A Public Reference Room is maintained at the Commission's headquarters and is open during regular business hours as provided in § 375.101(c) of this chapter. Publicly available documents may be obtained in person or in writing from the Public Reference Room by reasonably describing the records sought. Additional information on charges and services is available on the Web site and in the Public Reference Room.

Documents created by or received by FERC on or after November 1981 also are available on the Commission's Web site through its document management system. These may also be accessed in person using a personal computer in the Public Reference Room.

The public records of the Commission that are available for inspection and copying upon request in the Public Reference Room, or are otherwise available under paragraph (a)(2) of this section, include:

Applications, declarations, complaints, petitions, and other papers seeking Commission action;

Financial, statistical, and other reports to the Commission, power system statements of claimed cost of licensed projects, original cost and reclassification studies, proposed accounting entries, certificates of notification (under section 204(e) of the Federal Power Act), rates or rate schedules and related data and concurrences, and other filings and submittals to the Commission in compliance with the requirements of any statute, executive order, or Commission rule, regulation, order, license, or permit;

Answers, replies, responses, objections, protests, motions, stipulations, exceptions, other pleadings, notices, certificates, proofs of service, transcripts of oral arguments, and briefs in any matter of proceeding;

Exhibits, attachments and appendices to, amendments and corrections of, supplements to, or transmittals or withdrawals of any of the foregoing;

All parts of the formal record in any matter or proceeding set for formal or statutory hearing, and any Commission correspondence related thereto;

Presiding officer actions, correspondence, and memoranda to or from others, with the exception of internal communications within the Office of Administrative Law Judges:

Commission orders, notices, findings, opinions, determinations, and other actions in a matter or proceeding;

Commission correspondence relating to any furnishing of data or information, except to or by another branch, department, or agency of the Government;

Commission correspondence with respect to the furnishing of data, information, comments, or recommendations to or by another branch, department, or agency of the Government where furnished to satisfy a specific requirement of a statute or where made public by that branch, department or agency;

Staff reports on statements of claimed cost by licensees when such reports have been served on the licensee;

Commission correspondence on interpretation of the Uniform System of Accounts and letters on such interpretation signed by the Chief Accountant and sent to persons outside the Commission;

Commission correspondence on the interpretation or applicability of any statute, rule, regulation, order, license, or permit issued or administered by the Commission, and letters of opinion on that subject signed by the General Counsel and sent to persons outside the Commission;

Copies of the filings, certifications, pleadings, records, briefs, orders, judgments, decrees, and mandates in court proceedings to which the Commission is a party and the correspondence with the courts or clerks of court;

The Commission's Directives System;

The Commission's opinions, decisions, orders and rulemakings;

Reports, decisions, maps, and other information on electric power and natural gas industries;

Subject index of major Commission actions;

Annual report to Congress in which the Commission's operations during a past fiscal year are described; and

Statements of policy and interpretations which have been adopted by the Commission and are not published in the Federal Register;

Administrative staff manuals and instructions to staff that affect a member of the public;

Copies of all records released under § 388.108, which, because of their nature and subject, the Director of the Office of External Affairs has determined are likely to be requested again, and

An index of the records so designated;

Reference materials and guides for requesting Commission records as required by 5 U.S.C. § 552(g), as amended; and

Commission correspondence relating to the foregoing.

Records that have been requested three or more times and determined eligible for public disclosure will be made publicly available on the Commission's Web site or through other electronic means.

For purposes of this section,

Commission correspondence includes written communications and enclosures, in hard copy or electronic format, received from others outside the staff and intended for the Commission or sent to others outside the staff and signed by the Chairman, a Commissioner, the Secretary, the Executive Director, or other authorized official, except those which are personal.

Formal record includes:

Filings and submittals in a matter or proceeding,

Any notice or Commission order initiating the matter or proceeding, and

If a hearing is held, the designation of the presiding officer, transcript of hearing, exhibits received in evidence, exhibits offered but not received in evidence, offers of proof, motions, stipulations, subpoenas, proofs or service, references to the Commission, and determinations made by the Commission thereon, certifications to the Commission, and anything else upon which action of the presiding officer or the Commission may be based.

Matter or proceeding means the Commission's elucidation of the relevant facts and applicable law, consideration thereof, and action thereupon with respect to a particular subject within the Commission's jurisdiction, initiated by a filing or submittal or a Commission notice or order.