Notice2023-23999
Agency Information Collection Proposed Extension
Primary source
Metadata and text below are from the Federal Register, a public-domain U.S. government work. Always verify the official published version before relying on it for any legal matter.
Published
October 31, 2023
Issuing agencies
Energy DepartmentEnergy Information Administration
Abstract
EIA invites public comment on the reinstatement with changes to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) Forms EIA 457-A, D, E, F, and G under OMB Control Number 1905-0092, as required under the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. RECS collects data on energy characteristics, consumption, and expenditures for the residential sector of the United States and is comprised of five forms including: Form EIA 457-A Household Survey, Form EIA 457-D Energy Supplier Survey: Household Propane Usage, Form EIA 457-E Energy Supplier Survey: Household Electricity Usage, Form EIA 457-F, Energy Supplier Survey: Household Natural Gas Usage, Form EIA 457-G Energy Supplier Survey: Household Fuel Oil or Kerosene Usage. These forms will be used to produce household energy usage estimates for calendar year 2024.
Full Text
<html>
<head>
<title>Federal Register, Volume 88 Issue 209 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023)</title>
</head>
<body><pre>
[Federal Register Volume 88, Number 209 (Tuesday, October 31, 2023)]
[Notices]
[Pages 74483-74486]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [<a href="http://www.gpo.gov">www.gpo.gov</a>]
[FR Doc No: 2023-23999]
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection Proposed Extension
AGENCY: U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice and request for comments.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
SUMMARY: EIA invites public comment on the reinstatement with changes
to the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) Forms EIA 457-A, D,
E, F, and G under OMB Control Number 1905-0092, as required under the
Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995. RECS collects data on energy
characteristics, consumption, and expenditures for the residential
sector of the United States and is comprised of five forms including:
Form EIA 457-A Household Survey, Form EIA 457-D Energy Supplier Survey:
Household Propane Usage, Form EIA 457-E Energy Supplier Survey:
Household Electricity Usage, Form EIA 457-F, Energy Supplier Survey:
Household Natural Gas Usage,
[[Page 74484]]
Form EIA 457-G Energy Supplier Survey: Household Fuel Oil or Kerosene
Usage. These forms will be used to produce household energy usage
estimates for calendar year 2024.
DATES: EIA must receive all comments on this proposed information
collection no later than January 2, 2024. If you anticipate any
difficulties in submitting your comments by the deadline, contact the
person listed in the ADDRESSES section of this notice as soon as
possible.
ADDRESSES: Submit comments electronically to Chip Berry by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#89eae1e0f9a7ebecfbfbf0c9ece0e8a7eee6ff"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="781b101108561a1d0a0a01381d1119561f170e">[email protected]</span></a>.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: Chip Berry, U.S. Energy Information
Administration, by telephone at (202) 586-5543, or by email at
<a href="/cdn-cgi/l/email-protection#294a414059074b4c5b5b50694c4048074e465f"><span class="__cf_email__" data-cfemail="eb8883829bc5898e999992ab8e828ac58c849d">[email protected]</span></a>. The proposed forms and instructions are available
on EIA's website at <a href="http://www.eia.gov/survey/#eia-457">www.eia.gov/survey/#eia-457</a>.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This information collection request
contains:
(1) OMB No.: 1905-0092;
(2) Information Collection Request Title: Residential Energy
Consumption Survey;
(3) Type of Request: Reinstatement with changes;
(4) Purpose: The RECS is a nationwide study of energy use in
housing units and includes a series of data collections from households
and household energy suppliers. RECS results include official
statistics about the energy characteristics, consumption, and
expenditures of U.S. homes. In addition to statistics produced directly
from surveys of households and energy suppliers, EIA leverages the RECS
survey information to model and produce energy end-use estimates (e.g.,
natural gas water heating consumption). EIA has conducted the RECS
periodically since 1978 and the 2024 RECS will be the 16th data
collection for the program.
Form EIA 457-A: Household Survey collects information on the
presence and characteristics of a wide range of energy-consuming
devices in homes, including space heating and cooling equipment,
appliances, and electronics. The Household Survey also asks respondents
about key structural features and demographic characteristics that
impact energy usage. Forms EIA 457-D, E, F, and G: Energy Supplier
Surveys collect monthly electricity and natural gas billing data from
Household Survey-respondent energy suppliers (e.g., utilities), and
periodic propane and fuel oil delivery data from bulk fuel suppliers.
RECS is integral to EIA's mandate to collect and publish energy
end-use consumption data. RECS estimates represent the most
comprehensive national and state-level results available on energy
consumption in homes. RECS is a key, benchmark data series that allows
policy makers and program implementers in both public and private
organizations to analyze trends in energy consumption for the
residential sector. RECS fulfills planning, analyses, and decision-
making needs of DOE, other Federal agencies, state governments,
utilities, researchers, and energy analysts in the private sector.
In addition to annual RECS estimates produced for all prior
studies, EIA intends to release sub-annual (e.g., monthly) energy
consumption and expenditures estimates from the 2024 RECS. These
estimates would be derived from monthly energy bills collected on the
Energy Supplier Survey forms and modeled energy end-use outputs.
(4a) Proposed Changes to Information Collection: For the 2024 RECS,
EIA intends to field a series of local-area samples in select
metropolitan and county areas around the country. These additional
samples in approximately 8-10 local areas will support EIA's efforts to
expand its demand-side energy data program to produce energy-use
results for more granular geographic and demographic communities.
EIA proposes to update the Household Survey to reduce respondent
burden, improve response quality, and update questions to reflect
current energy trends. EIA is proposing the following questionnaire
updates based on data quality analysis of the prior RECS, changes in
the residential housing market, and stakeholder feedback. Proposed new
questions reflect EIA's effort to collect the most relevant information
necessary to estimate household energy use and to inform energy end-use
estimation. Proposed question revisions should improve response
quality, minimize reporting burden, and reflect changes in technology.
EIA proposes deleting questions with poor response quality from the
last collection or where data are now available from alternative
sources.
Household Survey (EIA 457-A)
Question additions:
<bullet> (Your Home) Add a question asking how many months a
respondent's pool is heated. Heating pools can use a significant amount
of energy, so knowing the extent of heating will facilitate better pool
energy consumption and expenditures estimation.
<bullet> (Space Heating) Reinstate a follow-up question for
respondents using heat pumps for space heating that asks if the
equipment is also used for air conditioning. This question allows EIA
to better capture heat pumps used for both space heating and air
conditioning.
<bullet> (Space Heating and Air Conditioning) Reinstate a question
in the air-conditioning section that asks how much respondents use
their cooling equipment, as well as add a similar question in the space
heating section. These behavioral questions are important for EIA to
gauge the use of energy-intensive equipment relative to similar homes,
especially in temperate climates or climates where heating or cooling
may not be used often.
<bullet> (Water Heating) Add a question about the presence of heat
pump water heaters. Heat pump water heaters are an emerging technology
that can significantly impact consumption and expenditures in a home.
<bullet> (Water Heating) Add a question about the backup fuel for
solar thermal water heaters. EIA asks about the presence of solar
thermal water heaters, but no information is currently collected about
backup fuels for that equipment. This question will support more
accurate estimates of household water heating consumption and
expenditures.
<bullet> (Energy Bills) Add a question about the number of solar
panels if a respondent indicates that they have on-site solar
generation. Expanding the series of questions to better capture the
size of a home's solar array will improve EIA's estimates of on-site
solar generation and related consumption.
<bullet> (Electric Vehicles) Add a question asking about the number
of electric vehicles owned.
<bullet> (Energy Insecurity) Add a question about a respondent's
inability to pay the full amount of energy bills. While EIA gathers
information about people forgoing expenses to help pay for energy bills
and information about the receipt of disconnection notices, there's a
gap in knowledge about people who still face difficulties with energy
bills but pay enough to not receive a notice.
<bullet> (Final Questions) Reinstate a series of questions on the
consumption of propane and fuel oil. This reinstated series will
supplement information collected from energy suppliers, filling in gaps
in the data collection and allowing for additional quality checks for
bulk fuel consumption and expenditures.
<bullet> (Final Questions) Ask respondents for their solar company,
also known as an inverter company or third-party operator, if they have
on-site solar generation. This question may be used
[[Page 74485]]
to capture solar capacity and generation directly from the data source
and improve EIA's estimates of consumption and expenditures for homes
with solar panels.
Revisions
<bullet> (Appliances) Add an option to all appliance-usage
questions for ``rarely used/used less than once a week.'' This
additional response option will allow EIA to differentiate between low,
but consistent usage (e.g., ``once a week'') and near-zero or
infrequent usage of clothes dryers, dishwashers, and cooking equipment.
<bullet> (Appliances) Add a response option to the range fuel
question. Propane dual-fuel ranges are common enough to warrant this
change and should be differentiated from natural gas dual-fuel ranges.
<bullet> (Electronics) Convert the question about external monitors
to a numeric response question. In the 2020 RECS, EIA included a
question about use of external monitors as part of the series of
questions related to teleworking. This question will be moved from that
series and added to the list of questions about computers. We will also
modify the question to ask for a numeric response.
<bullet> (Space Heating) Reinstate questions that capture third
sources of space heating. These questions were removed for the 2020
self-administered questionnaire to conserve space on the paper
instrument. However, there were respondents in the 2020 RECS who
indicated using more than two types of equipment. Space heating is the
most energy-intensive end-use in homes and capturing these additional
heating sources will improve EIA's estimates of heating consumption and
expenditures.
<bullet> (Space Heating) Reinstate a response option for a
fireplace as a main heating equipment source. For the 2020 RECS, enough
respondents indicated this as a main heating source in open-ended
responses to warrant adding this option to the response list.
<bullet> (Space Heating) Reinstate a more comprehensive response
option list for secondary heating equipment. For 2020 RECS, enough
respondents indicated additional equipment in open-ended responses to
warrant adding these options to the response list. This equipment
included furnaces and heat pumps as secondary space heating sources.
<bullet> (Space Heating) Allow respondents to indicate using both
wood cords and wood pellets.
<bullet> (Energy Bills) Reword the question on whether respondents
have an outlet that is accessible by a car. Currently, the question
asks about outlets in range of where a respondent parks their car, but
if the respondent doesn't have a car, then they might have difficulty
answering.
<bullet> (Energy Bills) Reinstate a series of questions about
miscellaneous devices that typically consume large amounts of energy if
used by a household. These devices include air purifiers, water
softeners, sump pumps, well pumps, power tools, large aquariums, and
engine block heaters.
<bullet> (Electric Vehicles) Revise the detailed list of response
options about where the respondent charges an electric vehicle. EIA
intends to implement the more limited response options suggested as
part of EIA's testing of EV-owning households.
<bullet> (Household Characteristics) Revise household income
response options to reflect more current distributions of income
ranges.
Deletions
<bullet> (Your Home) Remove the question asking about the total
number of household members. This question is redundant, because EIA
already asks questions about how many adults and how many children live
in the home. We give these detailed questions primacy when there are
inconsistencies in responses.
<bullet> (Your Home) Remove the question asking respondents if they
had natural gas available in their neighborhood. This question is only
relevant to respondents who did not already report using natural gas.
Response quality issues, including high missing rates and inconsistent
responses, warrant removal.
<bullet> (Appliances) Remove a question about the number of months
a respondent used a secondary refrigerator. Responses were inconsistent
and it is unlikely that respondents only use refrigerators for part of
the year.
<bullet> (Appliances) Remove a series of questions about smaller
kitchen appliances. For most households, toasters, blenders, slow
cookers, and similar food-preparation devices do not constitute a
significant portion of energy consumption and expenditures. EIA intends
to use the space in the questionnaire occupied by these questions for
ones about more energy-intensive devices.
<bullet> (Electronics) Remove a series of questions about the use
of equipment for teleworking and online education. These questions were
added at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic to only assess a
potential change in household consumption due to the pandemic. We will
retain the question about external monitors, with modifications.
<bullet> (Electronics) Remove the VCR question. This technology is
no longer used by a significant number of households and their energy
consumption accounts for very little of the total energy use in homes.
<bullet> (Electronics) Remove questions about how TVs are used.
These questions were added for the 2020 RECS but were not used by EIA
to estimate TV and TV peripheral energy use. The questions about the
number of hours of use of each TV are sufficient for EIA's energy-use
estimation.
<bullet> (Water Heating) Remove a question about whether
respondents use a water-heater blanket. This question has had repeated
data quality issues, included a high missing rate in the 2020 RECS.
<bullet> (Energy Bills) Remove a series of questions about non-
solar renewable energy. On-site residential wind energy generation and
combined heat and power systems are rare. EIA will continue to consider
these questions in the future.
<bullet> (Household Characteristics) Remove the question asking
about the sex of the respondent. Analysis has shown that the sex of the
respondent is not predictive of differences in household energy use.
Additionally, the question as currently worded is measuring an outdated
binary gender construct.
Energy Supplier Surveys (EIA 457 D-G)
<bullet> EIA proposes to reduce the number of months of bills or
fuel deliveries collected on the Energy Supplier Survey forms from 24
months to 16 months. Collecting 24 months of bills for the 2020 RECS
was necessary to evaluate impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on energy
use in households. The additional eight months of bills are no longer
needed, and 16 months of billing and fuel delivery data is sufficient
for 2024 RECS estimation.
Pretesting Interviews
<bullet> EIA would like to conduct up to 100 pretesting interviews
to assess the clarity of the RECS questions and instructions. This will
help improve the next iteration of RECS by obtaining respondent
feedback regarding their experience completing RECS.
(5) Annual Estimated Number of Respondents: 6,390;
(6) Annual Estimated Number of Total Responses: 6,390;
(7) Annual Estimated Number of Burden Hours: 4,443;
(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and Recordkeeping Cost Burden: The
annualized cost of the burden hours is
[[Page 74486]]
estimated to be $388,140 (4,443 hours times $87.36 per hour). EIA
estimates that respondents will have no additional costs associated
with the surveys other than the burden hours and the maintenance of the
information during the normal course of business.
Comments are invited on whether or not: (a) The proposed collection
of information is necessary for the proper performance of agency
functions, including whether the information will have a practical
utility; (b) EIA's estimate of the burden of the proposed collection of
information, including the validity of the methodology and assumptions
used, is accurate; (c) EIA can improve the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information it will collect; and (d) EIA can minimize
the burden of the collection of information on respondents, such as
automated collection techniques or other forms of information
technology.
Statutory Authority: 15 U.S.C. 772(b) and 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.
Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974, Pub. L.
93-275, codified as 15 U.S.C. 772(b) and the DOE Organization Act of
1977, Pub. L. 95-91, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.
Signed in Washington, DC, on October 26, 2023.
Samson A. Adeshiyan,
Director, Office of Statistical Methods and Research, U.S. Energy
Information Administration.
[FR Doc. 2023-23999 Filed 10-30-23; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P
</pre><script data-cfasync="false" src="/cdn-cgi/scripts/5c5dd728/cloudflare-static/email-decode.min.js"></script></body>
</html>Indexed from Federal Register on October 31, 2023.
This is legal information, not legal advice. Laws vary by jurisdiction and change frequently. Always verify current law with official sources and consult a licensed attorney in your jurisdiction for advice on your specific situation.