[Federal Register: April 2, 2004 (Volume 69, Number 64)]
[Notices]
[Page 17400-17402]
From the Federal Register Online via GPO Access [wais.access.gpo.gov]
[DOCID:fr02ap04-49]
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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection Activities: Proposed Collection;
Comment Request
AGENCY: Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of Energy
(DOE).
ACTION: Agency information collection activities: Proposed collection;
comment request.
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SUMMARY: The EIA is soliciting comments on the proposed revisions and a
three-year extension to the Forms:
EIA-411, ``Coordinated Bulk Power Supply Program Report,''
EIA-412, ``Annual Electric Industry Financial Report,''
EIA-423, ``Monthly Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants,''
EIA-767, ``Steam-Electric Plant Operation and Design Report,''
EIA-826, ``Monthly Electric Sales and Revenue with State Distributions
Report,''
EIA-860, ``Annual Electric Generator Report,''
EIA-861, ``Annual Electric Power Industry Report,''
EIA-906, ``Power Plant Report,'' and
EIA-920, ``Combined Heat and Power Plant Report.''
The EIA is also soliciting comments on a proposed new Form EIA-
860M, ``Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator Report'' to be
authorized for three years.
DATES: Comments must be filed by June 1, 2004. If you anticipate
difficulty in submitting comments within that period, contact the
person listed below as soon as possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments to Charlene Harris-Russell. To ensure receipt
of the comments by the due date, submission by fax ((202) 287-1946) or
e-mail Charlene.Harris-Russell@eia.doe.gov is recommended. The mailing
address is Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Division,
EI-53, Forrestal Building, U.S. Department of Energy, Washington, DC
20585. Alternatively, Charlene Harris-Russell may be contacted by
telephone at (202) 287-1747.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Requests for additional information or
copies of any forms and instructions should be directed to Charlene
Harris-Russell at the address listed above. To review the proposed
forms and instructions, please visit: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/page/fednotice/formsandinstr.html
.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION:
I. Background
II. Current Actions
III. Request for Comments
I. Background
The Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Pub. L. 93-275, 15
U.S.C. 761 et seq.) and the DOE Organization Act (Pub. L. 95-91, 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 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35), 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. Any comments received help the EIA to prepare
data requests that maximize the utility of the information collected,
and to assess the impact of collection requirements on the public.
Also, the EIA will later seek approval by the Office of Management and
Budget (OMB) under section 3507(a) of the Paperwork Reduction Act of
1995.
The EIA collects information about the electric power industry for
use by government and private sector analysts. The survey information
is disseminated in a variety of print publications, electronic
products, and electronic data files. For details on EIA's electric
power information program, please visit the electricity page of EIA's
Web site at http://www.eia.doe.gov/fuelelectric.html.
Please refer to the proposed forms and instructions for more
information about the purpose, who must report, when to report, where
to submit, the elements to be reported, detailed instructions,
provisions for confidentiality, and uses (including possible
nonstatistical uses) of the information. For instructions on obtaining
materials, see the FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT section.
II. Current Actions
EIA has completed an extensive review and update of the electric
power survey collection instruments. The forms presented here are the
result of that task which includes input from the electric power
industry, other industrial users of the data, government agencies,
consumer groups, and private sector analysts. Along with the forms
changes, the EIA is proposing a revision to the commercially sensitive
data elements collected on EIA's electric power forms that will be
treated as confidential.
As a means of improving its electric power surveys to reflect the
changing industry, EIA proposes the following changes:
Form EIA-411, ``Coordinated Bulk Power Supply Program Report.'' The
collection of this form is proposed to become mandatory subject to a
revised memorandum of agreement with the North American Electric
Reliability Council. Additional revisions include: (1) Reconcile
differences between capacity totals reported to EIA by its respondents
and the planning capacity data reported by the North American Electric
Reliability Council, (2) transmission line outage data, and (3)
distributed generation data. Specifically, a new Schedule 3,
Reconciliation Between Total Generation Regional Capacity and Planned
Regional Capacity Resources (Summer, Winter), collects 35 proposed data
elements on generator capacity. This replaces the previous Schedule 3
that collected 115 data elements concerning capacity information by
generator. A new Schedule 7, Annual Data for Transmission Line Outages
for Extra High Voltage (EHV) Lines, will collect 13 new data elements
on outages by voltage class. Schedule 2, Part A and B. Historical and
Projected Demand and Capacity--Summer, Winter, will collect distributed
generation data. Together, these represent a net decrease of 60 data
elements on the Form EIA-411. The form and instructions will be
modified to show these changes.
Form EIA-412 ``Annual Electric Industry Financial Report.'' This
form will now ask in the Identification Section, if an entity generates
electricity. In addition, a new Schedule 9B, Electric Generating Plant
Statistics, Unregulated Companies, will collect cost data from
unregulated plants at a higher aggregated level than previously
requested. As a result of these actions, the overall net change for the
Form EIA-412 is a decrease of 10 data elements collected from
unregulated plants.
[[Page 17401]]
Schedule 9, Part A, is no longer applicable to unregulated plants. The
form and instructions will be modified to show these changes.
Form EIA-423, ``Monthly Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric
Plants.'' EIA proposes to ask one new question that will identify
`tolling agreements' for a plant. A tolling agreement is an arrangement
that allows one company to have marketing control of electricity
produced by generating assets owned by another company. The agreement
usually requires the marketer to procure the fuel supply necessary to
produce the electricity. The form and instructions will be modified to
show this change.
Form EIA-767, ``Steam-Electric Plant Generation and Design
Report.'' EIA proposes to revise Schedule 4. Part E, Mercury Emission
Controls. This schedule will allow respondents to select from an array
of mercury emission controls rather than provide a written description
of the emission control type. The form and instructions will be
modified to reflect these changes.
Form EIA-826, ``Monthly Electric Sales and Revenue with State
Distributions Report.'' Schedule 1. Part D, Bundled Service by Retail
Energy Providers, or any Power Marketer that Provides ``Bundled
Service'', and Part E, Any Other Retail Service Provider, are new
categories of providers that will answer the same questions as Parts A,
B, and C. These new respondents do not fit into current ownership
categories. In addition, a question has been added requesting
information on mergers and acquisitions by reporting parties during the
report period. The net result is the addition of new categories of
respondents and one data item for existing respondents. The form and
instructions will be modified to reflect these changes.
Form EIA-860, ``Annual Electric Generator Report.'' Schedule 5. New
Generator Connection Information, will collect cost and physical data
about the site connection of a new generator to the electric grid. In
addition, Schedule 3. Power Plant Data, will be revised to collect
generator-level information on fuel switching capability for existing
power plants and those planned for initial operation in five years. As
a result of these additions, 65 new items will be added to the form.
The form and instructions will be modified to show these changes.
Form EIA-861, ``Annual Electric Power Industry Report.'' A question
will be added to Schedule 2. Part A, General Information, which asks
for the status of plans to operate alternate-fueled vehicles. In
addition, Schedule 4. Part D, Bundled Service by Retail Energy
Providers, or any Power Marketer that Provides ``Bundled Service'', and
Part E, Any Other Retail Service Provider, are supplied for new
categories of providers that will answer the same questions as Parts A,
B, and C. These new respondents do not fit into current ownership
categories. In addition, a question has been added requesting
information on mergers and acquisitions by reporting parties during the
reporting period. Also, 7 additional data items will be collected on
Schedule 6, Demand-Side Management, about costs incurred in DSM
programs. Schedule 7, Customer-Site Generation, will collect data on
distributed generation capacity, including back-up generation capacity.
The net result is the addition of new respondent categories and 28 data
elements. The form and instructions will be modified to show these
changes.
Form EIA-906, ``Power Plant Report.'' A new Schedule 3, Annual
Electricity Sources and Disposition, will incorporate a new schedule to
collect energy sources and disposition from unregulated electricity
generators. This data will be collected once a year as annual totals.
The form will also be modified to collect gross generation in addition
to the existing collection of net generation. This data will be
collected monthly from a sample of respondents and annually from the
remaining respondents. The result of adding this schedule is the
addition of 8 new data elements. The form and instructions will be
modified to reflect these changes.
Form EIA-920, ``Combined Heat and Power Plant Report.'' A new
Schedule 4, Annual Electricity Sources and Disposition, will collect
energy sources and disposition from `combined heat and power plants'.
This data will be collected once a year as annual totals. The schedule
will result in 8 new data elements. The form and instructions will be
modified to reflect the changes.
Form EIA-860M, ``Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator
Report.'' This new form will collect data on the status of proposed new
generators or proposed changes to existing generators. It will be
collected for each generator that is scheduled to become operational
within a rolling 12 month period. For inclusion in the EIA-906 monthly
survey a generator must meet the same criteria as for the EIA-860
annual survey: the generator must have a nameplate capacity of 1
megawatt or greater and the generator, or the facility that houses the
generator, must be connected to the electric power grid. Data items to
be collected include the current status of the plant, prime mover type,
and nameplate capacity. There will be 15 data items collected on each
proposed or modified generators. Form and instructions will be
provided.
With regard to confidential treatment of information reported on
the electric power surveys, EIA is proposing changes in the elements
that will be treated as confidential and not publicly released in
individually-identifiable form. These changes are being proposed for
two reasons. First, as the level of generation competition increases,
so does the concern for the disclosure of commercially sensitive data.
Certain elements reported on EIA's electric power survey forms are
trade secrets and commercial or financial information that are
privileged or confidential. Also, certain elements reported on EIA's
electric power surveys reveal details that could be exploited by those
seeking to harm the Nation's critical energy infrastructure. Public
release of these elements is expected to impair the Government's
ability to obtain the information in the future and would be harmful to
the Government's ability to analyze and respond to situations affecting
the electric power supply and system operations of the United States.
EIA continuously monitors the electric power industry. Based on its
review, EIA is proposing to increase the number of elements that will
be treated as confidential. Following are the data elements from EIA's
electric power surveys that will receive confidential treatment
beginning in 2005. (Elements currently treated as confidential by EIA
are marked by asterisks.)
a. Monthly retail sales, revenue and number of customers of energy
service providers* (EIA-826) (see following discussion regarding
removal of the confidential protection 6 months after the end of the
calendar year of the data).
b. Fuel cost* (EIA-423) (see following discussion regarding removal
of the confidential protection 6 months after the end of the calendar
year of the data).
c. Fuel Stocks* (EIA-906 and EIA-920) (see following discussion
regarding removal of the confidential protection 6 months after the end
of the calendar year of the data).
d. Plant cost data for unregulated plants* (EIA-412) (see following
discussion regarding additional protection limiting use to exclusively
statistical purposes).
e. Latitude and Longitude* (EIA-767 and EIA-860).
f. Bulk Transmission Facility Power Flow Cases (EIA-411).
g. Electric Transmission Maps (EIA-411).
h. Maximum tested heat rate under full load* (EIA-860).
[[Page 17402]]
In addition to the elements listed above that will be treated as
confidential, EIA proposes to collect one of those elements in
accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical
Efficiency Act of 2002 (CIPSEA) (Title 5 of Pub. L. 107-347). This will
ensure that the information is used only for exclusively statistical
purposes unless respondents provide informed consent for other uses.
The element to be collected under CIPSEA is: Plant cost for unregulated
entities (EIA-412).
For certain elements, commercial sensitivity declines rapidly over
time and EIA is proposing to remove the confidential protection 6
months after the end of the calendar year of the data for the:
a. Fuel cost (EIA-423).
b. Fuel stocks (EIA-906 and EIA-920).
c. Monthly retail sales, revenues and number of customers of energy
providers (EIA-826).
The individual survey forms and instructions will be modified to
address the specific confidentiality provisions that apply to the data
elements.
III. Request for Comments
Prospective respondents and other interested parties should comment
on the proposals discussed in Item II. The following guidelines are
provided to assist in the preparation of comments. Please indicate to
which form(s) your comments apply.
General Issues
A. Are the proposed collections of information necessary for the
proper performance of the functions of the agency and does the
information have practical utility? Practical utility is defined as the
actual usefulness of information to or for an agency, taking into
account its accuracy, adequacy, reliability, timeliness, and the
agency's ability to process the information it collects.
B. What enhancements can be made to the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information to be collected?
C. Does EIA's proposed confidentiality treatment for electric power
survey information maximize the utility of the data for users while
adequately protecting sensitive information?
As a Potential Respondent to the Request for Information
A. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information to be
collected?
B. Are the instructions and definitions clear and sufficient? If
not, which instructions need clarification?
C. Can the information be submitted by the due dates?
D. Public reporting burden for the collections are estimated to
average the times shown below. The estimated burden includes the total
time necessary to provide the requested information. In your opinion,
how accurate are these estimates?
Form EIA-411, ``Bulk Power Supply Program Report,''--14.15 hours per
response in 2005 (previous estimate was 16.15 hours);
Form EIA-412, ``Annual Electric Industry Financial Report
Utilities,''--25.00 hours per response in 2005 (previous estimate was
25.00 hours);
Form EIA-423, ``Cost and Quality of Fuels for Electric Plants,''--2.00
hours per response in 2005 (previous estimate was 2.00 hours);
Form EIA-767, ``Steam Electric Plant Operation and Design Report,''--
82.00 hours per response in 2005 (previous estimate was 82.00 hours);
Form EIA-826, ``Monthly Electric Sales and Revenue with State
Distributions Report,'' 1.50 hours per response in 2005 (previous
estimate was 1.50 hours);
Form EIA-860, ``Annual Electric Generator Report,''--18.12 hours per
response in 2005 (previous estimate was 16.12 hours);
Form EIA-861, `` Annual Electric Power Industry Report,''--10.50 hours
per response in 2005 (previous estimate was 9.30 hours);
Form EIA-906, ``Power Plant Report,''--2.00 hours per response in 2005
(previous estimate was 1.40 hours);
Form EIA-920, ``Combined Heat and Power Plant Report,''--2.00 hours per
response in 2005 (previous estimate was 1.40 hours);
Form EIA-860M, ``Monthly Update to the Annual Electric Generator
Report,''--1.00 hour per response in 2005 (new form).
E. 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?
F. 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.
G. 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. What actions could be taken to help ensure and maximize the
quality, objectivity, utility, and integrity of the information
disseminated?
B. Is the information useful at the levels of detail to be
collected?
C. For what purpose(s) would the information be used? Be specific.
D. 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 3507(h)(1) of the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995 (Pub. L. 104-13, 44 U.S.C. Chapter 35).
Issued in Washington, DC, March 30, 2004.
Jay H. Casselberry,
Agency Clearance Officer, Statistics and Methods Group, Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 04-7484 Filed 4-1-04; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P