2020 RECS 60 Day FRN

64056

Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 20, 2019 / Notices

Signed in Washington, DC, on November
14, 2019.
Amy Sweeney,
Director, Office of Regulation, Analysis, and
Engagement, Office of Oil and Natural Gas.
[FR Doc. 2019–25135 Filed 11–19–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Energy Information Administration
Agency Information Collection
Extension
U.S. Energy Information
Administration (EIA), Department of
Energy (DOE).
ACTION: Notice and request for
comments.
AGENCY:

EIA requests the
reinstatement with changes of the
Residential Energy Consumption Survey
(RECS) Forms EIA 457–A, C, D, E, F and
G under OMB Control Number 1905–
0092, as required under the Paperwork
Reduction Act of 1995. RECS collects
data on energy characteristics,
consumption, and expenditures for the
residential sector of the United States
and is comprised of six forms including:
Form EIA 457–A Household Survey,
Form EIA 457–C Rental Agent Survey,
Form EIA 457–D Energy Supplier
Survey: Household Propane Usage,
Form EIA 457–E Energy Supplier
Survey: Household Electricity Usage,
Form EIA 457–F, Energy Supplier
Survey: Household Natural Gas Usage,
Form EIA 457–G Energy Supplier
Survey: Household Fuel Oil/Kerosene
Usage. These forms will be used to
collect data and produce household
energy usage estimates for calendar year
2020.
DATES: EIA must receive all comments
on this proposed information collection
no later than January 21, 2020. If you
anticipate any difficulties in submitting
your comments by the deadline, contact
the person listed in the ADDRESSES
section of this notice as soon as
possible.
ADDRESSES: Send comments by mail to
James Berry, RECS Survey Manager, EI–
22, U.S. Department of Energy, 1000
Independence Avenue SW, Washington,
DC 20585. Submit comments
electronically by email to james.berry@
eia.gov.
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: If
you need additional information or
copies of the information collection
instrument, send your request to James
Berry by phone at (202) 586–5543, or by
email to [email protected]. You can
view Forms EIA–457 A, C, D, E, F, and
SUMMARY:

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G online at: https://www.eia.gov/survey/
#eia-457.
SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: This
information collection request contains:
(1) OMB No.: 1905–0092;
(2) Information Collection Request
Title: Residential Energy Consumption
Survey;
(3) Type of Request: Renewal with
changes;
(4) Purpose: The RECS is a
nationwide study of energy use in
housing units and includes a series of
data collections from households, rental
agents (e.g., apartment managers), and
household energy suppliers. RECS data
include official statistics about the
energy characteristics, consumption,
and expenditures of U.S. homes. EIA
has conducted the RECS periodically
since 1978 and the 2020 RECS will be
the 15th data collection for the program.
Form EIA 457–A: Household Survey
collects information on the presence
and characteristics of a wide range of
energy consuming devices in homes,
including heating and cooling
equipment, appliances, and electronics.
The Household Survey also asks
respondents about key structural
features and demographic
characteristics that impact energy usage.
Form EIA 457–C: Rental Agent Survey
collects higher quality energy
characteristics information about which
Household Survey respondents in
rented homes may not be able to
answer. This information includes the
equipment type and fuel for space
heating and water heating. Forms EIA
457–D, E, F, and G: Energy Supplier
Surveys collect monthly electricity and
natural gas billing data from Household
Survey respondent energy suppliers
(e.g., utilities), and periodic propane
and fuel oil delivery data from bulk fuel
suppliers.
RECS is integral to EIA’s mandate to
collect and publish energy end-use
consumption data. RECS reports and
data represent the most comprehensive
national and sub-national results
available on energy consumption in
homes. RECS is the only national data
series that allows policy makers and
program implementers in both public
and private organizations to analyze
trends in energy consumption for the
residential sector. RECS fulfills
planning, analyses, and decisionmaking needs of DOE, other Federal
agencies, state governments, utilities,
researchers, and energy analysts in the
private sector.
(4a) Proposed Changes to Information
Collection: EIA will use Web and mail
questionnaires as the modes of
collection for Form EIA 457–A:

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Household Survey. This design feature
for the 2020 RECS represents a change
from prior collection cycles of RECS
where computer assisted personal
interviewing (CAPI) was the primary
method for collecting household energy
characteristics data. In 2014, EIA piloted
three tests of Web and mail
questionnaires to determine the
feasibility of using these alternative data
collection methods. Based on extensive
analysis of sample representativeness,
nonresponse bias, and data quality, EIA
determined that Web and mail were
viable modes for the 2020 and future
RECS data collections.
Using Web and mail modes allows
EIA to expand the targeted number of
completed cases for the RECS. EIA
anticipates collecting 2020 RECS
Household Survey responses for
approximately 20,000 households. With
a larger sample, EIA will produce more
precise estimates for key energy metrics,
as well as produce some estimates for
all 50 states and the District of
Columbia.
EIA proposes to update the
Household Survey to collect
information on emerging technologies,
traditional energy-consuming devices,
and update some questions to improve
data quality. EIA is proposing the
following questionnaire updates based
on changes in the residential housing
market and stakeholder feedback. The
new questions that are added reflect
EIA’s effort to collect the most relevant
information necessary to estimate
household energy use and to inform
energy end-use modeling. The revised
questions also improve response
quality, minimize reporting burden, and
reflect changes in technology. Questions
were removed that had poor response
quality from the last collection or where
data are now available from alternative
sources.
Question Additions
• (Your Home section) Add a series of
questions to collect plug-in, all-electric,
hybrid vehicle charging infrastructure
and charging behavior. Plug-in electric
vehicles are an emerging technology
that can significantly impact a
household’s electricity consumption.
These additional questions about
charging behavior (e.g., how often and
where the household charges) and the
type of plug being used to charge (e.g.,
Level 1 or Level 2) will improve EIA’s
analysis of the impact of electric vehicle
charging on household energy use.
• (Your Home) Add a question to
collect major structural changes or
renovations. EIA’s estimates of space
heating and air-conditioning
consumption and cost rely heavily on

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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 20, 2019 / Notices
RECS conditioned space data and the
age of each housing unit. This
additional question where respondents
report significant structural changes that
expand the size of the home (e.g., rooms
added) or alter the thermal insulation
factors (e.g., replacing old windows)
would improve estimates for space
conditioning end uses.
• (Appliances) Add a question to
collect the months a second refrigerator
is turned on. Some households with
multiple refrigerators may only use the
second refrigerator during certain times
of the year. Asking respondents to
report the number of months this
appliance is actually in use will
improve our estimates of refrigerator
consumption.
• (Electronics) Add a question to
collect usage of third most-used
televisions. About 40% of households
use three or more televisions, however
EIA only collected hours of usage for the
most-used and second most-used
televisions for the 2015 RECS.
Collecting information on the third
most-used television will improve EIA’s
estimation of total television
consumption.
• (Electronics) Add a question to
collect video game console usage. Video
game consoles represent a significant
portion of ‘‘miscellaneous electric load’’
consumption if used extensively by a
household. EIA will add this usage
question to differentiate high, medium,
and low usage households for these
devices.
• (Electronics) Add a question to
collect use of energy-intensive medical
equipment. Continuous Positive Airway
Pressure machines (CPAP), dialysis
machines, and other medical devices
may account for a significant portion of
‘‘miscellaneous electric load’’
consumption if used in a household.
EIA will add this question to collect the
presence of the most common and most
energy-intensive medical devices in
homes.
• (Electronics) Add additional
questions to collect smart devices in
homes. A key topic in household energy
use is the proliferation of internetconnected or ‘‘smart’’ devices in homes
(e.g., smart speakers, security systems,
doorbells, sprinkler systems).
Understanding the market penetration
of these devices, individually and
collectively, will improve EIA’s analysis
and consumption estimates of
household miscellaneous electric loads,
or MELs.
• (Space Heating) Add a question to
collect heat pump type. Heat pump
efficiencies vary by type, particularly
between air-source and geothermal
units. Knowing the type of heat pump

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system will improve EIA’s estimates of
heating load.
• (Space Heating) Add a question to
collect backup heat source for
households using heat pumps as the
primary heating equipment. Most heat
pumps require a backup heating source
when the outdoor temperature is too
cold for the heat pump to work
efficiently. This additional question,
which will determine if the backup
source is electric-resistance or a natural
gas-sourced component, is necessary to
ensure EIA can attribute the heating
load in the home to the correct fuel and
device type.
• (Space Heating) Add a question to
collect extent of secondary heating
equipment. Household usage of backup
or secondary heating sources, such as
portable heaters and wood stoves, can
vary significantly. This additional
question to collect the relative use of
these secondary sources is necessary to
ensure EIA can attribute the heating
load in the home to the correct fuel and
device type.
• (Air Conditioning) Add a question
to collect ceiling fan usage. Ceiling fans
account for about 2% of household
electricity consumption. This additional
question to collect the relative use of
ceiling fans is necessary to collect the
variability in usage of these devices
across homes.
• (Water Heating) Add a question to
collect heat pump water heaters. Heat
pump water heaters are an emerging,
efficient technology in the residential
sector. This additional question is
necessary to measure the number of
homes with these devices, and to more
accurately estimate water heating energy
consumption.
• (Energy Assistance) Add a question
to collect electricity disconnections for
any reason, including power outages
due to weather. The 2015 RECS
Household Survey included questions
to collect household electricity outages
due to failure to pay bills, but data users
expressed a need to collect electricity
disconnection for any reason. This
additional question will improve
analysis of the impacts of residential
energy disruptions.
• (Energy Bills) Add a question to
collect data on on-site solar generation
capacity. The RECS Household Survey
currently includes a question about the
presence of solar panels, but this
additional question about the system
capacity is needed to understand the
portion of household consumption that
is attributable to the on-site generation.
Revisions
• (Your Home) Modify the question
about vacant periods of the sampled

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housing unit. The follow-up collection
of energy bills via the Energy Supplier
Surveys is a key component of the
overall RECS program. Capturing
information about extended vacant
periods will explain anomalous bills
(e.g., low electricity consumption
during the summer) or gaps in bills (e.g.,
no consumption for several months).
• (Your Home) Modify the basement
question to add response options for
homes on concrete slabs or crawl
spaces. Prior to the 2015 RECS, the
Household Survey collected information
on three primary home foundation
types. Only basements were collected
for the 2015 RECS. EIA’s estimates of
space conditioning loads rely heavily on
home foundation data, so reinstating
additional foundation response options
will improve space heating and cooling
consumption estimates.
• (Appliances) Modify the range
question response option for ‘‘dual
fuel’’. The prior RECS Household
Surveys only allowed for reporting of
dual fuel ranges (i.e., gas cooktop and
electric oven) as an ‘‘other/specify’’
write-in response. The updated
questionnaire will contain an explicit
‘‘dual fuel’’ response option to collect
the presence of this type of range.
• (Electronics) Modify the TV type
questions to reflect current market
terminology and trends. The current TV
market is almost exclusively LED (or
OLED) models, with most plasma, older
LCD, and CRT models no longer
available. EIA will update response
options to reflect this trend in the
market.
• (Space Heating and Air
Conditioning) Modify the humidifier
and dehumidifier question response
options to collect whether units are
portable or whole-home units.
Humidifier and dehumidifier
consumption can vary significantly
based on whether the device is meant to
impact all spaces in a home (wholehome) or only sections of the home
(portable).
• (Lighting) Modify the lighting
questions to collect more detail about
use of each type of light bulb in the
house and to improve quality of
responses. There have been significant
shifts in the residential lighting market
since the 2015 RECS, particular with
purchases of LED bulbs. The RECS
Household Survey lighting section
needs to be revised to better collect the
relative use of LED, as well as older
CFL, halogen, and incandescent bulbs.
• (Energy Suppliers and Use) Modify
the self-reported wood supply questions
to improve data quality. Unlike propane
and fuel oil usage data, EIA relies solely
on Household Survey respondents to

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Federal Register / Vol. 84, No. 224 / Wednesday, November 20, 2019 / Notices

report wood usage. Revising existing
questions to include question aides (e.g.,
pictures) and better response options to
more accurately differentiate high,
medium, and low wood usage
households will improve response
quality and estimates of household
wood usage.
• (Household Characteristics) Modify
the income question response options to
collect more detail. Data users indicate
that the level of detail for the 2015 RECS
income question was not sufficient for
many analysis needs, especially
concerning low-income households. EIA
will revise the income question to
include more income range response
options.
Deletions
• (Energy Programs) Delete all Energy
Star questions. EIA comparisons of 2009
and 2015 RECS Energy Star responses
with Energy Star appliance shipment
data show that RECS respondents have
difficulty identifying whether their
appliances are Energy Star certified.
These data quality issues, as well as
data availability via alternative sources,
warrants removal of these items from
the RECS Household Survey.
• (Energy Programs) Delete all
efficiency program participation
questions. Data users indicate that the
lack of specificity associated with
respondent reports of energy program
participation (e.g., light bulb rebate
programs) significantly decreases the
utility of these RECS Household Survey
items. Data users also are able to access
these data from alternative data sources,
including individual government or
utility program offices.
• (Energy Suppliers and Use) Delete
the self-reported propane and fuel oil
supply and cost questions. The RECS
Household Survey included selfreported propane and fuel oil delivery
and cost questions in prior survey
cycles. This information, however, is no
longer used extensively as EIA now
relies almost exclusively on data
reported on the Energy Supplier
Surveys.
There are no changes to Forms EIA
457–C, D, E, F, and G.
(5) Annual Estimated Number of
Respondents: 6,115;
(6) Annual Estimated Number of
Total Responses: 6,115;
(7) Annual Estimated Number of
Burden Hours: 2,840;
(8) Annual Estimated Reporting and
Recordkeeping Cost Burden: The
annualized cost of the burden hours is
estimated to be $222,961 (2,840 burden
hours times $78.52 per hour). EIA
estimates that respondents will have no

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additional costs associated with the
surveys other than burden hours.
Comments are invited on whether or
not: (a) The proposed collection of
information is necessary for the proper
performance of agency functions,
including whether the information will
have a practical utility; (b) EIA’s
estimate of the burden of the proposed
collection of information, including the
validity of the methodology and
assumptions used, is accurate; (c) EIA
can improve the quality, utility, and
clarity of the information it will collect;
and (d) EIA can minimize the burden of
the collection of information on
respondents, such as automated
collection techniques or other forms of
information technology.
Statutory Authority: Section 13(b) of the
Federal Energy Administration Act of 1974,
Pub. L. 93–275, codified as 15 U.S.C. 772(b)
and the DOE Organization Act of 1977, Pub.
L. 95–91, codified at 42 U.S.C. 7101 et seq.
Signed in Washington, DC, on November
14, 2019.
Nanda Srinivasan,
Director, Office of Statistical Methods and
Research, U.S. Energy Information
Administration.
[FR Doc. 2019–25077 Filed 11–19–19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450–01–P

DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY
Federal Energy Regulatory
Commission
Combined Notice of Filings
Take notice that the Commission has
received the following Natural Gas
Pipeline Rate and Refund Report filings:
Filings Instituting Proceedings
Docket Number: PR20–8–000.
Applicants: Columbia Gas of Ohio,
Inc.
Description: Tariff filing per
284.123(b),(e)/: Revised SOC to be
effective 10/29/2019.
Filed Date: 11/12/19.
Accession Number: 201911125059.
Comments/Protests Due: 5 p.m. ET
12/3/19.
Docket Number: PR20–9–000.
Applicants: Southcross Nueces
Pipelines LLC.
Description: Tariff filing per
284.123(e)+(g): Cancellation of SOC to
be effective 11/12/2019.
Filed Date: 11/12/19.
Accession Number: 201911125212.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 12/3/19.
284.123(g) Protests Due: 5 p.m. ET 1/
13/20.
Docket Numbers: RP19–1641–001.
Applicants: Panhandle Eastern Pipe
Line Company, LP.

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Description: Compliance filing
Compliance with RP19–1641 Fuel Filing
Order to be effective 11/1/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5031.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–217–000.
Applicants: KPC Pipeline, LLC.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing: Tariff
Filing to Clarify Ability to Negotiate
Contractual ROFRs to be effective 12/9/
2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5030.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–218–000.
Applicants: Iroquois Gas
Transmission System, L.P.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing: 110819
Negotiated Rates—Emera Energy
Services, Inc. R–2715–39 to be effective
12/1/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5034.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–219–000.
Applicants: Iroquois Gas
Transmission System, L.P.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing: 110819
Negotiated Rates—Emera Energy
Services, Inc. R–2715–40 to be effective
12/1/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5035.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–220–000.
Applicants: Columbia Gas
Transmission, LLC.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing: TCO
Arsenal Agreement Termination to be
effective 11/8/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5045.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–221–000.
Applicants: Algonquin Gas
Transmission, LLC.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing:
Negotiated Rates—PSEG ERT K800576
to be effective 11/8/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5115.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–222–000.
Applicants: Northern Natural Gas
Company.
Description: § 4(d) Rate Filing:
20191108 Negotiated Rate Filing to be
effective 11/10/2019.
Filed Date: 11/8/19.
Accession Number: 20191108–5151.
Comments Due: 5 p.m. ET 11/20/19.
Docket Numbers: RP20–223–000.
Applicants: Southern Star Central Gas
Pipeline, Inc.
Description: Compliance filing
Annual Operational Flow Order Report
2019 to be effective N/A.

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