The Northeast Power Coordinating Council: Cross-Border Regional Entity, Inc. (“NPCC CBRE”), an independent, affiliate corporation of the Northeast Power Coordinating Council, Inc. ("NPCC"), was formed to enhance the reliability of the international, interconnected bulk power system in Northeastern North America. It accomplishes this goal through the development of Regional Reliability standards and compliance assessment and enforcement of NERC and Regional Reliability Standards. The NPCC Compliance Monitoring and Enforcement Program (CMEP) is designed to monitor, assess and enforce compliance in accordance with NERC and Regional Reliability Standards.

An intergral part of the CMEP involves Compliance Audits of NERC Reliability Standards and Requirements that are applicable to the function that an entity has registered. The scope of a Compliance Audit is limited to those Reliability Standards and Requirements that are included in the monitored list of NERC Reliability Standards.

There are three types of compliance audits: on-site, off-site, and spot checking:

• The objective of an On-Site Compliance Audit is to review a registered entity’s compliance with the requirements of the reliability standards that are applicable to the entity based on the entity’s registered functions. An on-site compliance audit may also include recommendations to a registered entity. Recommendations would provide suggestions on improving actual compliance and or the entity’s documentation of compliance.
• The objective of an Off-Site Compliance Audit is the same as an on-site audit (to review a registered entity’s compliance with the requirements of the reliability standards). However, the audit requires evidence of compliance via transmitted data (electronic, hard-copy, etc.) and not an on-site visit.
• Spot Checking is a process in which the NPCC requests a registered entity to provide detailed information to support the registered entity’s earlier self-certification, self report, or periodic data submittal used to demonstrate whether or not a registered entity complies with reliability standards. A spot check will be random or initiated in response to events as described in the reliability standards, or by operating problems or system events. Spot checking has minimum prior notice and is usually performed off-site.