Charges and Fees for Hydroelectric Projects

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (Commission) is amending its regulations governing the assessment of annual charges for the administration of Part I of the Federal Power Act, 16 U.S.C. 792- 823b. The final rule adopts a maximum charge and makes the assessments commence at the same time as the commencement of project construction. The final rule eliminates annual charges for minor licensees, and does not (as originally proposed) adopt annual charges for existing exemptees. The final rule eliminates filing fees for future exemption applications, and adopts annual charges with respect to exemptions that are issued in the future for projects that are equivalent in size to those of major licensed projects. The final rule retains at this time the separate allocation of annual charges for administrative costs for municipal and non-municipal licensees, and retains as well the existing formulae for allocating those costs between the two classes of major licensees. The final rule defers consideration of those issues to a future proceeding.