Petroleum Marketing Program

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION
Washington, D. C. 20585

OMB No. 1905-0174
Expiration Date:
Version

EIA-877
WINTER HEATING FUELS TELEPHONE SURVEY
INSTRUCTIONS
1. QUESTIONS?
PART I. IDENTIFICATION DATA
If you have any questions about Form EIA-877 after
reading the instructions, please call our toll free number 1800-639-3705.

Report corrections to information contained on the label if
the label information is incomplete or incorrect.

2. PURPOSE

Your DOE Identification Number is the 10-digit number
printed on the label.

The Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA877, "Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey," is
designed to collect data on State-level stocks and
residential prices of No. 2 heating oil and propane during
the heating season. The data are used to monitor the
prices of propane and No. 2 heating oil during the heating
season, and to report to the Congress and others when
requested.

3. WHO MUST SUBMIT
The Form EIA-877 is mandatory pursuant to Section 13(b)
of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93-275) and must completed by a scientifically
selected sample of No. 2 heating oil and propane dealers.
Section 8 explains the possible sanctions for failing to
report.

4. WHEN TO SUBMIT
The data collected on Form EIA-877 are requested on
Monday or Tuesday of each week by telephone. No
written confirmation of your data submission is required.

5. WHERE TO SUBMIT
Companies selected for the Form EIA-877 survey are
telephoned by the participating State Energy Offices
during the heating season (October 1st through March
15th) to collect data on No.2 heating oil and propane
prices. Respondents are not required to submit any
written information.

6. HOW TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY FORM

Indicate month, day, and year (e.g., November 3, 2010 is:
Month 11 Day 03 Year 10).
Reference Dates
The reference period for prices is as of 7 a.m. Monday
from October 1st through March 15th.
The reference period for inventories is as of 7 a.m. on the
Friday before the Monday price data are reported.
PART II. PRICE DATA
Column A. State Abbreviation
Data are collected by the States participating in the
State Heating Oil and Propane Program. Refer to
Section 11 for a complete list of State abbreviations.
Column B. Price Data
Report the price per gallon (excluding all taxes) for
residential customers of No. 2 heating oil and propane
on the reference day. The price should be for local
residential customers with storage tanks of
approximately 275 gallons. The price should exclude
surcharges for customers living outside the normal
delivery area. It should also exclude discounts or
premiums paid for small or large volume purchases.
The price is for residential customers located in the
reported States. Residential customers are defined as
individual customers or households (as opposed to
businesses or institutions) who use the fuel to heat
their residences. Sales to apartment buildings or to
other multi-family dwellings are excluded from the
“Residential Sales” category.
If the respondent has more than one establishment
within the State and the residential sales price varies
by establishment, the respondent should provide the
average price for the different locations.
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For example, if the respondent owns two fuel oil
establishments in the State and one sells to
residences for $2.24 per gallon and the other for $2.29
per gallon, the reported price would be
2.24 + 2.29 = $2.265
2
Prices reported must be rounded to the nearest tenth of a
cent. Accordingly, 225 9/10 cents is shown as 225.9
PART III. ANNUAL RESIDENTIAL PROPANE SALES
DATA
The first time a firm is contacted, it will be required to
report the approximate sales volume of propane it sold to
residential customers during the period September 1,
2008 through August 31, 2009. Sales will be requested
by State for selected States in which the company does
business. The sales should be assigned to a given State
based on customer location. Residential customers are
defined as individual customers or households (as
opposed to businesses or institutions) who use the fuel to
heat their residences. Sales to apartment buildings or to
other multi-family dwellings are excluded from the
“Residential Sales” category.
Sales Volumes should be entered in thousands of gallons.
Round numbers to the nearest thousand, e.g., enter 6,500
gallons as 7, enter 6,400 gallons as 6.

7. PROVISIONS REGARDING
CONFIDENTIALITY OF INFORMATION
The information reported on Form EIA-877 will be
protected and not disclosed to the public to the extent that
it satisfies the criteria for exemption under the Freedom of
Information Act (FOIA), 5 U.S.C. §552, the Department of
Energy (DOE) regulations, 10 C.F.R. §1004.11,
implementing the FOIA, and the Trade Secrets Act, 18
U.S.C. §1905.

8. SANCTIONS
The timely submission of Form EIA-877 by those required
to report is mandatory under Section 13(b) of the Federal
Energy Administration Act of 1974 (FEAA) (Public Law 93275), as amended. Failure to respond may result in a civil
penalty of not more than $2,750 per day for each violation,
or a fine of not more than $5,000 per day for each criminal
violation. The government may bring a civil action to
prohibit reporting violations which may result in a
temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent
injunction without bond. In such civil action, the court may
also issue mandatory injunctions commanding any person
to comply with these reporting requirements.

9.

FILING
FORMS
WITH
FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
AND
ESTIMATED
REPORTING BURDEN

Respondents are not required to file or reply to any
Federal collection of information unless it has a valid OMB
control number. Public reporting burden for this collection
of information is estimated to average 6 minutes per
response, including the time of reviewing instructions,
searching existing data sources, gathering and
maintaining the data needed, and completing and
reviewing the collection of information. Send comments
regarding this 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 Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20585;
and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs,
Office of Management and Budget, Washington, D.C.
20503.

The Federal Energy Administration Act requires the EIA to
provide company-specific data to other Federal agencies
when requested for official use. The information reported
on this form may also be made available, upon request, to
another component of the DOE; to any Committee of
Congress, the Government Accountability Office, other
Federal agencies authorized by law to receive such
information, or your state energy office. A court of
competent jurisdiction may obtain this information in
response to an order. The information may be used for
any nonstatistical purposes such as administrative,
regulatory, law enforcement, or adjudicatory purposes.
Disclosure limitation procedures are applied to the
statistical data published from EIA-877 survey information
to ensure that the risk of disclosure of identifiable
information is very small.
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10. DEFINITIONS

11.

No. 2 Fuel Oil (Heating Oil) - A distillate fuel oil that has
distillation temperatures of 400 degrees Fahrenheit at the
10-percent recovery point and 640 degrees Fahrenheit at
the 90-percent recovery point and meets the
specifications defined in ASTM Specification D 396. It is
used in atomizing type burners for domestic heating or for
moderate capacity commercial/industrial burner units.

CT
DE
DC
IN
IA
KY
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MO
NE
NH
NJ
NY
NC
ND
OH
PA
RI
SD
VT
VA
WI

Parent - A firm that directly or indirectly controls another
entity.
Delivered Residential Propane - Private household
customers who purchase propane for the specific purpose
of heating their home (include farm houses), water
heating, and cooking. This includes sales of bottled gas
delivered to the residence and truck sales delivered to the
customer’s tank, but excludes agricultural use.
Propane Consumer Grade - A normally gaseous
paraffinic compound (C3H8), which includes all products
covered by Natural Gas Policy Act Specifications for
commercial and HD-5 propane and ASTM Specifications
D 1835. Excludes: feedstock propanes, which are
propanes not classified as consumer grade propanes,
including the propane portion of any natural gas liquid
mixes, i.e., butane-propane mix.

STATE ABBREVIATIONS
-

Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Indiana
Iowa
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Missouri
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin

United States - The 50 States and the District of
Columbia

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