2012 SERC CMEP Implementation Plan - SERC Home Page

Section 1: SERC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement ProgramSERC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement ProgramReliability and accountability are basic tenets of the Compliance Monitoring and EnforcementProgram (CMEP). The objective of the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC)and SERC Reliability Corporation (SERC) is to achieve reliability excellence in the planning,operation and security of the Bulk Power System. NERC and SERC are accountable to theFederal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) and to industry stakeholders. The CMEP iscritically important in supporting reliability and accountability, since effective compliance is anecessary, yet insufficient, activity for assuring reliability excellence. The CMEP covers not onlymonitoring and enforcement activities, but also education, training, and informational activitiesdesigned to assist the industry in achieving and sustaining effective compliance and enhancedreliability. NERC and the Regional Entities continue to refine and improve the annual CMEP andActively Monitored List (AML) by focusing efforts and resources on those areas that pose thegreatest risk to reliability of the Bulk Power System. This Risk Based Compliance Monitoringapproach is discussed in detail in the ERO Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program2012 Implementation Plan document posted on the NERC website.While NERC and SERC are implementing Risk Based Compliance Monitoring and a tieredapproach to establishing Reliability Standards and requirements to be actively monitored andaudited during 2012, all Registered Entities are reminded that NERC Rules of Procedure (ROP)state that all Bulk Power System users, owners, and operators are required to comply with allapplicable FERC-approved Reliability Standards at all times. Regional Reliability Standards andregional variances approved by NERC and FERC are enforceable and apply to all RegisteredEntities responsible for meeting those Reliability Standards within the Regional Entity boundaries,whether or not the Bulk Power System user, owner, or operator is a member of the RegionalEntity.The CMEP is developed under Section 215(c) of the Federal Power Act to establish and enforceReliability Standards for the Bulk Power System, subject to review by FERC and in generalaccordance with the “Principles for an Electric Reliability Organization that can Function on anInternational Basis.” The CMEP is designed to improve reliability through the effective and efficientenforcement of Reliability Standards.To help fulfill its responsibilities under its rules filed with FERC; NERC, as the ERO, has delegatedauthority to qualified Regional Entities to monitor and enforce compliance with ReliabilityStandards by users, owners, and operators of the Bulk Power System. This delegation isgoverned by Regional Delegation Agreements (RDA) that have been approved by FERC. NERCand these Regional Entities are responsible for carrying out the CMEP. Each Regional Entitysubmits its regional CMEP Implementation Plan to NERC for approval based on the requirementsof this document.SERC, as one of the eight Regional Entities with approved delegated authority to execute theCMEP pursuant to Section 215 of the Federal Power Act and the RDA between NERC and SERC,has adopted the CMEP, as set forth in Appendix 4C of the ROP, without exception. In addition,the ERO Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program 2012 Implementation Plan serves as aguidance and reference document for the development of the SERC 2012 CMEP ImplementationPlan.SERC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program2012 CMEP Implementation PlanNovember 1, 2011 1