[Federal Register Volume 76, Number 155 (Thursday, August 11, 2011)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49757-49759]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2011-20401]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed new Form EIA-
111, ``Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.'' This new
form would supersede the existing Form OE-781R, ``Monthly Electricity
Imports and Exports Report''. The Form OE-781R is currently suspended
and would be terminated with the implementation of the proposed Form
EIA-111.
DATES: Comments must be filed by October 11, 2011. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the
person listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Michelle Bowles. To ensure receipt of the
comments by the due date, e-mail ([email protected]) is recommended. The
mailing address is the U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy
Information Administration, Mail Stop: EI-23 (Form EIA-111), 1000
Independence Avenue, SW., Washington, DC 20585. Alternatively, Ms.
Bowles may be
[[Page 49758]]
contacted by telephone at 202-586-2430 or via fax at (202) 287-1960.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of any forms and instructions (the draft proposed collection)
should be directed to Michelle Bowles at the address listed above.
Forms and instructions are also available on the Internet at: http://beta.eia.gov/survey/form-eia111/proposed.pdf.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments
I. Background
The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (15 U.S.C. 761 et
seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.) require the
EIA to carry out a centralized, comprehensive, and unified energy
information program. This program collects, evaluates, assembles,
analyzes, and disseminates information on energy resource reserves,
production, demand, technology, and related economic and statistical
information. This information is used to assess the adequacy of energy
resources to meet near and longer term domestic demands.
The EIA, as part of its effort to comply with the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (44 U.S.C. 3501, et seq.), provides the general
public and other Federal agencies with opportunities to comment on
collections of energy information conducted by or in conjunction with
the EIA. Also, the EIA will later seek approval for this collection by
the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) under Section 3507(a) of the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995.
The collected information will be kept in public electronic files
available on EIA's Web site (http://www.eia.gov). Monthly and annual
tabulations of these data may be used by the U.S. Energy Information
Administration in the publications: Annual Energy Outlook, Annual
Energy Review, Electric Power Annual, Electric Power Monthly, and
Monthly Energy Review.
The existing survey of electricity imports and exports (OE-781R)
was designed to reflect significant changes in the electricity
industry, such as the restructuring of wholesale electricity markets
and transmission by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC);
the entry of a large number of independent marketers into those
markets; and the regulatory requirement that entities in the electric
power industry keep information on transmission service separate from
their information on marketing. All of this reduced the usefulness of
an earlier version of the survey form.
However, experience with the current collection instrument since it
began in July 2010 has shown that the form is overly complex and
confusing. It is not providing the type and quality of information
expected or required. We also find that some of the information
currently collected is not justifiable considering EIA's current
budget.
The following is additional information about the energy
information collection to be submitted to OMB for review: (1) The
collection numbers and title; (2) the sponsor (i.e., the Department of
Energy component); (3) the current OMB docket number (if applicable);
(4) the type of request (i.e., new, revision, extension, or
reinstatement); (5) response obligation (i.e., mandatory, voluntary, or
required to obtain or retain benefits); (6) a description of the need
for and proposed use of the information; (7) a categorical description
of the likely respondents; (8) estimate number of respondents; and (9)
an estimate of the total annual reporting burden in hours (i.e., the
estimated number of likely respondents times the proposed frequency of
response per year times the average hours per response); (10) an
estimate of the total annual reporting and recordkeeping cost burden
(in thousands of dollars).
1. Form EIA-111, Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.
2. U.S. Energy Information Administration.
3. OMB Number 1905-NEW.
4. Three-year approval.
5. Mandatory.
6. Form EIA-111 collects U.S. electricity import and export data.
The data are used to get an accurate measure of the flow of electricity
into and out of the United States. The import and export data are
reported by U.S. purchasers, sellers and transmitters of wholesale
electricity, including persons authorized by Order to export electric
energy from the United States to foreign countries, persons authorized
by Presidential Permit to construct, operate, maintain, or connect
electric power transmission lines that cross the U.S. international
border, and U.S. Balancing Authorities that are directly interconnected
with foreign Balancing Authorities. Such entities are to report monthly
flows of electric energy received or delivered across the border, the
cost associated with the transactions, and actual and implemented
interchange. The data collected on this form may appear in various EIA
publications.
7. Business or other for-profit; State, local or Tribal government;
Federal government.
8. 173 responses per quarter, for a total of 692 responses
annually.
9. Annual total of 4,152 hours.
10. Annual total of $0.
II. Current Actions
The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed Form EIA-111,
``Quarterly Electricity Imports and Exports Report.'' This survey will
replace the existing Form OE-781R. Pending authorization to administer
the revised form, EIA has suspended the current collection of the OE-
781R. Upon receiving authorization to administer the revised form, EIA
will terminate the OE-781R and begin operation of the new survey. EIA
intends to retroactively collect the core import and export data for
the period of the suspension.
The following changes are proposed:
The form would continue to collect data on monthly activity, but
respondents would file the form quarterly. Quarterly data would be
filed within 30 days of the end of the reporting quarter, e.g., first
quarter data would be due no later than April 30. (The existing form
collects monthly information each month.)
The current Form OE-781R is mandatory for persons issued orders
authorizing them to export electricity from the United States to
foreign countries and by owners and operators of international
electricity transmission lines authorized by Presidential permit or
treaty. The form further asks respondents to categorize themselves as
one or more the following: Purchasing and Selling Entity, Transmission
System Operator, Transmission Owner, or Treaty Entity.
Currently, only Purchasing and Selling Entities that have been
issued orders authorizing them to export electricity from the United
States to foreign countries are required to complete the form. This
means that information on imports made by Purchasing and Selling
Entities without Export Authorizations is not being reported. To ensure
reporting of all electricity imports into the U.S., in the new Form
EIA-111 we propose to expand mandatory reporting to all Purchasing and
Selling Entities that import electricity in to the U.S.
In the new Form EIA-111 we propose to replace the Transmission
System Operator category with U.S. Balancing Authorities that are
directly interconnected with foreign electricity systems. There are
seven such Balancing Authorities: ERCOT, CAISO, Bonneville Power
Administration, WAPA Upper
[[Page 49759]]
Great Plains East, MISO, NYISO, and ISO-NE.
This change is proposed because under the NERC Functional Model
(from which three of the current form's respondent categories are
derived), Transmission System Operators do not perform the functions
necessary for them to provide the required information. In contrast,
U.S. border Balancing Authorities are the appropriate entities to
report cross-border actual and implemented interchange. Interchange is
any energy transfer that crosses Balancing Authority boundaries. Actual
Interchange means the metered value electricity that flows from one
balancing authority area to another. Implemented Interchange is the
interchange values that the Balancing Authority enters into its Area
Control Error equation, i.e., uses to balance supply and demand of its
electric system.
A number of entities could report implemented interchange provided
on the interchange scheduling e-tags. Border Balancing Authorities are
a convenient provider of this information since they would already be
providing actual interchange on the same schedule. Under FERC-approved
mandatory reliability standards, Balancing Authorities receive e-tag
information from the interchange coordinator when the transmission path
is through their system.
We propose to drop the transmission owner respondent category as it
is no longer necessary.
The existing survey breakdown of the quantity and value of imports
and exports into cost-of-service and market rates would be dropped. The
breakdown of volume by fuel source would be dropped. Questions covering
the total cost of ancillary service along with a general identification
of the type of ancillary services would be dropped.
For each import transaction, the foreign source balancing authority
name, the U.S. sink balancing authority name, the presidential permit
number or transmission service provider name would be required. On the
new Form EIA-111 the type of service is categorized as firm, non-firm,
exchange, or other. Payments are broken down into energy revenues,
other revenues and total revenues.
For each export transaction, the DOE export authorization number,
U.S. source balancing authority name, the foreign sink balancing
authority name, the presidential permit number or transmission service
provider name would be required. On the new Form EIA-111 the type of
service is categorized as firm, non-firm, exchange, or other. Payments
are broken down into energy payments, other payments, and total
payments.
U.S. border balancing authorities would report actual interchange
received from and delivered to directly interconnected foreign border
balancing authorities. Instead of scheduled imports and exports
reported by transmission operators, U.S. border balancing authorities
would report implemented interchange (the current industry term) when
the transmission path is through their system, for each combination of
source and sink balancing authorities.
Reporting of the characteristics of transmission operations would
be replaced by quarterly reporting of events that exceed DOE order
terms. Presidential permit and DOE export authorization holders would
report their order number, the date and hour(s) of the exceeded event
and the specific order term exceeded.
Reporting of existing and proposed transmission facilities crossing
the border would be dropped.
III. Request for Comments
Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment
on the actions discussed in item II. The following guidelines are
provided to assist in the preparation of comments.
As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information
A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the
information have practical utility?
B. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be
collected?
C. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If
not, which instructions need clarification?
D. Can the information be submitted by the respondent by the due
date?
E. Public reporting burden for this collection is estimated to
average 6 hours per quarter for each respondent. The estimated burden
includes the total time necessary to provide the requested information.
In your opinion, how accurate is this estimate?
F. The agency estimates that the only cost to a respondent is for
the time it will take to complete the collection. Will a respondent
incur any start-up costs for reporting, or any recurring annual costs
for operation, maintenance, and purchase of services associated with
the information collection?
G. What additional actions could be taken to minimize the burden of
this collection of information? Such actions may involve the use of
automated, electronic, mechanical, or other technological collection
techniques or other forms of information technology.
H. Does any other Federal, State, or local agency collect similar
information? If so, specify the agency, the data element(s), and the
methods of collection.
As a Potential User of the Information To Be Collected
A. Is the proposed collection of information necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the
information have practical utility?
B. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information
disseminated?
C. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be
collected?
D. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
E. Are there alternate sources for the information and are they
useful? If so, what are their weaknesses and/or strengths?
Comments submitted in response to this notice will be summarized
and/or included in the request for OMB approval of the form. They also
will become a matter of public record.
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 August 3, 2011.
Stephanie Brown,
Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, U.
S. Energy Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2011-20401 Filed 8-10-11; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P