On 21 April 2011 the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) issued a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (NOPR) that would require the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) to give FERC access to the electronic tag (e-Tag) data used to schedule the transmission of electric power in wholesale markets. Comments on the NOPR will be due 60 days after publication in the Federal Register, likely in mid to late June.
An e-Tag, also known as a Request for Interchange, is used to schedule interchange transactions where energy is transferred over one or more Balancing Authority Area boundaries in the wholesale market. The e-Tag shows certain transaction-specific information, including the source and sink, the control areas along the contract path, and transmission reservation Open Access Same-Time Information System reference numbers.
The proposed rule would allow the agency's staff to access e-Tag data in the database maintained by NERC instead of creating a FERC-specific database and requiring market participants to submit e-Tag information to both NERC and FERC. Thus, the proposed rule would not place any additional burden on market participants, because they already submit e-Tags to NERC.
The proposed rule is intended to aid FERC in its market oversight function, and will assist in preventing market manipulation, helping to assure just and reasonable rates, and monitoring compliance with applicable North American Energy Standards Board standards. According to the NOPR, access to the e-Tag data, in combination with other resources, will enable FERC to better identify interchange schedules that appear anomalous or inconsistent with rational economic behavior.
Access to e-Tag information would be available to FERC staff on a non-public basis only. Moreover, FERC stated that it views e-Tag information as exempt from public disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act.
The NOPR also requests comments on whether the e-Tag data should be made available to the market monitoring units of the Regional Transmission Organizations and Independent System Operators (e.g., PJM Interconnection, the Southwest Power Pool, the California Independent System Operator, the Midwest Independent System Operator, the New York Independent System Operator, and the New England ISO).
FERC Issued the e-Tag NOPR concurrently with its issuance of a separate proposed rule that would require, inter alia, the inclusion of unique e-Tag IDs in the Electronic Quarterly Reports (EQR) filed by electric market participants (i.e. public utilities and publically owned utilities), which FERC issued under the authority of the price transparency provisions of the Energy Policy Act of 2005. Combined, the proposed changes to the e-Tag and EQR data would significantly enhance FERC's market oversight and enforcement capabilities.
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