ReliabilityFirst's registration function ensures that the entities necessary for the reliable operation of the Bulk Electric System are registered appropriately and responsible for compliance to the Reliability Standards. All Bulk Electric System owners, operators, and users responsible for or intending to be responsible for the following functions are required to register with NERC through the Organization Registration process.
- Reliability Coordinator (RC)
- Transmission Operator (TOP)
- Balancing Authority (BA)
- Planning Authority (PA)
- Transmission Planner (TP)
- Transmission Service Provider (TSP)
- Transmission Owner (TO)
- Resource Planner (RP)
- Distribution Provider (DP)
- Distribution Provider UFLS (DP-UFLS)
- Generator Owner (GO)
- Generator Operator (GOP)
- Reserve Sharing Group (RSG)
- Frequency Response Sharing Group (FRSG)
- Regulation Reserve Sharing Group (RRSG)
The NERC Organization Registration program is defined in Section 500 of the NERC Rules of Procedure, and the Organization Registration Manual and Statement of Compliance Registry Criteria can be found in the NERC Rules of Procedure Appendices 5A and 5B.
For any questions regarding registration within the ReliabilityFirst region, or to submit a completed ERO Entity Registration Form, please contact compliance@rfirst.org.
Entity Registration Process
RF shall register all applicable entities located within the Region's footprint in accordance with the current NERC Rules of Procedures, Appendix 5B, Statement of Compliance Registry Criteria. All entities that perform a reliability function located within the RF footprint that meet the criteria in the NERC Statement of Compliance Registry Criteria are required to register with RF in accordance with this procedure or will be placed on the registry by RF.
To determine the function(s) for which an entity is applicable and should be registered, please refer to the NERC website and the Appendix 5B Statement of Compliance Registry Criteria, which is found on the NERC Rules of Procedure page.
Submit all requests for new or revised NERC registration to ReliabilityFirst (RF) through the Centralized Organization Registration ERO System (CORES) tool. RF Registration staff will review each request and respond accordingly. If an entity has any questions or comments regarding the registration process or placement of an entity on the NERC Compliance Registry, please submit requests to compliance@rfirst.org.
Once an entity's request for registration is approved by RF and NERC, the Primary Compliance Contact (PCC) will receive a NERC notification letter of listing on the “NERC Compliance Registry (NCR)." The PCC is responsible for assigning any needed ERO Portal access permissions to other entity users that registered for ERO Portal accounts. Registered entities are responsible for maintaining and updating all contact information in the ERO Portal/CORES.
CORES
The Centralized Organization Registration ERO System (CORES) was developed to provide consistency and alignment across the ERO for registration activities. The CORES platform enables entities to manage their registration information, contact information, and functional mapping relationships from one application.
All entities seeking to submit a new registration or change request to RF will need to register for an ERO Portal account to access CORES. Entities are also required to complete the steps for Multi-Factor Authentication that automatically appear when attempting to log into the ERO Portal and other NERC applications for the first time.
Before submitting an application in the CORES tool, please contact compliance@rfirst.org to discuss all new registration requests or upcoming registration changes.
CORES Links:
Updating Contact Information
Registered entities are expected to periodically review their contact information in CORES and make any necessary changes as they occur. This important contact information is used in many ways and is shared by many NERC applications, including Align. So, updating contact information is critical to ensure effective communication is maintained with our registered entities and helps to avoid inadvertent time delays.
Additionally, any user with an ERO Portal account that has entity administrator rights to a specific entity record can review and edit permission rights for that entity. Compliance contact roles should be updated in CORES as soon as a role change has been determined. Alternate Compliance Contact (ACC) roles can be deactivated, but Primary Compliance Contact (PCC) and Primary Compliance Officer (PCO) roles must be changed by adding the new contact (person) and allowing the system to auto-deactivate the previous person that was in that role.
Beyond CORES, Registered Entities are also responsible for ensuring their contacts are current and up to date in all applicable NERC applications and systems – Section 1600, NERC Alerts, GADS, TADS, etc., at all times. A list of recommended items to complete can be found in the onboarding checklist. There is also a more comprehensive document called the ERO Enterprise 101 Informational Package that provides additional guidance.
An entity should ensure contacts are up to date in all applicable systems – Section 1600, NERC Alerts, etc. A list of recommended items to complete can be found in the onboarding checklist. There is also a more comprehensive document called the ERO Enterprise Informational Package for additional guidance.