The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) approved the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) Risk-Based Registration (RBR) initiative (RR15-4-000), reforming the starting point for monitoring and enforcing compliance with FERC-approved Reliability Standards. The RBR initiative implements changes to ensure that the right entities are subject to the right set of Reliability Standards using a consistent approach to risk assessment and registration.
The approved proposal will result in deactivation of two functional categories (Purchasing-Selling Entities and Interchange Authorities) from the NERC Compliance Registry due to the commercial nature of these categories posing little or no risk to the reliability of the Bulk Electric System. Furthermore, the approved proposal revises one threshold criterion for Distribution Provider registration from 25 MW to 75 MW. FERC also directed NERC to include Reliability Standard PRC-005 on the list of Reliability Standards that are applicable to underfrequency load shedding-only Distribution Providers. In addition to procedural improvements that implement a “materiality” test and a centralized review process, the approved proposal aligns registration categories with the revised definition of the Bulk Electric System. FERC gave NERC 60 days to provide more information regarding its proposal to remove Load-Serving Entities from the NERC Compliance Registry to ensure there are no reliability gaps.
Regional Entities will contact affected registered entities to provide additional information and guidance on the implementation of RBR. NERC will also maintain guidance on the implementation of RBR on its Risk-Based Registration initiative web page. At this time, no action is required from organizations that are registered under one of the revised functional categories. Official notices will be provided to organizations regarding any action taken by NERC and the Regional Entities to remove them from the NERC Compliance Registry. These notices will include the effective date. Registered entities are encouraged to work with their respective Regional Entity(ies) with respect to RBR implementation.
