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FERC Revises Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities(Targeted News Service Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Targeted News Service WASHINGTON, Sept. 24 -- The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission published the following rule in the Federal Register: Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities A Rule by the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission on 09/24/2014 Publication Date: Wednesday, September 24, 2014 Agencies: Department of Energy Federal Energy Regulatory Commission Dates: This rule will become effective October 24, 2014. Dates for implementation are provided in the Final Rule. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in this rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of October 24, 2014. Effective Date: 10/24/2014 Entry Type: Rule Action: Final rule. Document Citation: 79 FR 56939 Page: 56939 -56955 (17 pages) CFR: 18 CFR 2 18 CFR 38 Agency/Docket Numbers: Docket No. RM05-5-022 Order No. 676-H Document Number: 2014-22601 Shorter URL: https://federalregister.gov/a/2014-22601 Action Final Rule. Summary The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is revising its regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain enumerated exceptions, the latest version (Version 003) of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) as mandatory enforceable requirements. These standards update NAESB's WEQ Version 002 and Version 002.1 Standards to reflect policy determinations made by the Commission in the Order Nos. 890 series of orders and other orders. In addition, the Commission is listing informationally, as guidance, NAESB's Smart Grid Standards (WEQ-016 through WEQ-020) in Part 2 of the Commission's regulations. DATES: This rule will become effective October 24, 2014. Dates for implementation are provided in the Final Rule. The incorporation by reference of certain publications listed in this rule is approved by the Director of the Federal Register as of October 24, 2014. FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Tony Dobbins (Technical Issues),Office of Energy Policy and Innovation,Federal Energy Regulatory Commission,888 First Street NE.,Washington, DC 20426,(202) 502-6630. 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. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations under the Federal Power Act (FPA) [1] to incorporate by reference into its regulations as mandatory enforceable requirements, with certain enumerated exceptions, the latest version (Version 003) of the Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities adopted by the Wholesale Electric Quadrant (WEQ) of the North American Energy Standards Board (NAESB) and filed with the Commission as a package on September 18, 2012 (September 18 Filing), as modified in a report filed with the Commission on January 30, 2013. In addition, the Commission is listing informationally, as guidance, NAESB's Smart Grid Standards (Standards WEQ-016, WEQ-017, WEQ-018, WEQ-019 and WEQ-020) in Part 2 of the Commission's Regulations. 2. These revised standards update earlier versions of these standards that the Commission previously incorporated by reference into its regulations at 18 CFR 38.2. These new and revised standards include modifications to support Order Nos. 890, 890-A, 890-B and 890-C, [2] including the standards to support Network Integration Transmission Service on an Open Access Same-Time Information System (OASIS), Service Across Multiple Transmission Systems (SAMTS), standards to support the Commission's policy regarding rollover rights for redirects on a firm basis, standards that incorporate the functionality for Transmission Providers to credit redirect requests with the capacity of the parent reservation and standards modifications to support consistency across the OASIS-related standards. 3. The Version 003 Standards also include modifications to the OASIS-related standards that NAESB states support Order Nos. 676, 676-A, 676-E and 717 and add consistency. [3] In addition, NAESB states that it made modifications to the Coordinate Interchange standards to complement the updates to the e-Tag specifications, [4] modifications to the Gas/Electric Coordination standards to provide consistency between the two markets [5] and re-organized and revised definitions to create a standard set of terms, definitions and acronyms applicable to all NAESB WEQ standards. [6] NAESB states that the Version 003 Standards also include standards related to Demand Side Management and Energy Efficiency, [7] which the Commission incorporated by reference in Docket No. RM05-5-020 [8] after NAESB filed its Version 003 report, and Smart Grid-related standards that NAESB previously filed with the Commission in Docket No. RM05-5-021. [9] I. Background 4. NAESB is a non-profit standards development organization established in January 2002 that serves as an industry forum for the development and promotion of business practice standards that promote a seamless marketplace for wholesale and retail natural gas and electricity. 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. 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 and participate in standards development. 6. 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, and each standard NAESB adopts is supported by a consensus of the relevant industry segments. Standards that fail to gain consensus support are not adopted. 7. In Order No. 676, the Commission not only adopted business practice standards and communication protocols for the wholesale electric industry, it also established a formal ongoing process for reviewing and upgrading the Commission's OASIS standards and other wholesale electric industry business practice standards. In later orders in this series, the Commission incorporated by reference: (1) The Version 001 Business Practice Standards; [10] (2) the Version 002.1 Business Practice Standards; [11] (3) business practice standards categorizing various demand response products and services; [12] and (4) OASIS-related Business Practice Standards related to Demand Side Management and Energy Efficiency. [13] 8. In Order No. 890, the Commission revisited the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff (OATT) first established in Order No. 888 [14] and adopted a revised pro forma OATT designed to better achieve the objectives of preventing undue discrimination and providing greater specificity and transparency. In later orders in this series, the Commission affirmed, with clarifications, the basic findings that it made in Order No. 890. 9. A number of the findings made by the Commission in the Order No. 890 series of orders necessitated revisions to the Business Practice Standards for Public Utilities so that there would be no inconsistency between the requirements of Order No. 890 and the Business Practice Standards. Accordingly, NAESB set up a work project to review the existing business practice standards, identify which standards would need revision to prevent any inconsistencies with the Order No. 890 requirements, and develop and adopt the needed revised standards. Those revised standards form part of the package of revisions included in the WEQ Version 003 Standards. These revisions are in addition to the Order No. 890-related revisions incorporated by reference in Order No. 676-E. 10. The Version 003 standards include five categories of standards not previously incorporated by reference by the Commission that were developed by NAESB in response to the Order No. 890 series of orders. These include: (1) Standards that NAESB previously submitted to support SAMTS; [15] (2) part two of the standards modifications to the WEQ-001-9.7 Business Practice Standard requested in Order No. 890-A [16] related to rollover rights to requests for redirect on a firm basis; (3) the WEQ-001-9.1.3.1 and WEQ-001-10.3.1.1 Business Practice Standards that provide for Transmission Providers to process redirect requests in a manner that counts the available transfer capability encumbered by the parent reservation as available for the redirected request; [17] (4) standards to support Network Integration Transmission Service on the OASIS; [18] and (5) standards modifications to support consistency across the NAESB OASIS standards. [19] 11. In Order No. 717, the Commission made several modifications related to the posting requirements associated with the Standards of Conduct. Specifically, the Commission discontinued the requirement for public utilities to post standards of conduct information on their OASIS sites. [20] In response, WEQ's Business Practice Subcommittee modified the WEQ-001, WEQ-002 and WEQ-003 Business Practice Standards to remove reference to the standards of conduct-related obligations with the exception of a few template structures that may be implemented at the option of the Transmission Provider. WEQ's OASIS Subcommittee also modified standards WEQ-013-2.6.81 and WEQ-013-2.6.82 to clarify the listing of service types, modified standards WEQ-001-14.1.3 and WEQ-001-15.1.2 regarding the timing of required postings of narratives, and made modifications to standards WEQ-001, WEQ-002 and WEQ-003 (concerning standards of conduct posting requirements) in response to Order No. 717. 12. The Joint Electric Scheduling Subcommittee (JESS), a standing joint subcommittee made up of participants from NAESB and the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), has been tasked with coordinating efforts to maintain and modify, as needed, the coordinate interchange business practice standards in WEQ-004 with their associated reliability standards. JESS now leads the effort to harmonize the Coordinate Interchange (WEQ-004) standards with the WEQ-001, WEQ-003 and WEQ-013 Business Practice Standards in light of revisions made to the Electronic Tagging Functional Specification, previously maintained by NERC, and now maintained and updated, as needed, by NAESB. The WEQ adopted additional modifications to the WEQ-004 standards to use abbreviations, acronyms, definitions and terms consistent with those in Standard WEQ-000 and to provide consistency across all WEQ standards. 13. WEQ adopted modifications to support consistency between the WEQ business practice standards and the Wholesale Gas Quadrant (WGQ) Gas/Electric Coordination standards. In addition, WEQ made modifications to the business practice standards to harmonize the terms and definitions contained within the WEQ business practice standards with the definitions of those terms used in the business practice standards for other quadrants. These changes were also coordinated to be consistent with definitions and terms contained in the NERC Glossary. 14. Also included in the WEQ Version 003 standards are standards developed to support Smart Grid applications as well as standards related to the measurement and verification of Demand Response (DR) and Energy Efficiency (EE) products. These standards have been referenced in earlier reports filed with the Commission before the completion of the WEQ Version 003 standards. The Smart Grid application standards had been referenced in a report filed with the Commission on July 7, 2011 in Docket No. RM05-5-021. The DR and EE measurement and verification standards were referenced in a report filed with the Commission on May 2, 2011 in Docket No. RM05-5-021 and have been the subject of Commission action. [21] 15. NAESB's September 18 Filing includes an interpretation of standards WEQ-001-9.1 and WEQ-001-10.1 and recites the results of a quadrant-wide effort to provide a common location for all abbreviations, acronyms and definitions of terms that created the WEQ-000 Business Practice Standards and addresses both internal inconsistencies and inconsistencies between the standards and terms and definitions in the NERC Glossary. 16. In a notice of proposed rulemaking issued on July 18, 2013, the Commission proposed to amend its regulations to incorporate by reference, with certain enumerated exceptions, the WEQ Version 003 Standards. [22] In response to the WEQ Version 003 NOPR, 11 comments and one reply comment were filed. [23] 17. Finally, on November 27, 2013 NAESB filed a report with the Commission stating that it made minor corrections to Standards WEQ-000, WEQ-001, WEQ-002, WEQ-003, WEQ-013, and WEQ-014. The Commission considers these corrections non-substantive and we will incorporate these corrections by reference to ensure the standards we adopt are as accurate and up-to-date as possible. [*Federal RegisterVJ 2014-09-24] For more information about Targeted News Service products and services, please contact: Myron Struck, editor, Targeted News Service LLC, Springfield, Va., 703/304-1897; [email protected]; http://targetednews.com. TNS 22VistaJ-140924 gv-1176914 (c) 2014 Targeted News Service |