Why Is FERC Still Collecting Data From Power Plants That Sell Energy to the Grid?

The form that lets a utility walk away from a contract

A qualifying facility is a cogeneration plant or a small renewable generator that meets certain efficiency or size thresholds.

Under PURPA Section 210(m), a utility can ask FERC for permission to terminate its obligation to purchase energy from such a facility. It can also ask to terminate its obligation to sell energy and capacity back to the facility. The facility, or any affected party, can then ask FERC to reinstate those obligations. FERC Form 912 is the vehicle for all four requests. The commission revised the underlying regulations in 2019 through Docket No. RM19-15-000. Those revisions reflected a shift away from oil and gas, the rise of shale gas supply, and falling renewable energy costs. When the rules changed, the information collection changed with them. The current version of FERC-912 covers the four application types listed in 18 CFR 292.310 through 292.313.

Who files and what it costs

The respondents are electric utilities. The commission estimates that four utilities will file termination-of-purchase applications each year, each filing 1.5 times on average.

That yields six responses at twelve burden hours apiece. Two utilities will file termination-of-sell applications, once each, at eight hours per response. No reinstatement applications are expected in either category. The math works out to eight total responses per year. Eighty-eight burden hours in total. The hourly cost figure is $102, derived from a FERC average salary of $213,003 per year. That puts the total annual cost at 88 hours times $102 per hour. The average cost per response ranges from 8 hours times $102 for a termination-of-sell filing to 12 hours times $102 for a termination-of-purchase filing. The commission believes its own average salary is a reasonable proxy for what industry respondents spend.

What the notice actually asks

The Paperwork Reduction Act requires the agency to solicit comment on four points. Whether the collection is necessary for the commission's functions. Whether the burden and cost estimates are accurate. How to improve the quality, utility, and clarity of the information collected. How to minimize the burden on respondents, including through automation or other technology.

The first comment period closed on September 8, 2026. Zero comments were received.

A second window remains open until October 15, 2026. Comments go to OMB through reginfo.gov and a copy must be emailed to DataClearance@FERC.gov with the docket number IC26-38-000 and the collection number FERC-912.

What this means for a plant owner today

If you own a qualifying facility, the form does not impose any new requirement on you. The utility files it. The utility pays the burden cost. But the outcome of a termination proceeding determines whether your power purchase agreement survives. The reinstatement provisions are your backstop. The commission is not proposing to alter those provisions. It is only asking whether the paperwork that supports them should continue unchanged for another three years. The notice says nothing about how many qualifying facilities currently operate under these rules. It says nothing about how often termination or reinstatement requests have been granted or denied in recent years. Those data points would help a plant owner assess risk, but they are not part of this collection.