The U.S. Department of Energy, in order to meet its national security requirements and responsibilities contained in the Federal Response Plan, has established mandatory reporting requirements for electric power system incidents or possible incidents. Such incidents are to be reported to the Department through its Emergency Operations Center on a timely basis.

These requirements are listed in Sections 205.350 through 205.353 of Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations. A synopsis of the types of incidents to be reported follows.

I. INTERRUPTIONS OF FIRM POWER

Any action or event which results in loss of firm load including:

1. Load shedding actions resulting in the reduction of over 100 megawatts or more of firm load.
2. Equipment failures/system operational actions that cause the loss of firm system load for a period in excess of 15 minutes.
   1. Entities with a previous year recorded peak load of over 3000 MW are required to report all losses of firm loads over 300 MW total.
   2. Other entities are required to report all losses of firm loads which total over 200 MW or 50 percent of the system load being supplied immediately prior to the incident, whichever is less.
3. Other events or occurrences which result in a continuous interruption for 3 hours or longer to over 50,000 customers, or more than 50 percent of the total customers being served immediately prior to the interruption, whichever is less.

II. VOLTAGE REDUCTIONS

Any action taken to maintain the continuity of the bulk electric power supply as follows:

Anticipated or actual system voltage reductions of 3 percent or greater for purposes of maintaining the continuity of the bulk electric power supply.

III. PUBLIC APPEAL

Any issuance of a general public appeal to reduce the use of electricity for purposes of maintaining the continuity of the bulk electric power system.

IV. VULNERABILITY ACTION

Any incidents which degrade the reliability of the bulk power service as follows:

All actual or suspected intentional acts of physical sabotage (not vandalism) or terrorism directed at the bulk power system in an attempt to:

1. Disrupt or degrade the adequacy or service reliability such that load reductions actions or special operating procedures may be needed.
2. Disrupt, degrade, or deny service to a specific facility, service, or locality.

V. FUEL SUPPLY EMERGENCIES

Existing or anticipated fuel supply emergency situations which could threaten continuity of the bulk electric power supply system, including:

1. Fuel inventories or hydro project water storage levels at 50 percent or less of normal, with a projected continued downward trend.
2. Emergency generation requiring abnormal use of a particular fuel with the potential to reduce supply or stocks to a level which threatens the reliability or adequacy of electric service.

SPECIAL INVESTIGATION

The Department of Energy may require a utility or other subject entity experiencing a power disturbance described above to submit a full report of the technical circumstances surrounding the disturbance including the restoration procedures utilized.

All reports are required to be made on a timely basis. DOE encourages interim notification via e-mail on a "heads up" basis, to be followed by the full report. The Form EIA-417R covers those reporting requirements. This form is available via e-mail, Internet, or by calling (202) 586-8100.

The Office of Emergency Management, in the Department of Energy, administers these reporting requirements.

Download Form EIA-417R as:

• Microsoft Word document - DOC
• Portable Document Format document - PDF
  (To utilize PDF files, download a free copy of Adobe Acrobat Reader and follow the installation instructions)

Contact:

John Makens

john.makens@eia.doe.gov

Phone: (202) 287-1749