This is FERC doing routine paperwork upkeep, but the number attached to it is not small: $355,035,480 a year in industry compliance cost, spread across 667 regulated companies. In a notice published as 91 FR 58665, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission is asking the Office of Management and Budget to renew FERC-555 (OMB Control No. 1902-0098), the rule setting how long public utilities, licensees, natural gas companies and oil pipeline companies have to keep their records. The request is a straight three-year extension under Docket No. IC26-32-000, filed with no changes to the recordkeeping requirements themselves.
What the rule covers
FERC-555 draws its authority from sections 301, 304 and 309 of the Federal Power Act, sections 8, 10 and 16 of the Natural Gas Act, and the Interstate Commerce Act, with the retention periods set out in 18 CFR parts 125, 225 and 356. The rule requires regulated companies to hold onto fourteen categories of records: corporate, information technology management, general accounting, personnel and payroll, transportation, tariffs and rates, insurance, operations and maintenance, plant and depreciation, purchase and stores, revenue accounting and collection, tax, treasury, and other miscellaneous records. Regulated companies use those records to support rate filings, FERC's audit staff uses them in compliance reviews, and the Commission's enforcement staff draws on them during investigations. FERC has also used the records for special analyses, including how jurisdictional companies responded to extreme weather events.
A wage-tracking requirement got left out the first time
FERC disclosed that the burden estimate now includes an extra half hour per respondent tied to a policy statement on project-area wage standards issued in a 2024 order on the labor cost component of cost-of-service rates. That policy statement directs companies claiming project-area wages in their rate cases to keep records, including books of account, showing the wages were actually paid to employees, contractors or subcontractors. FERC said the added burden from that requirement had already been approved but was left out of the original 60-day notice on this collection by mistake.
By the numbers
| Metric | Figure |
|---|---|
| Respondents | 667 |
| Average burden per response | 5,218.5 hours / $532,287 |
| Total annual burden | 3,480,740 hours |
| Total annual cost | $355,035,480 |
| Comments due | October 16, 2026 |
FERC calculated the hourly cost using its own fiscal year 2026 average salary plus benefits of $213,003, or $102 an hour.
Comment window
FERC opened a 60-day comment period on the collection that closed September 8, 2026, and the agency said it received no comments. Comments on the current 30-day notice are due October 16, 2026, and should be emailed to DataClearance@FERC.gov, citing Docket No. IC26-32-000 and FERC Information Collection number FERC-555. Companies unable to file electronically can mail comments to the Commission's offices in Washington, DC or Rockville, Maryland.
