements that are still applicable, 
we propose to incorporate this standard by reference. However, we 
clarify that, until we adopt a revised standard, we do not propose to 
require public utilities to comply with any portion of the standard 
that requires information to be posted in a manner inconsistent with 
Order No. 717.
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    \19\ Standards of Conduct for Transmission Providers, Order No. 
717, 73 FR 63,796 (Oct. 27, 2008), FERC Stats. & Regs ] 31,280 
(2008), reh'g pending.
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1. Conditional Firm Service
    17. In the OASIS Standards, NAESB has included a number of 
standards that support conditional firm service as envisioned by the 
Commission in Order Nos. 890 and 890-A. NAESB has developed business 
practice standards to facilitate the implementation of conditional firm 
service, relying on the Commission's description of the attributes of 
that service in Order No. 890.\20\ Specifically, NAESB developed 
Standards 001-21 through 001-21.5.5 on the Conditional Curtailment 
Option, the term that NAESB uses to describe conditional firm service. 
These standards address: (1) The limitations and conditions under which 
the Conditional Curtailment Option is offered; (2) the posting 
requirements for information concerning a Conditional Curtailment 
Option reservation and its curtailment criteria; (3) the process for 
performing the biennial reassessment; (4) the curtailment of a 
Conditional Curtailment Option reservation; and (5) the redirect, 
transfer, and resale of a Conditional Curtailment Option reservation.
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    \20\ Order No. 890, P 1043-47.

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[[Page 12742]]

    18. Additionally, NAESB has developed other standards related to 
conditional firm service in response to the Commission's requests for 
the development of specific standards in Order Nos. 890 and 890-A.\21\ 
Specifically, NAESB has developed Standard 001-21.1.6, which requires 
that transmission providers offer short-term firm service to 
conditional firm customers as capacity (that would alleviate the 
constraints associated with a Conditional Curtailment Option 
reservation) becomes available. In response to Order No. 890-A, NAESB 
has created and modified standards in WEQ-001, Appendix C to WEQ-001, 
WEQ-002, WEQ-003, WEQ-008 and WEQ-013, to provide a consistent set of 
tracking capabilities and business practices for tagging, as a means to 
implement conditional firm service.
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    \21\ Order No. 890, P 1078; Order No. 890-A, P 592.
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2. Available Transfer Capability
    19. NAESB developed several standards related to available transfer 
capability in response to Order No. 890. First, NAESB modified WEQ-001 
to support the transparency reporting and related functions required by 
Order No. 890. Second, in response to the available transfer capability 
related posting requirements established by the Commission in Order No. 
890, NAESB has developed business practice standards in WEQ-001 
(including Standards 001-14, 001-15, 001-17, 001-18, 001-19, 001-20 and 
Appendix D), WEQ-002, WEQ-003 and WEQ-013 (including Appendices A and 
B).\22\
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    \22\ Order No. 890, P 369 and 371.
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    20. Standard 001-14 is designed to meet the requirement in Order 
No. 890 for transmission providers to post a narrative with regard to 
monthly or yearly available transfer capability values in instances 
when available transfer capability remains unchanged at a value of zero 
for six months or longer.\23\ Standard 001-15 is designed to meet the 
requirement in Order No. 890 for transmission providers to post a 
brief, but specific, narrative explanation of the reason for a change 
in monthly and yearly available transfer capability values on a 
constrained path when a monthly or yearly available transfer capability 
value changes as a result of a 10 percent change in total transfer 
capability. This standard requires the narrative explanation to include 
the specific events that gave rise to the change and the new values for 
available transfer capability on that path.\24\
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    \23\ Id. P 371.
    \24\ Id. P 369.
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    21. Standard 001-16.1 requires Transmission Providers to respond to 
questions about the methodology for calculating available transfer 
capability and available flowgate capability. We interpret this 
standard as requiring the Transmission Provider to provide data when 
necessary to respond to the methodology questions in order to be 
consistent with the requirement in Order No. 890 that transmission 
providers must, upon request, ``make available all data used to 
calculate [available transfer capability] and [total transfer 
capability] for any constrained paths and any system planning studies 
or specific network impact studies performed for customers.''\25\
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    \25\ Order No. 890, P 348.
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    22. Standard 001-17 governs the posting of the underlying load 
forecast assumptions used by transmission providers to calculate 
available transfer capability and, on a daily basis, their actual daily 
peak load for the prior day.\26\
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    \26\ Id. P 413.
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    23. Another standard developed by NAESB in response to Order No. 
890 is Standard 001-18, which relates to postbacks of capacity to 
available transfer capability. In Order No. 890, the Commission 
directed public utilities, working through NERC, to modify available 
transfer capability related standards to require transmission providers 
to account for postbacks of redirected services and counterflows in 
their non-firm available transfer capability calculations.\27\ In 
coordination with NERC, NAESB concluded that a business practice 
standard addressing counterflows was unnecessary because NERC had 
addressed it in the reliability standards, but that the postback issue 
necessitated the creation of a related business practice standard. 
Thus, NAESB developed Standard 001-18 and a related Appendix D to WEQ-
001 to account for postbacks of capacity to available transfer 
capability.
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    \27\ Id. P 212.
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    24. Also in response to Order No. 890,\28\ NAESB has developed 
standards that establish a consistent approach for determining the 
amount of transfer capability that a transmission provider can set 
aside for its native load and other committed uses. Specifically, 
Standard 001-19 addresses grandfathered agreements and Standard 001-20 
addresses rollover rights. Furthermore, NAESB has developed business 
practice standards that complement NERC's reliability standards for 
existing transmission commitments. These standards appear in WEQ-001, 
WEQ-003, and WEQ-013.
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    \28\ Id. P 243.
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    25. One of the Commission's objectives in Order No. 890 was to 
reduce the potential for transmission providers to unduly discriminate 
when they provide transmission service by limiting their discretion to 
calculate available transfer capability using unknown assumptions and 
methodologies.\29\ For this reason, the Commission found that ``all 
[Available Transfer Capability] components (i.e., [total transfer 
capability], [existing transmission commitments], [capacity benefit 
margin], and [transmission reliability margin]) and certain data 
inputs, data exchange, and assumptions be consistent and that the 
number of industry-wide ATC calculation formulas be few in number, 
transparent and produce equivalent results.''\30\
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    \29\ The Commission reasoned that the potential for 
discrimination does not lie primarily in the choice of an available 
transfer capability calculation methodology, but rather in the 
consistent application of its components. Id. P 208.
    \30\ Order No. 890, P 207.
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    26. The standards establish a mechanism for posting available 
transfer capacity for grandfathered agreements. The standards, however, 
provide for a different approach to posting grandfathered agreements 
using the Flowgate Methodology. Under Standard 001-19.1, transmission 
providers using the other available transfer capability calculation 
methodologies must post the aggregate MW value for the grandfathered 
agreements and such data must be posted so that it can be viewed and 
queried using the systemdata template. Standard 1-19.1.2 provides an 
exception for transmission providers using the Flowgate Methodology 
from the requirement to post an aggregate MW value that can be viewed 
and queried using the systemdata template. Instead, it requires that 
the transmission provider must post a list of Grandfathered Agreements 
with MW values that are expected to be scheduled or expected to flow. 
The standards, therefore, permit transmission providers using Available 
Transfer Capability (ATC) calculation methodologies other than the 
Flowgate Methodology to post less detailed information concerning 
grandfathered agreements than those using the Flowgate Methodology, but 
information concerning grandfathered agreements posted by those using 
the Flowgate Methodology is not accessible through the systemdata 
template.
3. ATC Information Link
    27. The WEQ Version 002.1 standards establish the procedure for 
input of total transfer capability and available transfer

[[Page 12743]]

capability methodologies and values to be used by public utilities in 
calculating their total transfer capability and available transfer 
capability. NAESB developed these business practice standards in close 
coordination with the NERC available transfer capability drafting team. 
Furthermore, NERC and NAESB determined that the standards contained in 
NERC MOD-003 were better classified as business practice standards than 
reliability standards. As a result, NAESB developed Standard 001-
13.1.5, which provides for an ATC Information Link on OASIS. This 
standard requires that Transmission Providers post several links on the 
ATC Information Link, including links to their Available Transfer 
Capability Implementation Document (as specified in NERC reliability 
standard MOD-001-1), Capacity Benefit Margin Implementation Document 
(as specified in NERC reliability standard MOD-004-1), and Transmission 
Reserve Margin Implementation Document (as specified in NERC 
reliability standard MOD-008-1).\31\
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    \31\ These three implementation documents are described in the 
NERC reliability standards, which are addressed in a companion 
Notice of Proposed Rulemaking being issued in Docket No. RM08-19-
000.
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    28. Standard 001-13.1.5 provides that the posting of information on 
the ATC Information Link would be ``subject to the Transmission 
Provider's ability to redact certain provisions due to market, security 
or reliability sensitivity concerns.'' In Order No. 890, the Commission 
acknowledged that a transmission provider may require someone seeking 
access to CEII materials or proprietary customer information to sign a 
confidentiality agreement.\32\ We expect the provision in NAESB 
Standard 001-13.1.5 for a transmission provider to redact sensitive 
information from postings to be implemented by a transmission provider 
subject to the OATT in a manner consistent with its obligation to make 
that information available to those with a legitimate need to access 
the information, subject to appropriate confidentiality 
restrictions.\33\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \32\ Order No. 890, P 326.
    \33\ See Order No. 890, P 403-04 (requiring the development of 
standard disclosure for timely disclosure of CEII information to 
those with a legitimate need for it).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

4. Capacity Benefit Margin
    29. In addition to requiring that transmission providers include a 
link to their Capacity Benefit Margin Implementation Document on the 
ATC Information Link, as discussed above, the Version 002.1 standards 
allow for auditing of the use of capacity benefit margin using OASIS. 
This standard was developed in response to Order No. 890 and 890-A,\34\ 
and necessitated modifications to WEQ-001, WEQ-002, WEQ-003, and WEQ-
013. While the Commission also directed that public utilities, working 
through NERC and NAESB, ``develop clear standards for how the CBM value 
shall be determined, allocated across transmission paths, and used'' in 
Order No. 890,\35\ the NAESB subcommittees determined that the NERC 
reliability standard MOD-004 adequately addressed this directive and 
therefore it was not necessary to develop any supporting NAESB business 
practice standards.\36\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \34\ Order No. 890, P 262 and Order No. 890-A, P 68.
    \35\ Order No. 890, P 257. See also, Order No. 890-A, P 68 and 
83.
    \36\ See, NAESB Version 002.1 cover letter filed on Feb. 19, 
2009 at 69.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    30. On March 6, 2009, NERC filed comments with the Commission 
concerning Standard 004-18.2, suggesting that this Standard might be in 
conflict with Requirement 12 of NERC Reliability Standard MOD-004-
1.\37\ After comparing the two standards, we do not believe that they 
are in conflict. Incorporation by reference of the NAESB Standard would 
not seem to relieve an entity from the independent obligation to comply 
with the NERC Reliability Standard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \37\ Standard 004-18.2 states that: ``The Transmission Provider 
may require the specification of a unique Transmission Reservation 
Number in association with any request for use of CBM. Such 
requirement shall be fully documented in the Transmission Provider's 
Business Practices posted on OASIS. The TSP reserves the right to 
deny any RFI requesting use of CBM if the required Transmission 
Reservation Number is not specified.''
    Requirement 12 of Standard MOD-004-1 requires transmission 
providers to approve, within the bounds of reliable operation, any 
arranged interchange using CBM that is submitted by an energy 
deficient entity under energy emergency alerts, if (1) CBM is 
available, (2) an emergency alert is declared within the balancing 
authority of the energy deficient entity, and (3) the energy 
deficient entity is located within the transmission provider's 
service area.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

5. Performance Metrics
    31. In response to several posting requirements in Order No. 890, 
NAESB developed and adopted Standard 001-13.1.3, which describes the 
Performance Metrics Link that transmission providers must have on the 
OASIS. Under the ``Transmission Service Requests Metrics'' link, 
transmission providers are required to post the information required by 
the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 37.6(i), which includes: (1) The 
number of affiliate versus non-affiliate requests for transmission 
service that have been rejected; and (2) the number of affiliate versus 
non-affiliate requests for transmission service that have been made. 
Furthermore, this posting is required to detail the length of service 
request (e.g., short-term or long-term) and the type of service 
requested (e.g., firm point-to-point, non-firm point-to-point or 
network service).\38\ Under the ``Transmission Study Metrics'' link, 
transmission providers must post the information concerning performance 
metrics relating to system impact and facilities studies \39\ required 
by the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 37.6(h). Under the 
``Redispatch Cost'' link, transmission providers must post information 
required by the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 37.6(j)(2) regarding 
redispatch costs. This information must include each transmission 
provider's monthly average cost of redispatch for each internal 
congested transmission facility or interface over which it provides 
redispatch service using planning redispatch or reliability redispatch 
under the pro forma OATT and a high and low redispatch cost for the 
month for each of these same transmission constraints.\40\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \38\ Order No. 890, P 413.
    \39\ Id. P 1318.
    \40\ Id. P 1162.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

6. Rebid of Partial Service
    32. The WEQ Version 002.1 standards cover the rebid of partial 
service across a single transmission provider's system. In response to 
Order No. 890, NAESB adopted business practice standards in its Version 
002.1 standards to complement the OASIS Standards and Communication 
Protocol standards that it had already developed for the rebid of 
partial service across a single Transmission Provider's system. These 
revisions appear in the OASIS Standards.
7. Pre-Confirmed Transmission Service Requests
    33. In WEQ-001, WEQ-002 and WEQ-013, NAESB has developed business 
practice standards to complement the Commission's policies regarding 
pre-confirmed transmission service requests, as articulated in Order 
No. 890. As required by Order No. 890, these standards ``give priority 
only to pre-confirmed non-firm point-to-point transmission service 
requests and short-term firm point-to-point transmission service 
requests'' \41\ and provide that ``longer duration requests for 
transmission service will continue to

[[Page 12744]]

have priority over shorter duration requests for transmission service, 
with pre-confirmation serving as a tie-breaker for requests of equal 
duration.'' \42\ In addition, as requested by the Commission in Order 
No. 890, NAESB has developed a consensus solution to the question of 
whether a transmission customer should be prohibited from changing a 
request into a pre-confirmed request.\43\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \41\ Id. P 1401.
    \42\ Id.
    \43\ Id. P 1392.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

8. Ancillary Services and Demand Response
    34. NAESB amended the definitions of certain ancillary services 
contained in WEQ-001 to reflect the definitions contained in the pro 
forma OATT as revised by Order No. 890. These definitions describe the 
types of ancillary services that are offered on OASIS. The revisions to 
the definitions reflect the possible role of demand resources in the 
provision of ancillary services by identifying non-generation resources 
capable of providing a given ancillary service as potential providers 
of the service. These modifications include revisions to Standards 001-
2.5.2 through 001-2.5.6.\44\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \44\ On November 14, 2008, NAESB reported that these standards, 
among others, have been approved by the WEQ Executive Committee and 
ratified by the NAESB membership.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

9. Rollover Rights
    35. In the Version 002.1 standards, NAESB has included new 
standards and modifications to existing standards in WEQ-001, WEQ-003, 
and WEQ-013 that relate to rollover rights. As discussed above, these 
standards were developed in part as a response to Order No. 890,\45\ in 
which the Commission directed public utilities, working through NERC 
and NAESB, to develop standards that establish a consistent approach 
for determining the amount of transfer capability that a transmission 
provider can set aside for its native load and other committed uses. 
However, these standards also include business practices relating to 
rollover rights; for example, Standard 001-20 describes the process by 
which Transmission Customers may exercise their rollover rights.\46\ 
The modifications to the standards relating to rollover rights that 
NAESB has included in its Version 002.1 filing \47\ are the result of 
only the first part of a two part process through which NAESB is 
working to develop standards that are consistent with the Commission's 
policy on rollover rights as described in Order Nos. 676, 890, and 890-
A.\48\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \45\ Order No. 890, P 243.
    \46\ Although we have previously determined not to incorporate 
Standard 001-9.7 dealing with rollover rights and redirects, we are 
proposing to incorporate by reference Standard 001-9.5.3, which 
refers to the not-accepted Standard 001-9.7. The reference, however, 
does not affect the meaning of the Standard 001-9.5.3, and any 
redirect issues are governed by the Commission's pro forma Open 
Access Transmission Tariff.
    \47\ NAESB Version 002.1 cover letter filed on Feb. 19, 2009 at 
7.
    \48\ NAESB reports, id., that part one of this process included 
revisions it made to the definition of ``unexercised rollover 
rights'' in WEQ-001, and modifications to the existing standards in 
WEQ-001, WEQ-003 and WEQ-013. NAESB further reports, id., that in 
part two of this process it intends to revise Standard 001-9.7 as 
part of its Order No. 890 work plan, and to include this revision in 
its Version 002.2 standards.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

10. Insufficient Transfer Capacity
    36. Standard 001-4.7.1 provides the OASIS posting procedure to be 
followed when there is insufficient transfer capacity to satisfy a 
customer's request and partial service is either not required or is 
unavailable.\49\ While we propose to incorporate this standard by 
reference into our regulations, we note that it does not address or 
otherwise limit other obligations that might exist under the pro forma 
OATT, such as the requirement in section 15.2 to perform a System 
Impact Study.\50\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \49\ Standard 001-4.7.1 states: ``If the Transmission Provider 
determines there is insufficient transfer capability available to 
grant the Transmission Customer's request and there is no obligation 
to provide Partial Service (or Partial Service is also not available 
in cases where the Transmission Provider is obligated to provide 
Partial Service), the Transmission Provider may respond by setting 
the request status to REFUSED.''
    \50\ Section 15.2 of the pro forma OATT states that: ``In the 
event sufficient transfer capability may not exist to accommodate a 
service request, the Transmission Provider will respond by 
performing a System Impact Study.''
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

11. Miscellaneous OASIS Standards
    37. In Order No. 890, the Commission decided that NAESB would be 
the best entity to address the issue of making OASIS platforms 
accessible on non-Windows/Explorer computers.\51\ NAESB has developed 
standards concerning this issue as part of its OASIS Standards. 
Additionally, in the Version 002.1 standards NAESB modified WEQ-002, 
WEQ-003, and WEQ-013 to complement the new and revised standards 
adopted in response to Order No. 890. These revisions support 
annotations for available transfer capability, load forecast and actual 
load, rebid of partial service, pre-confirmation priority, and 
conditional firm service. NAESB also added an Appendix C to WEQ-001 
that provides a list of broad based OASIS exemptions that have been 
granted to specific groups in the electric industry by the Commission 
through its Orders and regulations.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \51\ Order No. 890, P 1392.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

B. Business Practice Standards to Coordinate With Reliability Standards 
Unrelated to Order No. 890

    38. In the Version 002.1 standards for Coordinate Interchange, 
(WEQ-004), Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases (WEQ-005), 
Inadvertent Interchange Payback (WEQ-007), and Transmission Loading 
Relief--Eastern Interconnection (WEQ-008), NAESB has made minor 
modifications to the format of the standards and has revised section 
titles.
    39. In the Version 002.1 standards, NAESB added Standard 004-18 to 
the Coordinate Interchange Standards (WEQ-004), which describes the 
requirements for submitting a Request for Interchange that uses a 
Transmission Provider's capacity benefit margin to support energy 
imports into a load balancing authority area served by the Transmission 
Provider. Additionally, the Version 002.1 standards include 
modifications to the timing table in Appendix D of the Coordinate 
Interchange Standards (WEQ-004). The NERC/NAESB Joint Interchange 
Scheduling Working Group modified previous versions of this table by 
dividing it into two separate tables, one that provides the timing 
requirements for the Western Electricity Coordinating Council and one 
that provides the timing requirements for all other interconnections. 
These tables were modified to reflect time changes for Generator-
Provider Entity, Load-Serving Entity, and Purchase-Selling Entity 
market assessments so that they are concurrent with the Balancing 
Authority and Transmission Service Provider reliability assessments. 
Also, timeline diagrams for each table were added for 
clarification.\52\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \52\ NAESB Version 002.1 cover letter filed on Feb. 19, 2009 at 
8.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    40. In the Version 002.1 standards for Manual Time Error Correction 
(WEQ-006), NAESB has included revisions to maintain conformance with 
NERC Standard BAL-004.\53\ NAESB states that NERC recently revised 
Standard BAL-004 to remove inappropriate requirements on reliability 
coordinators that voluntarily agree to serve as Interconnection Time 
Monitors.\54\ In

[[Page 12745]]

addition, NAESB has revised a section title in this standard.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \53\ NAESB reports that this item was voted out of the 
subcommittee on June 4, 2008, passed an Executive Committee vote on 
Aug. 19, 2008, and the ratification process will complete on Sep. 
22, 2008. In its supplemental report dated Nov. 14, 2008, NAESB 
advised that this revision was ratified on Sep. 22, 2008.
    \54\ NERC filed Standard BAL-004-1 with the Commission for 
approval in Docket Nos. RM09-13-000 and RM06-16-000 on March 12, 
2009 and this filing is currently pending before the Commission.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    41. In the Version 002.1 standards for Transmission Loading 
Relief--Eastern Interconnection (WEQ-008), NAESB made a minor 
modification to a standard to accommodate conditional firm service and 
the use of capacity benefit margin. Additionally, NAESB modified these 
standards to clarify the intended use of the nine Transmission Loading 
Relief levels addressed in the standards, and to ensure consistency 
between WEQ-008 and the NERC reliability standard IRO-006, both of 
which address transmission loading relief. We propose to update the 
Commission's regulations to incorporate by reference Version 002.1 of 
these standards.

C. Other Standards

1. Gas/Electric Coordination Standards
    42. In the Version 002.1 standards for Gas/Electric Coordination 
(WEQ-011), NAESB made a minor correction to rearrange the definitions 
so that they appear in alphabetical order. We propose to incorporate by 
reference into the Commission's regulations Version 002.1 of this 
standard.
2. Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) Standards
    43. In the Version 002.1 standards for Public Key Infrastructure 
(WEQ-012), NAESB made a minor revision to the endnote. We propose to 
incorporate by reference into the Commission's regulations the updated 
Version 002.1 of this standard.

III. Notice of Use of Voluntary Consensus Standards

    44. Office of Management and Budget Circular A-119 (section 11) 
(February 10, 1998) provides that federal agencies should publish a 
request for comment in a NOPR when the agency is seeking to issue or 
revise a regulation proposing to adopt a voluntary consensus standard 
or a government-unique standard. In this NOPR, the Commission is 
proposing to incorporate by reference a voluntary consensus standard 
developed by the NAESB WEQ.

IV. Information Collection Statement

    45. The following collections of information contained in this 
proposed rule have been submitted to the Office of Management and 
Budget (OMB) for review under section 3507(d) of the Paperwork 
Reduction Act of 1995, 44 U.S.C. 3507(d). The Commission solicits 
comments on the Commission's need for this information, whether the 
information will have practical utility, the accuracy of the provided 
burden estimates, ways to enhance the quality, utility, and clarity of 
the information to be collected, and any suggested methods for 
minimizing respondents' burden, including the use of automated 
information techniques. Respondents subject to the filing requirements 
of this rule will not be penalized for failing to respond to these 
collections of information unless the collections of information 
display a valid OMB Control number.
    46. The following burden estimate is based on the projected costs 
for the industry to implement revisions to the WEQ Standards currently 
incorporated by reference into the Commission's regulations at 18 CFR 
38.2 and to implement the new standards adopted by NAESB that we 
propose here to incorporate by reference.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                                                     Number of
                 Data collection                     Number of     responses per     Hours per     Total number
                                                    respondents     respondent       response        of hours
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FERC-516........................................             176               1               6            1056
FERC-717........................................             176               1              12            2112
                                                 ---------------------------------------------------------------
    Totals......................................  ..............  ..............  ..............            3168
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Total Annual Hours for Collection:
    (Reporting and Recordkeeping, (if appropriate)) = 3168 hours.
    Information Collection Costs: The Commission seeks comments on the 
costs to comply with these requirements. It has projected the average 
annualized cost for all respondents to be the following: \55\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \55\ The total annualized costs for the information collection 
is $1,172,160. This number is reached by multiplying the total hours 
to prepare responses (3168) by an hourly wage estimate of $370 (a 
composite estimate that includes legal, technical and support staff 
rates, $250 + $95 + $25 = $370), 3168 hours x $370/hour = 
$1,172,160.

------------------------------------------------------------------------
                                             FERC-516        FERC-717
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Annualized Capital/Startup Costs........        $390,720        $781,440
Annualized Costs (Operations &                       N/A
 Maintenance)...........................
                                         -------------------------------
    Total Annualized Costs..............         390,720         781,440
------------------------------------------------------------------------

    47. OMB regulations \56\ require OMB to approve certain information 
collection requirements imposed by agency rule. The Commission is 
submitting notification of this proposed rule to OMB. These information 
collections are mandatory requirements.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \56\ CFR 1320.11.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    Title: Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols 
for Public Utilities (formerly Open Access Same Time Information 
System) (FERC-717); Electric Rate Schedule Filings (FERC-516).
    Action: Proposed collection.
    OMB Control No.: 1902-0096 (FERC-516); 1902-0173 (FERC-717).
    Respondents: Business or other for profit, (Public Utilities--Not 
applicable to small businesses).
    Frequency of Responses: One-time implementation (business 
procedures, capital/start-up).
    Necessity of the Information: This proposed rule, if implemented 
would supplement the changes the Commission required in Order Nos. 890, 
890-A, and 890-B to require that transmission services are provided on 
a basis that is just, reasonable and not unduly discriminatory. In 
addition this proposed rule would upgrade the Commission's current 
business practice and communication standards.

[[Page 12746]]

Specifically, these standards include several modifications to the 
existing business practice standards as well as creating new standards 
to provide additional functionality for OASIS transactions. These 
practices will ensure that potential customers of open access 
transmission service receive access to information that will enable 
them to obtain transmission service on a non-discriminatory basis and 
will assist the Commission in maintaining a safe and reliable 
infrastructure. The implementation of these standards and regulations 
is necessary to increase the efficiency of the wholesale electric power 
grid.
    48. The information collection requirements of this proposed rule 
are based on the transition from transactions being made under the 
existing business practice standards to conducting such transactions 
under the proposed revisions to these standards and to account for the 
burden associated with the new standards the Commission proposes to 
incorporate in its regulations.
    49. Internal Review: The Commission has reviewed the revised 
business practice standards and has made a preliminary determination 
that the proposed revisions are necessary to maintain consistency 
between the business practice standards and reliability standards on 
this subject. The Commission has assured itself, by means of its 
internal review, that there is specific, objective support for the 
burden estimate associated with the information requirements.
    50. Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting 
requirements by contacting the following: Federal Energy Regulatory 
Commission, Attn: Michael Miller, Office of the Executive Director, 888 
First Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426, Tel: (202) 502-8415/Fax: (202) 
273-0873, e-mail: michael.miller@ferc.gov.
    51. Comments concerning the information collections proposed in 
this NOPR and the associated burden estimates, should be sent to the 
contact listed above and to the Office of Management and Budget, Office 
of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Washington, DC 20503 [Attention: 
Desk Officer for the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, phone: (202) 
395-7345, fax: (202) 395-7285].

V. Environmental Analysis

    52. The Commission is required to prepare an Environmental 
Assessment or an Environmental Impact Statement for any action that may 
have a significant adverse effect on the human environment.\57\ The 
Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these 
requirements as not having a significant effect on the human 
environment.\58\ The actions proposed here fall within categorical 
exclusions in the Commission's regulations for rules that are 
clarifying, corrective, or procedural, for information gathering, 
analysis, and dissemination, and for sales, exchange, and 
transportation of electric power that requires no construction of 
facilities.\59\ Therefore, an environmental assessment is unnecessary 
and has not been prepared in this NOPR.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \57\ Regulations Implementing the National Environmental Policy 
Act, Order No. 486, 52 FR 47,897 (Dec. 17, 1987), FERC Stats. & 
Regs., Regulations Preambles ] 30,783 (1987).
    \58\ 18 CFR 380.4.
    \59\ See 18 CFR 380.4(a)(2)(ii), 380.4(a)(5), 380.4(a)(27).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VI. Regulatory Flexibility Act Certification

    53. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 (RFA) \60\ generally 
requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have 
significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. 
The regulations proposed here impose requirements only on public 
utilities, which generally are not small businesses, and, these 
requirements are, in fact, designed to benefit all customers, including 
small businesses.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \60\ 5 U.S.C. 601-612.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    54. The Commission has followed the provisions of both the RFA and 
the Paperwork Reduction Act on potential impact on small business and 
other small entities. Specifically, the RFA directs agencies to 
consider four regulatory alternatives to be considered in a rulemaking 
to lessen the impact on small entities: tiering or establishment of 
different compliance or reporting requirements for small entities, 
classification, consolidation, clarification or simplification of 
compliance and reporting requirements, performance rather than design 
standards, and exemptions. As the Commission originally stated in Order 
No. 889, the OASIS regulations now known as Standards for Business 
Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities, apply only 
to public utilities that own, operate, or control transmission 
facilities subject to the Commission's jurisdiction and should a small 
entity be subject to the Commission's jurisdiction, it may file for 
waiver of the requirements. This is consistent with the exemption 
provisions of the RFA. Accordingly, pursuant to section 605(b) of the 
RFA,\61\ the Commission hereby certifies that the regulations proposed 
herein will not have a significant adverse impact on a substantial 
number of small entities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \61\ 5 U.S.C. 605(b).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

VII. Comment Procedures

    55. The Commission invites interested persons to submit comments on 
the matters and issues proposed in this notice to be adopted, including 
any related matters or alternative proposals that commenters may wish 
to discuss. Comments are due April 24, 2009. Comments must refer to 
Docket No. RM05-5-013, and must include the commenter's name, the 
organization they represent, if applicable, and their address. Comments 
may be filed either in electronic or paper format.
    56. Comments may be filed electronically via the eFiling link on 
the Commission's Web site at http://www.ferc.gov. The Commission 
accepts most standard word processing formats and commenters may attach 
additional files with supporting information in certain other file 
formats. Commenters filing electronically do not need to make a paper 
filing. Commenters that are not able to file comments electronically 
must send an original and 14 copies of their comments to: Federal 
Energy Regulatory Commission, Secretary of the Commission, 888 First 
Street, NE., Washington, DC 20426.
    57. All comments will be placed in the Commission's public files 
and may be viewed, printed, or downloaded remotely as described in the 
Document Availability section below. Commenters on this proposal are 
not required to serve copies of their comments on other commenters.

VIII. Document Availability

    58. In addition to publishing the full text of this document in the 
Federal Register, the Commission provides all interested persons an 
opportunity to view and/or print the contents of this document via the 
Internet through FERC's Home Page (http://www.ferc.gov) and in FERC's 
Public Reference Room during normal business hours (8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. 
Eastern time) at 888 First Street, NE., Room 2A, Washington, DC 20426.
    59. From FERC's Home Page on the Internet, this information is 
available in the eLibrary. The full text of this document is available 
in the eLibrary both in PDF and Microsoft Word format for viewing, 
printing, and/or downloading. To access this document in eLibrary, type 
the docket number

[[Page 12747]]

excluding the last three digits of this document in the docket number 
field.\62\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    \62\ NAESB's August 29, 2008 submittal is also available for 
viewing in eLibrary. The link to this file is as follows: http://
elibrary.ferc.gov/idmws/common/opennat.asp?fileID=11793503.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

    60. User assistance is available for eLibrary and the FERC's web 
site during our normal business hours. For assistance contact FERC 
Online Support at FERCOnlineSupport@ferc.gov or toll-free at (866) 208-
3676, or for TTY, contact (202) 502-8659.

List of Subjects in 18 CFR Part 38

    Conflict of interests, Electric power plants, Electric utilities, 
Incorporation by reference, Reporting and recordkeeping requirements.

    By direction of the Commission.
Kimberly D. Bose,
Secretary.
    In consideration of the foregoing, the Commission proposes to amend 
Chapter I, Title 18, part 38 of the Code of Federal Regulations, as 
follows:

PART 38--BUSINESS PRACTICE STANDARDS AND COMMUNICATION PROTOCOLS 
FOR PUBLIC UTILITIES

    1. The authority citation for part 38 continues to read as follows:

    Authority: 16 U.S.C. 791-825r, 2601-2645; 31 U.S.C. 9701; 42 
U.S.C. 7101-7352.

    2. In Sec.  38.2, paragraphs (a)(1) through (11) are revised to 
read as follows:

Sec.  38.2  Incorporation by reference of North American Energy 
Standards Board Wholesale Electric Quadrant standards

    (a) * * *
    (1) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS), Version 1.5 
(WEQ-001, Version 002.1, March 11, 2009) with the exception of 
Standards 001-0.1, 001-0.9 through 001-0.13, 001-1.0 through 001-1.8, 
and 001-9.7;
    (2) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Standards & 
Communication Protocols, Version 1.5 (WEQ-002, Version 002.1, March 11, 
2009);
    (3) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) Data 
Dictionary, Version 1.5 (WEQ-003, Version 002.1, March 11, 2009);
    (4) Coordinate Interchange (WEQ-004, Version 002.1, March 11, 
2009);
    (5) Area Control Error (ACE) Equation Special Cases (WEQ-005, 
Version 002.1, March 11, 2009);
    (6) Manual Time Error Correction (WEQ-006, Version 002.1, March 11, 
2009);
    (7) Inadvertent Interchange Payback (WEQ-007, Version 002.1, March 
11, 2009);
    (8) Transmission Loading Relief--Eastern Interconnection (WEQ-008, 
Version 002.1, March 11, 2009);
    (9) Gas/Electric Coordination (WEQ-011, Version 002.1, March 11, 
2009);
    (10) Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) (WEQ-012, Version 002.1, March 
11, 2009); and
    (11) Open Access Same-Time Information Systems (OASIS) 
Implementation Guide, Version 1.5 (WEQ-013, Version 002.1, March 11, 
2009).
* * * * *
 [FR Doc. E9-6504 Filed 3-24-09; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 6717-01-P