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Federal Register / Vol. 86, No. 104 / Wednesday, June 2, 2021 / Rules and Regulations adopted by NAESB and proposed to be incorporated by reference in this final
rule.83 The NERC Compliance Registry, as of March 5, 2021, identifies
29501

approximately 162 entities in the United States that are subject to this final rule.

jbell on DSKJLSW7X2PROD with RULES

DOCKET NOS. RM055029 AND RM0505030
Number of respondents
Annual number of responses per respondent
Total number of responses
Average burden hrs.
& cost $
per response
Total annual burden hrs. & total annual cost $

1

2

1 2 = 3

4

3 4 = 5

FERC516E
FERC717

162
162

1
1

162
162

6 hrs.; $498
30 hrs.; $2,490

972 hrs.; $80,676.
4,860 hrs.; $403,380.

Total

324

$2,988

5,832 hrs.; $484,056.

affecting ATC and AFC calculation for wholesale electric transmission services, with the addition of certain revisions and corrections. The revisions made by NAESB in the WEQ Version 003.3
Standards are designed to aid public utilities with the consistent and uniform implementation of requirements promulgated by the Commission as part of the pro forma Open Access Transmission Tariff.
Internal review: The Commission has reviewed NAESBs proposal and has made a preliminary determination that the proposed revisions are both necessary and useful. In addition, the Commission has assured itself, by means of its internal review, that there is specific, objective support for the burden estimates associated with the information requirements.
74. Interested persons may obtain information on the reporting requirements by contacting the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, Office of the Executive Director, 888 First Street NE, Washington, DC 20426
Attention: Ellen Brown, email:
DataClearance@ferc.gov, phone: 202
5028663.

Costs to Comply with Paperwork Requirements:
The estimated annual costs are as follows:
FERC516E: 162 entities 1 response/
entity 6 hours/response $83.00/hour = $80,676.
FERC717: 162 entities 1 response/
entity 30 hours/response $83.00/
hour = $403,380.
Titles: FERC516E, Electric Rate Schedule and Tariff Filings and FERC
717, Standards for Business Practices and Communication Protocols for Public Utilities.
Action: Final rule.
OMB Control Nos: 19020290 FERC
516E and 19020173 FERC717.
Respondents: Business or other for profit, and not for profit institutions.
Frequency of Responses: One-time.
Necessity of the Information: This rule will amend its regulations to incorporate by reference the latest version Version 003.3 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. WEQ Version 003.3 includes standards developed in accordance with recommendations of the Department of Energy sponsored cybersecurity surety assessment of the NAESB Business Practice Standards that was conducted in 2019. Additional standards were developed in response to the directives from FERC Order No. 890, such as the standards developed to support Parallel Flow Visualization, intended to improve congestion management procedures for the Eastern Interconnection. The WEQ
Version 003.3 Standards also include, in their entirety, the WEQ023 Modeling Business Practice Standards contained in the WEQ Version 003.1 Standards, which address the technical issues
VII. Environmental Analysis 75. 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.84 The Commission has categorically excluded certain actions from these requirements as not having a significant effect on the human environment.85 The actions adopted here fall within categorical exclusions in the Commissions regulations for rules that are clarifying, corrective, or procedural, for information gathering analysis, and dissemination, and for sales, exchange, and transportation of
83 Commission staff estimates that industry is similarly situated in terms of hourly cost wages plus benefits. Based on the Commission average cost wages plus benefits for 2020, $83.00/hour is used.

84 Regulations Implementing the Natl Envtl Poly Act, Order No. 486, 52 FR 47897 Dec. 17, 1987, FERC Stats. & Regs. 30,783 1987 crossreferenced at 41 FERC 61,284.
85 18 CFR 380.4.

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natural gas and electric power that requires no construction of facilities.
Therefore, an environmental assessment is unnecessary and has not been prepared in this final rule.
VIII. Regulatory Flexibility Act 76. The Regulatory Flexibility Act of 1980 RFA 86 generally requires a description and analysis of final rules that will have significant economic impact on a substantial number of small entities. The RFA does not mandate any particular outcome in a rulemaking. It only requires consideration of alternatives that are less burdensome to small entities and an agency explanation of why alternatives were rejected.
77. The Small Business Administration SBA revised its size standards effective January 22, 2014
for electric utilities from a standard based on megawatt hours to a standard based on the number of employees, including affiliates. Under SBAs standards, some transmission owners will fall under the following category and associated size threshold: electric bulk power transmission and control, at 500 employees.87 The Commission estimates that 24 of the 162 respondents are small or 14.8 percent of the respondents affected by this final rule.
78. The Commission estimates that the impact on these entities is consistent with the paperwork burden of $2,988
per entity used above.88 The Commission does not consider $2,988 to be a significant economic impact. Based on the above, the Commission certifies that implementation of the proposed Business Practice Standards will not have a significant impact on a substantial number of small entities.
Accordingly, no initial regulatory flexibility analysis is required.
86 5

U.S.C. 601612.
CFR 121.201, Sector 22 Utilities, NAICS
code 221121 Electric Bulk Power Transmission and Control.
88 36 hours at $83.00/hour = $2,988.
87 13

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