Mandatory Reliability Standards for the Bulk-Power System

Pursuant to section 215 of the Federal Power Act (FPA), the Commission approves 83 of 107 proposed Reliability Standards, six of the eight proposed regional differences, and the Glossary of Terms Used in Reliability Standards developed by the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC), which the Commission has certified as the Electric Reliability Organization (ERO) responsible for developing and enforcing mandatory Reliability Standards. Those Reliability Standards meet the requirements of section 215 of the FPA and Part 39 of the Commission's regulations. However, although we believe it is in the public interest to make these Reliability Standards mandatory and enforceable, we also find that much work remains to be done. Specifically, we believe that many of these Reliability Standards require significant improvement to address, among other things, the recommendations of the Blackout Report. Therefore, pursuant to section 215(d)(5), we require the ERO to submit significant improvements to 56 of the 83 Reliability Standards that are being approved as mandatory and enforceable. The remaining 24 Reliability Standards will remain pending at the Commission until further information is provided. The Final Rule adds a new part to the Commission's regulations, which states that this part applies to all users, owners and operators of the Bulk-Power System within the United States (other than Alaska or Hawaii) and requires that each Reliability Standard identify the subset of users, owners and operators to which that particular Reliability Standard applies. The new regulations also require that each Reliability Standard that is approved by the Commission will be maintained on the ERO's Internet Web site for public inspection.