Generic Clearance_ CBECS Customer Satisfaction Survey

Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback” (OMB Control Number: 1905-0210)

2020– Commercial Building Energy Consumption Customer Satisfaction Survey

PURPOSE: The Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. commercial buildings, including their energy-related building characteristics and energy usage data (consumption and expenditures). The data are widely used throughout the government and the private sector for policy and market analysis, program design, and research. CBECS data are made available to the public via data tables, public-use data files, and analysis articles.

The purpose of this customer survey is to collect feedback from users who view commercial building characteristics and energy consumption information on Energy Information Administration’s (EIA) website. EIA wants to understand the most important aspects of the CBECS program for current and future customers. The survey results will help EIA understand how the data is used and assess whether it is meeting user’s specific data and information needs.

Findings will inform planning for the next quadrennial cycle of the CBECS, as well as the EIA’s overall commercial buildings program’s purpose and direction in the next decade. Feedback will be used in future study design and, if necessary, to identify alternative data sources for frame development and imputation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS:

Respondents will be users of EIA’s commercial energy consumption products. The survey will target users who view the commercial energy consumption web pages during the time the survey is live and subscribers to our energy consumption email lists.

Websites and URL Addresses

Commercial energy consumption web page: https://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial/

These webpages received the following activity from users: [home page/all pages]

Page views in year 2018: 44,931/289,985

Page views in year 2019: 49,425/322,503

TYPE OF COLLECTION: (Check one)

[ ] Customer Comment Card/Complaint Form [X] Customer Satisfaction Survey

[ ] Usability Testing (e.g., Website or Software [ ] Small Discussion Group

[ ] Focus Group [ ] Other: ______________________

CERTIFICATION:

I certify the following to be true:

1. The collection is voluntary.

2. The collection is low-burden for respondents and low-cost for the Federal Government.

3. The collection is non-controversial and does not raise issues of concern to other federal agencies.

4. The results are not intended to be disseminated to the public.

5. Information gathered will not be used for the purpose of substantially informing influential policy decisions.

6. The collection is targeted to the solicitation of opinions from respondents who have experience with the program or may have experience with the program in the future.

Name: Thomas Leckey, Director, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration,

U.S. Energy Information Administration

To assist review, please provide answers to the following question:

Personally Identifiable Information:

1. Is personally identifiable information (PII) collected? [ ] Yes [X ] No

2. If Yes, will any information that is collected be included in records that are subject to the Privacy Act of 1974? [ ] Yes [ ] No

3. If Yes, has an up-to-date System of Records Notice (SORN) been published? [ ] Yes [ ] No

Gifts or Payments:

Is an incentive (e.g., money or reimbursement of expenses, token of appreciation) provided to participants? [ ] Yes [X] No

BURDEN HOURS

The attached survey will take about three minutes to complete based on tests conducted with sample participants. The burden for the targeted customer group should not exceed 75 hours (1,500 potential respondents multiplied by 3 minutes each).

Category of Respondent	No. of Respondents	Participation Time	Total Burden Hours
Totals	1,500	3 minutes	75 hours

ESTIMATE OF RESPONDENT BURDEN HOURS AND COST – The burden to respondents is 75 hours and the cost to the respondents is estimated to be ($80.14* 75) = $6,010.50.

Cost to the Government

3 hours to draft survey

1 hour to program the survey

4 hours to analyze the data

Total hours is 8 hours * $80.14 = $641.12 total cost to the government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents

1. Do you have a customer list or something similar that defines the universe of potential respondents and do you have a sampling plan for selecting from this universe? [X] Yes [ ] No

The frame is the roughly 20,000 users that currently subscribe to the email distribution lists to receive energy consumption data or information, have participated in past CBECS outreach activities, or have submitted inquiries related to CBECS to EIA. EIA will send an email invitation to these users asking them to visit the commercial energy consumption web page to participate in the survey. The survey will be available to the public who is viewing the CBECS homepage while the survey is active.

The survey will be administered through EIA’s website. Users that visit the commercial energy consumption web pages will view a pop-up screen inviting them to take the survey. EIA will present the invitation to take the survey after the customer has been on the web pages for a brief period of time. This will allow customers to easily and automatically submit their feedback. EIA plans to have the survey on its website until 1,500 responses are received. The number of completed returns will be monitored daily to prevent exceeding the 1,500-response limit.

Administration of the Instrument

1. How will you collect the information? (Check all that apply)

[X] Web-based or other forms of Social Media

[ ] Telephone

[ ] In-person

[ ] Mail

[ ] Other, Explain

2. Will interviewers or facilitators be used? [ ] Yes [X] No

The invitation will ask if the data user wants to take the survey at that moment or have it presented to them later (in five minutes). EIA’s code ensures that our survey will not be blocked by pop-up blocker software. Our program code uses temporary cookies to ensure that the survey is only presented once per customer. If they respond to the survey or say they do not want to take it, they will not see the invitation again.

Only users that visit the identified web pages will receive the pop-up invitation. We expect responses from a diverse group of customers based on responses from past customer satisfaction studies on EIA’s information products.

Participation in this survey is voluntary. No self-identification information will be requested.

Please make sure that all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

Instructions for completing Request for Approval under the “Generic Clearance for the Collection of Routine Customer Feedback”

TITLE OF INFORMATION COLLECTION: Provide the name of the collection that is the subject of the request. (e.g. Comment card for soliciting feedback on xxxx)

PURPOSE: Provide a brief description of the purpose of this collection and how it will be used. If this is part of a larger study or effort, please include this in your explanation.

DESCRIPTION OF RESPONDENTS: Provide a brief description of the targeted group or groups for this collection of information. These groups must have experience with the program.

TYPE OF COLLECTION: Check one box. If you are requesting approval of other instruments under the generic, you must complete a form for each instrument.

CERTIFICATION: Please read the certification carefully. If you incorrectly certify, the collection will be returned as improperly submitted or it will be disapproved.

Personally Identifiable Information: Provide answers to the questions. Note: Agencies should only collect PII to the extent necessary, and they should only retain PII for the period of time that is necessary to achieve a specific objective.

Gifts or Payments: If you answer yes to the question, please describe the incentive and provide a justification for the amount.

BURDEN HOURS:

Category of Respondents: Identify who you expect the respondents to be in terms of the following categories: (1) Individuals or Households; (2) Private Sector; (3) State, local, or tribal governments; or (4) Federal Government. Only one type of respondent can be selected per row.

No. of Respondents: Provide an estimate of the Number of respondents.

Participation Time: Provide an estimate of the amount of time required for a respondent to participate (e.g. fill out a survey or participate in a focus group)

Burden: Provide the Annual burden hours: Multiply the Number of responses and the participation time and divide by 60.

FEDERAL COST: Provide an estimate of the annual cost to the Federal government.

If you are conducting a focus group, survey, or plan to employ statistical methods, please provide answers to the following questions:

The selection of your targeted respondents. Please provide a description of how you plan to identify your potential group of respondents and how you will select them. If the answer is yes, to the first question, you may provide the sampling plan in an attachment.

Administration of the Instrument: Identify how the information will be collected. More than one box may be checked. Indicate whether there will be interviewers (e.g. for surveys) or facilitators (e.g., for focus groups) used.

Submit all instruments, instructions, and scripts are submitted with the request.

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