Revised Filing Requirements Under Part 33 of the Commission's Regulations

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is revising 18 CFR Part 33 to update the filing requirements for applications under part 33, including public utility mergers. The Commission expects that, by providing applicants more detailed guidance for preparing applications, the revised filing requirements will assist the Commission in determining whether applications under section 203 of the Federal Power Act are consistent with the public interest and will provide more certainty and expedition in the Commission's handling of such applications. This final Rule generally follows the approach of the NOPR. This Rule affirms the Commission's screening approach to mergers that may raise horizontal competitive concerns and sets forth specific filing requirements consistent with the Appendix A analysis set forth in the Merger Policy Statement. This Rule also establishes guidelines for vertical competitive analysis and accompanying filing requirements for mergers that may raise vertical market power concerns. The Rule streamlines filing requirements and reduces the information burden for mergers and other dispositions of jurisdictional facilities that raise no competitive concerns and eliminates certain filing requirements in part 33 that are outdated or no longer useful to the Commission in analyzing mergers and other dispositions of jurisdictional facilities.