Form EIA-877 Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey

	U.S. DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY U.S. ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION Washington, DC 20585	OMB No. 1905-0174 Expiration Date: xx/xx/xxxx Burden: 6 minutes
EIA-877 WINTER HEATING FUELS TELEPHONE SURVEY INSTRUCTIONS

1. QUESTIONS?

If you have any questions about Form EIA-877 after reading the instructions, please call our toll free number 1-800-638-8812.

2. PURPOSE

The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) Form EIA-877, "Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey," is designed to collect data on State-level stocks and residential retail 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

Form EIA-877 is mandatory pursuant to Section 13(b) of the Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974 (Public Law 93-275) and must be 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 Form EIA-877 survey are telephoned by the participating State Energy Offices during the heating season (October through March) to collect data on No. 2 heating oil and propane retail prices. Respondents are not required to submit any written information.

6. HOW TO COMPLETE THE SURVEY FORM

PART 1. IDENTIFICATION DATA

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

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

Indicate month, day, and year (e.g., November 6, 2017 is: Month 11 Day 06 Year 17).

Reference Dates

The reference period for prices is as of 7:00 a.m. Monday from October through March. The reference period for inventories is as of 7:00 a.m. on the Friday before the Monday price data are reported.

PART 2. RESIDENTIAL RETAIL 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.

Columns B and C. Retail Price Data

Report the retail 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 any 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 Retail Sales” category.

If the respondent has more than one establishment within the State and the residential retail price varies by establishment, the respondent should provide the retail price only for the outlet selected in the sample.

For example, if the respondent owns two fuel oil establishments in the State and one outlet selected in the sample sells to residences for $2.24 per gallon and the other for $2.29 per gallon, the reported retail price would be: $2.24. Retail prices reported must be rounded to the nearest tenth of a cent.

PART 3. ANNUAL RESIDENTIAL HEATING FUEL

RETAIL SALES DATA

During each new sample, a firm will be required to report the approximate sales volumes of No. 2 heating oil and propane it sold to residential customers from January 1 through December 31 of the previous year. Sales will be requested by State for selected outlets. 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 Retail 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 you provide on Form EIA-877 will be used for statistical purposes only and is confidential by law. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2018 and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your consent. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, Federal information systems are protected from malicious activities through cybersecurity screening of transmitted data. Every EIA employee, as well as every agent, is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he or she makes public ANY identifiable information you reported.

Data protection methods 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.

7. SANCTIONS

The timely submission of Form EIA-877 by those required to report is mandatory under 15 USC 772(b), as amended. Failure to respond may result in a civil penalty of not more than $10,633 per day for each 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. Title 18 U.S.C. 1001 makes it a criminal offense for any person knowingly and willingly to make to any Agency or Department of the United States any false, fictitious, or fraudulent statements as to any matter within its jurisdiction.

 

7. 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: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, EI-21, 1000 Independence Avenue, SW, Washington, DC 20585; and to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington, DC 20503.

10. DEFINITIONS

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.

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.

United States ‑ The 50 States and the District of Columbia.

11. STATE ABBREVIATIONS

AL - Alabama

AR - Arkansas

CO - Colorado

CT - Connecticut

DE - Delaware

DC - District of Columbia

FL - Florida

GA - Georgia

ID - Idaho

IL - Illinois

IN - Indiana

IA - Iowa

KS - Kansas

KY - Kentucky

ME - Maine

MD - Maryland

MA - Massachusetts

MI - Michigan

MN - Minnesota

MS - Mississippi

MO - Missouri

MT - Montana

NE - Nebraska

NH - New Hampshire

NJ - New Jersey

NY - New York

NC - North Carolina

ND - North Dakota

OH - Ohio

OK - Oklahoma

PA - Pennsylvania

RI - Rhode Island

SD - South Dakota

TN - Tennessee

TX - Texas

UT - Utah

VT - Vermont

VA - Virginia

WI - Wisconsin

EIA-877, “Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey”

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