Documents & Filing Questions and Answers
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:
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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.
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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.