NERC Updates Reliability Standards Development Procedures
October 23, 2006 // Published as a news service by IHS
NERC developed the new version in order to comply with a Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) order to make certain changes and clarifications to its rules and procedures as part of the process to certify NERC as an electric reliability organization (ERO) in the U.S.
Because the changes were developed to comply with a FERC order and the response time is short, NERC is forgoing the regular process for modifying the procedure through a ballot of stakeholders.
The Standards Committee, as the elected representatives of the Registered Ballot Body, reviewed and endorsed the proposed changes.
The principal changes to the Reliability Standards Development Procedure are:
- Added a reference in the procedure to the ERO Rules of Procedure Section 300 - Reliability Standards Development.
- Deleted the 10 quality characteristics of standards, which are already described in the ERO Rule 302, to eliminate redundancy.
- Changed the term "level of non-compliance" to "violation severity level" and updated the definition to ensure consistency with the compliance program.
- Removed redundant language on standards development principles.
- Updated language on filing of standards with governmental authorities with ERO oversight.
- Modified the section on urgent actions.
NERC also replaced the automatic one-year expiration with a requirement that the urgent action standard be approved by the regular stakeholder process within one year, or development of a replacement standard must be initiated immediately and completed within two years.
Other changes to the procedure include:
- Clarified that interpretations of standards will be filed with ERO regulatory authorities before they become effective.
- Updated the language on variances to NERC standards to conform to FERC regulations.
- Eliminated section on regional reliability standards, which are addressed in ERO Rules of Procedure Section 300, to eliminate redundancy.
- Added an eighth reliability principle for physical and cyber security.
- Added Segment 10 for regional entities and regional reliability organizations. Independent System Operators (ISOs) and Regional Transmission Organizations (RTOs) remain in Segment 2.
- Updated the voting examples to reflect 10 segments instead of nine.
The proposed Version 6 of the Reliability Standards Development Procedure will be submitted to the NERC Board of Trustees for approval at its meeting on Nov. 1, 2006 to be made effective immediately upon approval.