Refusal Letter (General)

U.S. Department of Energy
Washington, DC 20585

[Building Manager]
[Company Name]
[Address]
[City], [State] [Zip Code]
[Building Manager],
Recently an interviewer from the National Opinion Research Center (NORC) at the University of Chicago
contacted you on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy and asked for your participation in the 2007
Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). I understand you have expressed some
reservations about participating in this survey.
It is only because this building is very important to the survey that I am writing and asking again for your
participation. Each building in the survey was scientifically selected to represent similar buildings – in some
cases as many as 5,000 buildings. Because of this selection process, another building cannot be used as a
substitute to provide these valuable data. We need your help in this legitimate and scientific survey that is
sponsored by your government.
The CBECS is conducted every four years by the Department of Energy to learn about how U.S. commercial
buildings like this one use energy. The data gathered by the survey provides important information about
commercial energy costs and usage that helps those planning for your nation’s energy future. You can get
more information about the CBECS at http://www.eia.doe.gov/emeu/cbecs.
NORC, the organization that is administering this survey under contract to the U.S. Department of Energy, is
a non-profit research organization with a long history of national service. You can obtain more information
about NORC at http://www.norc.org.
I want to assure you that every effort possible will be made to minimize the demands on your time that
participation would entail and that we are more than ready to accommodate the needs of your schedule. You
may choose to do the interview at any time you wish—day or night, and any day of the week.
I have asked one of NORC’s interviewers to contact you again to schedule an interview. You should be
hearing from an interviewer shortly. If you have any other questions or concerns about this survey, or would
like to schedule an interview appointment directly, you can contact a NORC representative at (XXX) XXXXXXX or by e-mail at [email protected]. If you want to speak to someone at the U.S. Department of
Energy, please call Joelle Michaels at (202) 586-8952 or send her an e-mail at [email protected].
Sincerely,
Stephanie J. Battles
Director, Energy Consumption Division
Energy Information Administration

Authorizing Legislation:
The survey of the commercial sector is authorized under the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974;
Public Law 93-275, as amended, and the Energy Policy Act of 1992 (Public Law 102-486). The
Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS), conducted by the Energy Information
Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy, is a voluntary survey that provides information about
energy use in U.S. buildings.
Respondent Confidentiality:
This survey will be conducted under the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act
(CIPSEA) of 2002 (P.L. 107-347). Data collected under the provisions of this legislation are required to
be kept confidential and to be used only for statistical purposes (i.e., characterizations for population
subgroups that do not reveal any information that could identify individual responses). The Energy
Information Administration, as the sponsoring organization for the CBECS, is responsible for assuring
that all identifying information such as respondent names and addresses and/or building names and
addresses are kept confidential and cannot be linked to the data collected in the CBECS.
Public Reporting Burden:
Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average between 30 and 45
minutes per questionnaire. Send comments regarding the burden estimate or any other aspect of this
collection of information, including suggestions for reducing this burden to:
Energy Information Administration
Statistics and Methods Group EI-70
1000 Independence Ave, SW
Washington, D.C. 20585
and
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Office of Management and Budget
Washington, D.C. 20503