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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
FERC-580
Updated: 11/15/2010
- What is an Automatic Adjustment Clause (AAC)?
- Who must file the FERC-580?
- If a company has an AAC but the formula produces a negative number (is actually a credit to customers rather than a charge), does the company still complete all of FERC-580 or is there an exception where only AAC charges as opposed to credits elicit the reporting requirement.
- When is our FERC-580 filing due?
- What do I file in the FERC-580?
- How should I name my electronic files?
- How do I file a revised FERC-580?
- Do I have to use the electronic form to complete my 2010 FERC-580 filing?
- May I ask the Commission to treat my responses to the FERC-580 as privileged?
- How do I eFile my FERC-580?
- How can I get a copy of FERC-580s my Utility previously filed?
- In completing our FERC-580 filing due this year, for jointly-owned generating stations for which our company is the operator, should we report 100% of the expenses and other information (including the other joint owners' expenses and statistics) or just the expenses and statistics relating to our company's ownership percentage?
- Question 2 asks for the identification of "service agreement" within rate schedule containing an AAC, but our service agreements don't contain AACs. It is the service agreements that do. What does FERC want us to report here?
- Is the Commission looking for information detailing all of our Customer Owned Generation Contracts from which we purchase energy that is injected into our distribution system?
- Aren't the questions in the columns under "All purchased power costs" only relevant to fuel adjustment clauses (FACs)?
- What is meant by: "system reserve capacity requirement"?
- What is a system operator?
- What is meant by the question: "Did the AAC used for cost recovery, include the system reserve capacity criteria by which the system operator decides whether a reliability purchase is required?"
- Where can I find an example of system reserve capacity criteria in a tariff?
- If purchased power was wind generated, what do you mean by: was the avoided cost comparison done on a contract-by contract basis?
- Can you provide guidance as to how often the utility needs to compare costs to determine if total purchased power costs were less than the total avoided variable costs?
- Question 4 asks for 2008 and 2009 costs that are recovered through an AAC. My utility's clause recoveries are not assessed as they are incurred. How do I determine which costs to report?
- What is the definition of "emission allowance"?
- Question 4 asks for 2008 and 2009 costs that are recovered in 2008 and 2009. However, our clause does not directly recover costs as they are incurred. Rather the charges assessed at various times in 2008 and 2009 were based on costs incurred some time from April 2006 through March 2009. Do we provide a) only costs incurred in 2008 and 2009 that were reflected in 2008 and 2009 clause revenues, b) costs incurred in 2008 and 2009, c) costs reflected in 2008 and 2009 charges to the utility's customer, d) or some other variation?
- We did not test the quality characteristics of the oil or gas we received via pipeline at the plant so do not know what to enter in the quality characteristic cells in question 6.
- Question 6b refers to "consumed" fuel. Do we enter information for delivered or consumed fuel?
- Do I need to report contracts in question 6 for fuels where my utility has no fuel adjustment clause?
- Where do I enter the reporting year in question 6b?
- Is the destination plant dropdown to the right of the words "destination plant" and the type of purchase point dropdown below the text "Type of Purchase Point"?
- Where do I enter the contract name in question 6c?
- Shouldn't we exclude information from the answer to question 6 when purchases are made through the RTOs/ISOs, and the seller is unknown?
- What costs do you want included in the delivered cost? For coal, do you want only the coal and transportation costs or do you also want miscellaneous costs included such as depreciation, maintenance, leases, taxes, etc?
- In the instructions (p. 12) for 6a, it states you can "Add" a blank row for subsequent years. I do not see any "Add Row" button, only an "Add Contract" button.
- We need to enter "PQ" for pipeline quality in 6a and b but the form isn't allowing us. What should we do?
- We need to report in question 6 for petroleum coke but don't see a space in which to state PetCoke? Where should we put this information?
- I am receiving many error messages when entering information into the form. The form will not allow adding reporting year in section 6a. The form is not saving the contract names I entered. What is wrong?
- What does CFR mean?
- I still have questions. Who do I ask?
- What is an Automatic Adjustment Clause (AAC)?
An automatic adjustment clause is a provision of a rate schedule which provides for increases or decreases (or both), without prior hearing, in rates reflecting increases or decreases (or both) in costs incurred by an electric utility.
Many rate schedules contain provisions for adjustments to rates based on changes in one or more elements of the cost incurred to provide the service, the adjustments being calculated using procedures that have had prior regulatory approval. Where such adjustments in charges are permitted to occur automatically, without specific regulatory review of each adjustment, the rate schedule provisions are referred to as "automatic adjustment clauses."
Many of the wholesale electric rate schedules filed with the Commission by public utilities contain provisions for automatic adjustment of rates. Current Commission policy permits acceptance of these types of energy cost rates, as well as comprehensive cost-of-service formula rates. These operate to adjust rates automatically. The effect of the clause may be reflected in rates charged by the utility without notification to or filing with the Commission.
These types of automatic adjustment clauses correspond to the definition of AAC in Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 (PURPA). What was not included in this definition were so-called "periodic review-of-rate clauses," where the Commission has routinely required filing of changes in rates pursuant to implementation of a review-of-rate clause.
A rate that may be subject to an after-the-fact public true-up proceeding and/or later refund is a rate that is not subject to prior hearing; a rate that adjusts only subject to after-the-fact review, and not prior review, is a rate that can and should be legitimately considered an automatic adjustment clause. - Who must file the FERC-580?
The filing must be submitted by all FERC-jurisdictional utilities owning and/or operating at least one steam-electric generating station of 50 MW or greater capacity, or having a majority ownership interest in a jointly-owned steam-electric generating station of at least 50 MW. A jurisdictional utility without a cost-based tariff on file with the Commission is not required to file the form.
The information in the previous paragraph determines who must file. If, based on this information, your utility is required to file it must report in this form the information requested for steam-electric generating stations regardless of percentage interest owned in them. 1 Public Utility Regulatory Policies Act of 1978 - If a company has an AAC but the formula produces a negative number (is
actually a credit to customers rather than a charge), does the company still
complete all of FERC-580 or is there an exception where only AAC charges as
opposed to credits elicit the reporting requirement.
There is no filing exception here. The utility is required to complete the entire form, reporting the credits as negative numbers. - When is our FERC-580 filing due?
It is due November 30th. - What do I file in the FERC-580?
Answer all of the questions in the interrogatory and eFile it with the required attachments. A cover letter is not required. - How should I name my electronic files?
Name your public interrogatory form as: UtilityName2010Form580.pdf
You may if you wish, abbreviate your utility name.
Name your privileged interrogatory as: PRIVUtilityName2010Form580.pdf - How do I file a revised FERC-580?
Filers who need to make a change to a filed response can do so by eFiling the form with the revised information. For example, if the respondent needs to change the response provided for Question 2, the respondent would make the change to question 2 and name the revised file as follows:
UtilityName2010Form580Q2revised.pdf
The respondent should include a cover letter with the eFiled revision explaining the circumstances that required the revision. - Do I have to use the electronic form to complete my 2010 FERC-580 filing?
Yes. OMB approved this format for use by all filers. - May I ask the Commission to treat my responses to the FERC-580 as
privileged?
FERC-580 question 5 responses will be treated as non-public documents by the Commission if requested properly. A cover letter, that is filed as a public document must accompany the privileged FERC-580 question 5 addendum and contain justification for the privileged treatment sought in compliance with 18 CFR §388.112. The separate FERC-580 question 5 addendum must be used. In your public version of the FERC-580, click the yes in the drop-down provided in response to: Are you filing the Q5 Privileged addendum? - How do I eFile my FERC-580?
- Start at the Commission's home page: www.ferc.gov.
- Click on the Documents & Filing tab
- Choose eFiling from the drop-down.
- Click on Log In.
- Click on efiling.
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» If you haven't previously eRegistered, click the eRegister link and provide the requested information in order to create an account, otherwise, enter your registered email address and password.
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» Filing Type - Click on electric in the first column. Click on Report / Form for existing docket number (Report / Form should show in the third column).
» Click next.
» Select Docket - Enter the docket number: IN79-6; click Search. The docket number will show in a new table. Click the plus sign in the Select column and a selected dockets row will drop down.
NOTE: if at any time you want to go back to a previous screen, press the back button provided on the efiling screen, not the back button in the browser.
» Click Next.
» File Upload - Click the public tab, then click browse and select a public file to upload. Enter a description in the space below the file name. Click Upload. Continue doing this until all your public files appear in the file upload table. Click the privileged tab, then click browse to select your privileged file for upload, enter a file description and click upload. The eFiling system allows you to attach up to 200 files.
There must be at least one Public file for each privileged submission. This can be your cover letter describing the filing and asking for privileged treatment. It could also be your Form 580 public file.
Tip: Use PRIV as the first four characters of the file name for a privileged file to avoid uploading a file with the wrong security level.
There is a feature at the bottom of the File Upload table to change the security designation if the file wasn't uploaded as privileged and should have been.
When FERC accepts a filing with multiple security classes, the system puts the files under different accession numbers and links them as document components in eLibrary so, eFile the privileged and public files during the same session and they will be linked in eLibrary.
» Click Next at the bottom of the screen.
» Specify Filing Parties - Click either "On behalf of another Party(ies) and enter the company name below or "As an Individual", whichever applies. Click Next.
» Specify the person to whom communication should be addressed - Enter your email address in the contact email block and click on Add as Signer or Add as Other Contact. Note: a signer email address must be included as every filing must have a designated signer.
» Submission Description - Enter: "Form 580 of [your utility name]"
» Summary - Review the information shown. Ensure the file labeled privileged has the correct security level chosen. If any of the information is incorrect, click the Back button and correct your information as necessary. Click Submit.
A new screen will appear that states: "You have successfully submitted the filing and will receive an email confirmation shortly". Click the "Printable submission confirmation receipt" button and a receipt will appear that states the date, time and submission ID for your filing. You should also receive a confirmation of receipt by email with the same information, a link to additional information for your filing and the status of your filing. When the Commission accepts your filing, that status will change to accepted. - How can I get a copy of FERC-580s my Utility previously filed?
You can use e-Library to view these documents as well as to download them to your computer. Access eLibrary from this link: http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/elibrary.asp,
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» Click on General Search.
» Enter a date range for the filing you want.
» Under the Class/Type dropdown, pick Form 580.
» Enter all or part of your utility's name in the Text Search Box and
» Click Search.
A list of your filings will provide links to your documents submitted. - In completing our FERC-580 filing due this year, for jointly-owned generating
stations for which our company is the operator, should we report 100% of the
expenses and other information (including the other joint owners' expenses
and statistics) or just the expenses and statistics relating to our company's
ownership percentage?
Enter your information for the entire generating station, regardless of your ownership percentage. - Question 2 asks for the identification of "service agreement" within rate
schedule containing an AAC, but our service agreements don't contain AACs.
It is the service agreements that do. What does FERC want us to report
here?
Service agreements themselves don't typically contain an AAC. Instead, it is the "service schedule" that is a part of some rate schedules and tariffs (not all) that typically do. In some cases, there are no service schedules because the rate schedule is dealing with only one product. Report here the service schedule where the AAC was reported in the rate schedule or leave a blank if there were none. In the rare instance of a service agreement reference to an AAC, report it here. - Is the Commission looking for information detailing all of our Customer
Owned Generation Contracts from which we purchase energy that is injected
into our distribution system?
No, we are requesting only PURPA qualifying facility (QF), and Independent Power Producer (IPP) purchases, as in years past.
Note: FERC is asking for information regarding QF and IPP purchases only. Hover with your cursor over the cell below the column labeled "year" to see the message supporting this. The desk reference also states this. - Aren't the questions in the columns under "All purchased power costs" only
relevant to fuel adjustment clauses (FACs)?
Yes, if none of a company's AACs that permitted the pass-through of purchased power costs were FACs, in most cases, how they answered the questions would not be significant, but if you answered "no" to certain questions AND have a FAC, you may be violating the Commission's FAC standards. - What is meant by: "system reserve capacity requirement"?
The system reserve capacity requirement is the point at which the utility needs to immediately purchase power due to an unanticipated shortage of their own. Note: this term was inadvertently left out of the glossary. - What is a system operator?
A system operator directs the safe and reliable operation of the electric utility's distribution and transmission systems while operating under the policies and procedures set forth by that utility. - What is meant by the question: "Did the AAC used for cost recovery, include
the system reserve capacity criteria by which the system operator decides
whether a reliability purchase is required?"
In this question, the Commission asks whether the filing utility had, in their AAC, spelled out their system reserve capacity criteria. - Where can I find an example of system reserve capacity criteria in a tariff?
Examples of system reserve capacity criteria by which the system operator decides whether a reliability purchase is required can be found in the Commission's eLibrary system. Start with General Search, enter a date range, for Library, check electric, and type system reserve capacity criteria in the text search box. (Also see: Treatment of Purchased Power in the Fuel Cost Adjustment Clause for Electric Utilities , 25 FERC ¶ 61,378, Docket No. RM83-62-000, Order No. 352, December 7, 1983). - If purchased power was wind generated, what do you mean by: was the
avoided cost comparison done on a contract-by contract basis?
In Golden Spread (2008), the Commission noted that "Aggregating wind purchases for economic test purposes is not allowed. The regulation refers in the singular to "any purchase" and "the purchase." This regulation thus requires a purchase-by-purchase analysis, as opposed to an aggregate analysis." (See, Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc., Lyntegar Electric Cooperative, Inc., Farmers' Electric Cooperative, Inc., Lea County Electric Cooperative, Inc., Central Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc., Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. Southwestern Public Service Company; Opinion No. 501; 123 FERC ¶ 61,047, April 21, 2008) - Can you provide guidance as to how often the utility needs to compare costs
to determine if total purchased power costs were less than the total avoided
variable costs?
The Commission has stated that..."the utility must conduct an after-the-fact comparison of actual avoided costs against the purchase costs to flow energy related costs through the fuel cost adjustment clause". (Golden Spread Electric Cooperative, Inc., Lyntegar Electric Cooperative, Inc., Farmers' Electric Cooperative, Inc., Lea County Electric Cooperative, Inc., Central Valley Electric Cooperative, Inc., Roosevelt County Electric Cooperative, Inc. v. Southwestern Public Service Company; Opinion No. 501; 123 FERC ¶ 61,047, April 21, 2008). Similarly in Order No. 352 the Commission said, "regulations allowed the recovery of the energy-related costs of a purchase, even if not economic in every hour in which the energy is purchased, so long as over the duration of the transaction, the sum of the energy purchase costs are not more than the total cost of alternative energy avoided by the purchase. "After the fact" comparisons of energy purchase costs to avoided costs must be necessarily made to ascertain whether the aggregate cost of energy purchased over the duration of the transaction are less than the costs the transaction allowed the utility to avoid." (See: Treatment of Purchased Power in the Fuel Cost Adjustment Clause for Electric Utilities , 25 FERC ¶ 61,378, Docket No. RM83-62-000, Order No. 352, December 7, 1983). - Question 4 asks for 2008 and 2009 costs that are recovered through an AAC.
My utility's clause recoveries are not assessed as they are incurred. How do I
determine which costs to report?
Your utility's clause may not directly recover costs as they are incurred, i.e. the charges assessed at various times in 2008 and 2009 were based on costs incurred during some other time frame (preceding 2008). For this question, provide costs incurred in 2008 and 2009 whether or not they were reflected in 2008 and 2009 clause revenues. - What is the definition of "emission allowance"?
Emission allowance: authorization by a permitting authority or the Environmental Protection Agency Administrator to emit a specified amount of pollutant during a specified period of time.
This definition is based on Environmental Protection Agency regulations for specific air pollutants found in: 40 CFR 72.2, 96.102, 97.102, 96.202, 97.202, 96.302 and 97.302. - Question 4 asks for 2008 and 2009 costs that are recovered in 2008 and 2009.
However, our clause does not directly recover costs as they are incurred.
Rather the charges assessed at various times in 2008 and 2009 were based on
costs incurred some time from April 2006 through March 2009. Do we
provide a) only costs incurred in 2008 and 2009 that were reflected in 2008
and 2009 clause revenues, b) costs incurred in 2008 and 2009, c) costs
reflected in 2008 and 2009 charges to the utility's customer, d) or some other
variation?
You would provide a, b, and c of the above. - We did not test the quality characteristics of the oil or gas we received via
pipeline at the plant so do not know what to enter in the quality characteristic
cells in question 6.
If the fuel is delivered by pipeline, choose pipeline as the type of purchase point. Choose a delivery plant for each delivery and enter the remaining information requested. If the fuel is delivered by pipeline and the quality specifications are "pipeline quality," leave the quality and impurity cells blank. If you do not know the Primary State / Country of Origin, leave it blank. - Question 6b refers to "consumed" fuel. Do we enter information for
delivered or consumed fuel?
Enter information in question 6b for delivered fuel. - Do I need to report contracts in question 6 for fuels where my utility has no
fuel adjustment clause?
No, for example, if a utility has no fuel adjustment clauses for oil contracts, the utility does not need to provide any oil contract information for this question. - Where do I enter the reporting year in question 6b?
You don't enter the reporting year in question 6b; you enter it in question 6a. Questions 6a and 6b are electronically connected.
For any given contract, for each of the two reporting years, fuel deliveries must be entered by destination plant. For example, for Contract A, in reporting year 2009, fuel delivery information in 6b must be entered for plants a, b c, etc.
Information is requested by:
(a)Contract
(1)Reporting year
(i)Destination plant - Is the destination plant dropdown to the right of the words "destination
plant" and the type of purchase point dropdown below the text "Type of Purchase Point"?
Yes - Where do I enter the contract name in question 6c?
Information for question 6c should not be entered by contract/reporting year/destination plant. Question 6c is not electronically connected to questions 6a and 6b. Enter information into question 6c after finishing with questions 6a and 6b. - Shouldn't we exclude information from the answer to question 6 when
purchases are made through the RTOs/ISOs, and the seller is unknown?
Yes, and customer-owned generator purchases as well are to be excluded (i.e. net metering individuals with solar panels on their roofs).
With regard to cost-based AACs for sales or energy at system incremental cost, FERC is interested in knowing about long-term purchases whose costs are specifically mentioned or included in an AAC; FERC does not want to know what purchases set system incremental costs. - What costs do you want included in the delivered cost? For coal, do you want
only the coal and transportation costs or do you also want miscellaneous costs
included such as depreciation, maintenance, leases, taxes, etc?
We want only the fuel plus transportation costs. We do not want miscellaneous costs such as depreciation, maintenance, leases, taxes etc. - In the instructions (p. 12) for 6a, it states you can "Add" a blank row for
subsequent years. I do not see any "Add Row" button, only an "Add
Contract" button.
This is an error in our programming. You can't add a row, only a contract. You'll have to add a contract and the new year with (probably) all the same contract information you just finished entering for the previous year of the contract. We will fix this glitch before the 2012 filing cycle. - We need to enter "PQ" for pipeline quality in 6a and b but the form isn't
allowing us. What should we do?
This is another error in our programming. Leave the pipeline quality blank and include a cover letter in your filing that explains that you left it blank because you weren't able to enter "PQ". - We need to report in question 6 for petroleum coke but don't see a space in
which to state PetCoke? Where should we put this information?
Include it as part of the contract's name. - I am receiving many error messages when entering information into the form.
The form will not allow adding reporting year in section 6a. The form is not
saving the contract names I entered. What is wrong?
Left-click with your mouse on your START menu and open Adobe Reader. As it opens, note the version number. The version should be 9.0 or higher. Currently, Adobe is offering version 9.3.5 as a free download from their website: http://get.adobe.com/reader/
. In addition, do not use Adobe Pro because it is not
compatible with the form's programming. - What does CFR mean?
CFR is an acronym for Code of Federal Regulations. 18CFR 35.14 contains the Commission's fuel adjustment clause regulations. You can look them up online at www.gpoaccess.gov/cfr - I still have questions. Who do I ask?
Email your questions to: FERC-580@ferc.gov and they will be promptly answered.