| Q. |
What is the filing deadline for the Form 561? |
| A. |
Filings are due on or before April 30th for the prior year. |
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| Q. |
Why is the Form 561 data collected? |
| A. |
The Commission uses this data collection to inquire and determine whether public or private interests will be adversely affected by the holding of these positions. The data is collected to monitor what positions electric industry officers and directors hold in organizations that do business with each other. This information allows the Commission to monitor and assess the possibility of an officer or director having a conflict of interest which harms public or private interests. For example, an officer holding a board position in a utility as well as on the board of his or her utility’s principle supplier of generation equipment will not be able to act in an unbiased way because of the personal benefits that accrue from holding the two positions. This operating bias would harm the ability of another generation equipment supplier to compete for the equipment business of the director's utility. The annual report allows the Commission to make sure that no officer or director of any public utility receives for their own benefit any money or anything else of value in regard to similar negotiations between and among businesses. |
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| Q. |
Who is responsible for filing the Form 561? |
| A. |
Public utility officers/directors who held interlocking positions during any part of the previous calendar year are responsible for filing the Form 561. |
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| Q. |
How, where and when do I get an ID docket number? |
| A. |
You receive an ID docket when you apply with the Commission under 18 CFR 45, Application for Authority to Hold Interlocking Positions (Form 520), for approval to hold an interlocking position. Commission approval must be granted prior to holding certain interlocking positions. We will be posting a complete list of all issued interlocking director docket numbers to our website, by the end of March 2009. |
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| Q. |
If an officer or director resigned during the year does he or she have to file a Form 561? |
| A. |
Yes, a Form 561 is required of the officer or director who holds the interlocking position during any part of the previous calendar year even if they did not hold it at the close of the year. |
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| Q. |
Why am I not able to enter data in cells outside of the main Excel Form? |
| A. |
We have set the protection feature in the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet we expect respondents to use this year. Enabling this feature allows us to avoid data corruption and supports necessary data processing work. |
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| Q. |
What happens if I file in the Adobe PDF format? |
| A. |
At this time we are strongly encouraging filings only in the Microsoft Excel format. If you have extenuating circumstances preventing you from filing in this format, please contact us immediately. |
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| Q. |
What happens if I file a Form 561 with an expired OMB authorization date? |
| A. |
OMB requires display of a current authorization date of 07/31/2011 on the forms respondents prepare. You will be asked to re-file if you use a form with an expired authorization date. |
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| Q. |
What changes have been made to the the Form 561 with the current OMB authorization? |
| A. |
The data elements are the same. We have, however, added many new features to make filling it out the Form 561 much easier. Instructions, as to what data is required are displayed once you click in a cell. We’ve also created drop-down menus in certain fields. For example, there is a drop-down available to select states in the Business Address section and a drop-down list for Position Codes is available under the Public Utility Data Interlocking Entity Data sections. |
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| Q. |
I am a services company with a shared director that supplies electrical equipment to some public utilities. However, I do not to supply this equipment to the public utility with which I share an interlock.
Would the shared director need to provide the aggregate revenue for all of its sales to other public utilities?
Or, would they simply identify themselves as an electric equipment supplier (ELEQ) without providing any aggregate revenues? Since, their company does not supply electric equipment to the public utility with which they share an interlock.
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| A. |
Revenue is not required of electric equipment suppliers if the supplier did not conduct business with the utility to which the filing director is affiliated. You only need to identify the interlock as an electric equipment supplier and leave the aggregate revenues cell blank. |
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| Q. |
Have the rules and regulations for FERC Form 561 changed for 2008? |
| A. |
No, the filing requirements for submitting a Form 561 for 2008 are the same as in prior years. What is different this year is the electronic formatting of the form filers should use. Details about the formatting are in the letter we sent to respondents, which is posted at http://www.ferc.gov/docs-filing/hard-fil.asp#561.
Code of Federal Regulations  Your search query should be for ‘18 CFR Part 46’. |
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| Q. |
Why do the filings for 2008 state, “2007 Electronic Files submitted”? |
| A. |
All filings are for the previous year, so, filings we received as of April 30, 2008 were for the entire calendar year of 2007. |
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| Q. |
How would I enter multiple position codes for the same public utility? |
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The new version of the Form 561 only allows a selection of one position code per person for each public utility. The Form was designed this way in order to better extract the data for analyses. In order to account for an individual who held multiple positions at the same public utility, click the “add row” button and enter in the positions as follows.
| Acme Electric Company |
DIR |
| Acme Electric Company |
PRES |
| Acme Electric Company |
CEO |
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| Q. |
If I am submitting the Form on behalf of someone else, should I “sign” for the person I’m filing for? |
| A. |
The utility representative may e-File the Form 561s on behalf of its officers and directors. That representative should have in the utility’s files, an original Form 561 signed by each of the officers and directors for whom they are e-Filing. |
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| Q. |
If an officer or director resigned during the year, does he or she have to file a Form 561? How is this related to a Notice of Change (NOC)? |
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Yes, a Form 561 is required of the officer or director who holds the interlocking position during any part of the previous calendar year even if they did not hold it at the close of the year. In this situation, you should prepare an unsigned form, making a note in the cover letter that the form is unsigned and provide a reason.
Additionally, you will need to submit a Notice-of-Change. This falls under a different set of regulations from those related to the Form 561.
A Notice of Change is a supplemental filing that informs the Commission of an applicant’s resignation, withdrawal, or failure of reelection or appointment, or of any material change. The applicant must submit this notice within 30 days after such a change occurs. See Part 45.4 of Commission regulations for further information. |
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| Q. |
If I am NOT submitting a hard-copy, how do I submit a signature? |
| A. |
Your registration in eFiling substitutes as a signature. |
