Privacy Act of 1974; System of Records

Issuing agencies

Abstract

As required by the Privacy Act of 1974 and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Circulars A-108 and A-130, the Department of Energy (DOE or the Department) is publishing notice of a modification to an existing Privacy Act system of records. DOE proposes to amend System of Records DOE-4 Form EIA-457 Survey Reports, Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS). This System of Records Notice (SORN) is being modified to align with new formatting requirements, published by OMB, and to ensure appropriate Privacy Act coverage of business processes and Privacy Act information. In "Categories of Records," the following data elements have been changed: "family size and composition" has been changed to "number of household members" and "number of children in the household." Similarly, "identification number" has been changed to "utility or energy supplier account number associated with the address." "Characteristics of household" has been changed to "physical and structural characteristics of housing unit," and "names and addresses of energy suppliers" has been changed to names and addresses of household energy suppliers." Additional categories of records include: "email address", "geolocation of address", "education level", and "challenges the household may have had paying energy bills." While there are no substantive changes to the "Categories of Individuals" section covered by this SORN, substantive changes have been made to the "System Locations," "Routine Uses," and "Administrative, Technical and Physical Safeguards" sections to provide greater transparency. Changes to "Routine Uses" include new provisions related to responding to breaches of information held under a Privacy Act SORN as required by OMB's Memorandum M-17-12, "Preparing for and Responding to a Breach of Personally Identifiable Information" (January 3, 2017). Language throughout the SORN has been updated to align with applicable Federal privacy laws, policies, procedures, and best practices.