1. I manually entered some transactions on the transaction tab, then closed the EQR system for the day. Later I went back to review the transactions prior to filing. The transactions appear to be missing. However, if I try to enter them again, the Unique ID does not start back at 1, but rather continues with the next sequential number as if the system still has my original entries somewhere. How can I see my transactions?
Your transactions may appear to be missing, but they probably aren't. Every Transaction is related to its Contract. To see the transactions, open the Contracts/Transactions portion of the system to the Contract tab. Ensure that the contract related to the transactions you want to see is "highlighted." (If the little triangle on the left is not pointing to it, click on the contract you want to be highlighted, and it will be.) Click the Transactions tab. The transactions related to the selected contract should appear.

2. I want to enter Cost-Based Power Sales/Capacity into the Product Name field. When we used the interim method spreadsheets for the quarterly filing, I entered Cost-Based Power Sales/Capacity. With the new system, the only appropriate choice is Capacity. The User's Guide lists Capacity as an option for both Cost-Based Power Sales and Market-Based Power Sales. Is this an error or should I simply enter Capacity?
Cost-Based Power and Capacity should be entered on two different lines. If you're dealing with the Contract data, you should select Cost Based as the Product Type Name and Cost-Based Power as one Product Name and Capacity as the other. For Transactions, you can put Cost-Based Power (or Energy) and Capacity, again, on two lines within the same transaction, assuming that they are priced separately.

3. Why am I getting a date/time error when I submit my contracts through EQR?
One reason that you can get a date/time error is that you've entered the characters N/A in the Begin Date and End Date numeric fields of the contract product portion of the template. This is an error. If you have no data for those non-required fields, leave them blank. The system is looking for a number it can parse into a date.

4. How do I handle data entry for ancillary service we sell which is called "Automatic Generation Control" (AGC)?
This is not in the EQR list of products. You should use Regulation and Frequency Response as a product name for AGC.

5. What is the definition of "Book Out"?
In Order 2001, paragraphs 279 and 280 discuss bookouts:

279. As we explained in the Data Sets Order, a "book out" is the offsetting of opposing buy-sell transactions. The Data Sets Order gave the simplified example of a sale of 100 MW of power from A to B and a sale of 90 MW of power from B to A, which would result in these transactions being booked-out and treated as a 10 MW sale from A to B. These bookedut transactions are currently being reported, without objection, in Quarterly Transaction Reports, albeit in aggregated form. The Data Sets Order proposed that, under this hypothetical situation, public utilities would report both the 100MW and 90MW sales, and not just the 10MW delivered.

280. Typically, however, book outs involve a chain of transactions (e.g., A sells 50MW of power to B, B sells 55MW of power to C, C sells 60MW of power to A). Under this hypothetical, if no further transactions were made, 50MW would be booked out, B would deliver 5MW to C, and C would deliver 10MW to A. If the parties wished to use book outs to avoid making physical power deliveries, A could sell an additional 10MW of power to B and B could sell an additional 5 MW of power to C, in which case all three transactions would be booked out in their entirety and all delivery obligations would be offset, although all other obligations under the contracts, including payment, would remain in effect.

6. When our company sells to the market, then purchases from the market and sells back to our affiliate, FERC advised us in the past to report all three transactions. Generally the three actions are at different prices. We plan to continue this same reporting practice. Is this correct?
The EQR only includes sales, not purchases. You were previously required to report all three transactions in the Power Marketer Quarterly Report. In the EQR you are only required to report the two sales transactions you described. In your example, if the first sale was booked out by the purchase, you would report the first transaction as a sale of booked out power in the Product Name field, and the sale to the affiliate as an energy sale (if appropriate, and not booked out).

7. The Time Zone fields are restricted to 2 characters (in other words, only one value). For monthly transactions that encompass a time zone change, we plan to use the time zone as of the filing date of the report. Is this acceptable?
In the December 20, 2002 Notice, we added certain values for restricted fields. Included in the list were additional Time Zone entries, such as EP, CP, etc., for Eastern Prevailing, Central Prevailing, etc. Use these to take care of your time zone issue.

8. The EQR list of valid values for Contract Product Name does not include the commodity included in our contract. What should I enter in that field?
You can list the product as Other.

9. How do the contract Begin and End Dates (fields 43 and 44) differ from the Contract Commencement, Execution and Termination Dates (fields 21, 22, 23, and 24)?
The Contract Commencement, Execution and Terminations dates refer to the entire contract. The Contract Begin and End Dates refer only to the delivery of specific Contract Products, the time frames of which may differ from the contract commencement and termination dates overall. Normally, the Begin and End Dates are left blank.

10. To prepare an EQR system acceptable submission, are there Transaction fields that must match Contract fields? If so, which fields?
Yes. Four Transaction fields must match Contract fields exactly, including punctuation, abbreviations, spaces between words, etc. The fields are:

• Seller Company Name;
  
• Customer Company Name;
  
• FERC Tariff Reference; and
  
• Contract Service Agreement ID

11. How do I report Transactions that were made in one quarter but actually flowed in the subsequent quarter?
Transactions should be reported for the quarter in which the power flowed or would have flowed, in the case of bookouts.

12. What is a Transaction Identifier, required in field 52?
The Transactions Identifier is a company assigned designation for each transaction.

13. How do the Transaction Unique ID (Field 46) and the Transaction Identifier (Field 52) differ?
When entering data manually into the application, the Transaction Unique ID is system generated. The Transaction Identifier is a company assigned identifier.

When importing data into the application, the Transaction Unique ID in field 46 must begin with the letter T. It defines transactions rows that belong together and is converted to a system generated number after import. The Transaction Identifier is a company assigned identifier and remains unchanged by the system after import.

14. Why can't I use a plain number in the Contract Unique ID or Transaction Unique ID fields?
A plain number won't permit you to import your data. The system is looking for, and you must enter, a leading C or T before a numeric entry in fields 14 and 46 respectively. If you don't use a C or a T you'll get a Critical Error Message, and be unable to import your data.

15. Why am I having difficulty viewing/editing a CSV file?
Do not use Excel to edit or save a CSV file. Excel can cause incorrect conversion and storage of certain values in the file. CSV is a simple text file format. Therefore only Notepad or WordPad should be used to edit and save the contents of a CSV file. One or the other is available on all Windows computers.

If you want to edit data in Excel, they must be made in your Excel (.xls) file, (not CSV). The Excel is then saved and converted to CSV immediately before import. If you have a problem importing a CSV file, go back to the source Excel file to make changes and then re-save the Excel file in CSV format for import.

16. I am preparing the EQR report in Excel with the intention of creating a CSV file. Do I create three (3) separate CSV files one each for Filer, Contract and Transactions data, or do I create a single CSV file which includes all three?
Each type of data must be imported separately, from three separate files.

17. Are the date/time formats for manual entry and for import different? If so, how? What are the proper formats?
Yes. The two formats are different and completely numeric. The format for screen entry is MMDDYYYY. The format for import is YYYYMMDD with no dashes or slashes.

18. Do the Transaction Begin Date and the Transaction End Date both have to be within the reporting quarter?
Yes. Both dates must be within the reporting quarter.

19. The price for our commodity changed many times during the reporting quarter. Can I simply average the price for the quarter and list it on one row?
No. Data must specifically reflect the commodity price changes per product per time frame during a quarter. The price and time changes can be shown as several rows within one transaction or as separate transactions. If the price changed hourly, there will be a new row for each hour.

20. I can't successfully import Contract Data into the EQR software. The import of Identification Data worked smoothly, but every time I try to import the Contract Data, I get the error message "Table Number is Invalid." What is the problem?
You didn't use the row numbering convention required for Contract and Transaction data. When importing Contract data, the first field of each contract must begin with the letter C and increment numerically (i.e., C1, C2, C3, etc.). The same is true for different transactions, but they must begin with the letter T (T1, T2, T3, etc.). This was detailed in the April 25, 2002 Order issued in RM01-8.

21. How should I handle data entry regarding multi-party contracts?
You should enter additional parties on separate lines within the same Contract Service Agreement ID. However, you need to change the Contract Unique ID (C1, C2, etc.) when importing the data for the system to recognize the new Customer Name.

For multi-party contracts, when any of the key fields change (Seller, Customer, Contract Service Agreement ID, Tariff Reference), the C number (field 14) should also change incrementally. The contract import keys off a change in the C number to know when a new 'entry' should be made for contracts.

If there are transactions that belong to the different 'parts' of the multi-party contract, the transaction import file must list the identifying fields accordingly (i.e., the appropriate Seller, Customer, Contract Service Agreement ID, FERC Tariff Reference).

Changing the "C" number is like clicking on the 'New' button on the Contracts tab. You must make a "C" number change, so that additional info can be stored.

When performing manual data entry, for each part of a multi-party contract, add another entry on the contracts tab and list the Customer, Seller, Contract Service Agreement ID, FERC Tariff Reference.