Organization Certification and Registration

NERC currently operates two programs to support its efforts to effectively monitor and enforce compliance with its approved reliability standards. The Organization Registration Program is designed to allow NERC to identify all organizations responsible for meeting the requirements of the reliability standards. The Organization Certification Program ensures that all organizations responsible for performing functions deemed particularly crucial to the reliability of the bulk power system are capable of performing those functions at a level necessary to preserve the reliability of the bulk power system.

All bulk power system owners, operators, and users are required to register with NERC. The process for registration is included in the NERC Rules of Procedure, Section 500.

On June 18, 2007 the NERC reliability standards will become mandatory and enforceable in the United States for all owners, operators, and users of the bulk power system. NERC has delegated the responsibility to the regional entities to identify the organizations subject to inclusion on the NERC Compliance Registry. The NERC Compliance Registry is a listing of all organizations subject to compliance with the approved reliability standards. NERC provides notice of registration to all organizations included on the NERC Compliance Registry. The NERC Compliance Registry is posted on the NERC Web site and updated monthly.

Organization Registration Inquiries

NERC developed a Statement of Compliance Registry Criteria that delineates the selection criteria employed by NERC and the regional entities to determine which organizations should be registered as owners, operators, or users of the bulk power system. In particular, the statement proposes criteria for smaller or relatively (electrically) isolated organizations as load-serving entities, distribution providers, generation owners, generation operators, or transmission owners and transmission operators.
Organizations that have questions or comments regarding their placement on the NERC Registered Registry within a specific area or region should contact the appropriate regional entity. The geographic system footprints of NERC’s eight current regional entities can be viewed on the regional entity page on the NERC Web site.
Organizations that have not received requests to register and are uncertain whether they should register should contact the relevant regional entity or NERC.

Organization Certification Program

NERC maintains an Organization Certification Program, the goal of which is to ensure that organizations who register to perform certain responsible reliability functions deemed particularly crucial to reliability of the bulk power system will meet or exceed certain minimum criteria demonstrating that they are up to the task of performing these functions. The process for certification of organizations is included in NERC's Rules of Procedure, Section 500.

For more information about either program contact Craig Lawrence, Manager of Organization Registration and Certification.