861M Instructions_2022

FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

PURPOSE

REQUIRED
RESPONDENTS

RESPONSE DUE
DATE

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

Form EIA-861M collects information from electric utilities, energy service providers, and
distribution companies that sell or deliver electric power to end users. Data collected on this form
includes sales and revenue for all end-use sectors (residential, commercial, industrial, and
transportation). The data collected on this form are used to monitor the current status and trends
of the electric power industry and to evaluate the future of the industry.
Form EIA-861M is a mandatory report for most investor owned electric utilities, all energy service
provider including Third Party Owners of solar PV (TPO) and other selected electric utilities and
distribution companies that sell or distribute electric power to end users on a monthly basis.
Form EIA-861M is a statistical sample of respondents chosen from the respondent frame of
Form EIA-861, “Annual Electric Power Industry Report.”
Monthly data are due to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) by the last day of the
month following the reporting period. For example, if reporting for July, survey is due on August
31.
Submit your data electronically using EIA’s secure e-filing system. This system uses security
protocols to protect information against unauthorized access during transmission.

METHODS OF
FILING RESPONSE

If you have not registered with EIA’s Single Sign-On system, require technical assistance, or
have a questions about data submission, please send an email to: [email protected].
If you have registered with Single Sign-On, log on at: https://signon.eia.doe.gov/ssoserver/login
Please retain a completed copy of this form for your files.

Internet System Questions: For questions related to the e-filing system, see the helpcontact
information immediately above.
CONTACTS

Data Questions: For questions about the data requested on Form EIA-861M, contact the
Survey Manager:
Alex Gorski
[email protected]

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FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS
1. Monthly data are due to the Energy Information Administration (EIA) by the last day of the month
following the reporting period.
2. All data should be entered using accounting standards. For example, March sales data should be
based on energy consumed between 01 March and 31 March with the revenue amount based on
that energy, regardless of when a customer’s billing cycle ends or whether you collected the
money; do not make adjustments in a current month for prior months, you can email [email protected] to make prior month changes and report uncollected funds in the annual form.
3. Count each meter as a separate customer in cases where commercial franchise or residential
customer-buying groups have been aggregated under one buyer representative. The customer
counts for public-street and highway lighting should be one customer per community.
4. If not pre-populated, enter the two-letter U.S. Postal Service abbreviation for the state in which the
electric sales occur. If an additional state needs to be added, click the last state box and press the
arrow down button on the keyboard. This will populate a new blank state field
5. Where exact data are unavailable, report estimated data.
6. See the Glossary for terms used in this survey. The financial and accounting terms are consistent as
outlined in the Uniform System of Accounts for Public Utilities and Licensees (U.S. of A.) (18 CFR Part
101).

Ownership Codes
Municipal Marketing Authority (A): Voted into existence by the residents of a municipality and given
authority for creation by the state government. They are nonprofit organizations.
Behind the Meter (B): Entities that install, own, and/or operate a system (usually photovoltaic), and sell,
under a long term power purchase agreement (PPA) or lease, all the production from the system to the
homeowner or business with which there is a net metering agreement.
Cooperative (C): Member-owned organizations.
Federal (F): Government agencies with the authority to deliver energy to end-use customers.
Community Choice Aggregation (G): Public agency that aggregates end user’s electricity demand for a
particular area and manages supply for those users.
Investor-Owned Utilities (I): Entities that are privately owned and provide a public service.
Municipal (M): Entities that are organized under authority of state statute to provide a public service to
residents of that area.
Political Subdivision (P) (also called "public utility district"): Independent of city or county government
and voted into existence by a majority of the residents of any given area for the specific purpose of
providing utility service to the voters. State laws provide for the formation of such districts.
Independent Power Producer or Qualifying Facility (Q): Entities that own power plants and sell their
power into the wholesale market.

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FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

Retail Power Marketer (R) or Energy Service Provider: Entities that market power to customers in
restructured markets.
State (S): Entities that own or operate facilities or provide a public service.

SCHEDULE 1: IDENTIFICATION
Schedule 1 changes cannot be made online.
Please email [email protected] for updates and corrections.
1. Survey Contact: Verify contact name, title, telephone number, fax number, and email address.
2. Supervisor of Contact Person for Survey: Verify the supervisor of the survey contact, the name,
title, telephone number, fax number and email address.
3. Report For: Verify all information, including Company Name, Company Identification Number, and
reporting month and year for which data are being reported.

SCHEDULE 2. SALES TO ULTIMATE CUSTOMERS
1. For column a, Residential, enter the revenue, megawatthours, and number of customers for
residential (household) purposes. For the residential class, do not duplicate the customer accounts
due to multiple metering for special services (e.g., water heating, etc.).
2. For column b, Commercial, enter the revenue, megawatthours, and number of customers for
commercial purposes. Public street and highway lighting data should be included in the commercial
sector.
3. For column c, Industrial, enter the revenue, megawatthours, and number of customers for industrial
purposes. Irrigation data should be included in the industrial sector.
4. For column d, Transportation, enter the revenue, megawatt hours, and number of customers for
electric energy supplied for transportation purposes.
5. For columns a through e, show revenue and megawatthours sold to the nearest 0.001 value.
6. Each sheet is for 1 state. Attach additional sheet(s), if required.
7. Refer to the Glossary for the definition of selected terms.
The table below should be used as a guide for the classification of your end-use customers; pay close
attention to how your consumers should be organized based on our four Sectors: Residential,
Commercial, Industrial, and Transportation. Irrigation customers should be reported in the Industrial
Sector.

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The residential sector
includes privatehouseholds
and apartment buildings where
energy is consumed primarily
for:
•
•
•
•
•
•

space heating
water heating
air conditioning
lighting
refrigeration
cooking, and clothes
drying

The industrial sector includes:
•
•
•
•
•
•

manufacturing
construction
mining
agriculture (irrigation)
fishing
forestry establishments

FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

The commercial sector includes non- manufacturing
business establishments suchas:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•

hotels and motels
restaurants
wholesale businesses
retail stores
health, social, and educational
institutions
public street and highway lighting
municipalities
divisions of agencies of states and Federal
governments under special contracts or
agreements, and other utility departments,
such as defined bythe pertinent regulatory
agency and/orelectric utility

The transportation sector includes:
•

railroads and railways (the fuel source of
propulsion must be electrical like a metro
system which exists in large cities)

Please count number of systems, not meters.

SCHEDULE 2. PART A. SALES TO ULTIMATE CUSTOMERS –
FULL SERVICE – ENERGY AND DELIVERY SERVICE (BUNDLED)
Enter the reporting month revenue (thousand dollars to the nearest .001), megawatthours sold and
delivered (to the nearest .001 MWh), and the number of customers for sales of electricity to ultimate
customers by state and customer class category for whom your utility provided both energy and delivery
service. For public street and highway lighting, count all poles in a community as one customer. Note: For
sales to customer groups using brokers or aggregators, continue to count each customer separately. For
instance, count a group of franchised commercial establishments aggregated through a single broker as
separate customers (as reported in prior years). Entities completing this schedule are also required to
complete Schedule 3 Part C.

SCHEDULE 2. PART B. SALES TO ULTIMATE CUSTOMERS –
ENERGY-ONLY SERVICE (WITHOUT DELIVERY SERVICE)
Enter the reporting month revenue (thousand dollars to the nearest .001), megawatthours sold (to the
nearest .001 MWh), and the number of customers for sales of electricity to ultimate customers by state
and customer class category for which your company provided only the electricity consumed, where
another electric company provided delivery services, including, for example, billing, administrative
support, and line maintenance. Via the drop down list, submit a complete list of the names of distribution
companies within each state providing delivery service for electricity delivered to an end use customer.
Do not use acronyms. This list will rollover each month, but must be revised with newly active and/or
inactive companies for the month being reported. If the name of a distribution company is not available
via the drop down list, please email the entity’s name to: [email protected]. This list of companies will
aid EIA in matching up sales and delivery service in each state.

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FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

SCHEDULE 2. PART C. SALES TO ULTIMATE CUSTOMERSDELIVERY-ONLY SERVICE (AND ALL OTHER CHARGES)
Enter the reporting month revenue (thousand dollars to the nearest .001), megawatthours delivered (to
the nearest .001 MWh), and number of customers for sales of electricity to ultimate customers in your
service territory by State and customer class category for which your company provided energy delivery
services, where another electric entity or Power Marketer supplied the electricity. Do not provide delivery
service provided on behalf of another delivery company or utility which would be defined as a sale for
resale. Via the drop down list, submit a complete list of the names of companies (primarily Power
Marketers) within each state supplying energy to an end use customer. Do not use acronyms. This list will
rollover each month, but must be revised with newly active and/or inactive companies for the month being
reported. If the name of an energy supplier is not available via the drop down list, please email the entity’s
name to: [email protected]. This list of companies will aid EIA in matching up sales and delivery service
in each state. Entities completing this schedule are also required to complete Schedule 3 Part C.

SCHEDULE 2. PART D. SALES TO ULTIMATE CUSTOMERS –
BUNDLED SERVICE BY RETAIL ENERGY SERVICE PROVDERS OR ANY POWER
MARKETER THAT PROVIDES “BUNDLED SERVICE.”
Enter the reporting month revenue (thousand dollars to the nearest .001), megawatthours sold and
delivered (to the nearest .001 MWh), and the number of customers for sales of electricity to ultimate
customers by State and customer class category for whom your company provided both energy and
delivery service. For public street and highway lighting, count all poles in a community as one customer.
Note: For sales to customer groups using brokers or aggregators, continue to count each customer
separately. For instance, count a group of franchised commercial establishments aggregated through a
single broker as separate customers (as reported in prior years). (Note: Texas Retail Energy Providers
(REPs) should include delivery revenues.)

SCHEDULE 3. PART A. NET METERING PROGRAMS
1. Net Metering tariff arrangements permit a facility, typically generating electricity from a renewable
resource, (using a meter that reads inflows and outflows of electricity) to sell excess power it
generates over its load requirement back to the electrical grid, typically at a rate equivalent to the
price of electricity.
2. Virtual Net Metering: A billing arrangement that allows multiple energy customers to receive net
metering credit from a shared onsite or remote renewable energy system as if it was located behind
the customer’s own meter. Generally but not always virtual net metering programs have two primary
business partners. One is the solar developer or operator, that sells a fraction (or all) of the system
(usually measured in capacity or shares) to the ultimate customer(s) and an electric distribution
company that bills the customer(s) for its energy use and provides a credit on the customer’s bill for
the generation allocated to its share of the resource. In some cases the distribution company serves
in both of these roles.
3. For all net metering applications, report the installed net metering capacity by state, customer class
and technology. Capacity for PV solar should be reported in MW in AC or DC. Capacity for battery,
wind, and other technologies should be reported in MW as AC load capable. All of which should be
reported to the nearest 0.001 MW. Example: 8 kW should be 0.008 MW.
4. Report the number of net metering installations/customers that are actively enrolled in a net
metering programs of the last day of the month. For each program, technology type and sector, if
you complete installed capacity or number of installations/customers then you will need to complete
both lines of data.

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FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

5. For PV solar installations also report the number of virtual net metered customers and the capacity of
virtual net metering programs both for programs from resources that are less than one MW and
resources that are 1 MW or greater. All three net metering programs, net metering, virtual net
metering below 1 MW and virtual net metering above 1 MW should be mutually exclusive, meaning all
three are added together to get the total.
6. For virtual net metering, the capacity should be reported based on which customer class/sector has
the virtual net metering agreement, not the physical location of the generator(s).
7. For battery, also report the energy capacity in MWh. These should be broken into two groups: PVpaired and not PV-paired.
8. If the data is available, enter the amount of electric energy sold back to the utility (MWh) through the
net metering application (PV, wind, and other).

SCHEDULE 3, PART B. NON NET-METERING DISTRIBUTED
GENERATORS
Schedule 3, Part B is intended to collect information about generators that are grid-connected, less
than 1MW, and are NOT reported on Schedule 3A (Net Metering Programs). Generators that are 1MW
or larger should be reporting on Form EIA-860, “Annual Electric Generator Report.”

NUMBER AND CAPACITY
1. For line 1, Number of generators, provide the number of distributed generators in the area served
by your distribution system, by state. (Less than 1 megawatt)
2. For line 2, Total combined capacity, provide the nameplate capacity (to the nearest .001) for all
generators with less than 1 megawatt that reported on line 1.
3. For line 3, Capacity that consists of backup-only units, provide the total nameplate capacity of
generators that are used only for emergency backup service.
4. For Line 4, Capacity owned by respondent, provide the total nameplate capacity listed in line 2 that
the respondent owns.

CAPACITY BY TECHNOLOGY AND SECTOR
For each of the technologies listed in lines 5 through 13, provide the capacity by sector. PV solar can
be reported in AC or DC, while all other technology should be reported as AC load capable. The total
oflines 5 through 13 (line 14) should equal the total combined capacity in line 2.
For battery, also report the energy capacity in MWh.
Direct Connected is for installations that are not located at an ultimate customer’s site but are in front of
the meter and/or connected directly to a distribution system.

SCHEDULE 3, PART C. ADVANCED METERING
This data is no longer collected on this form.

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FORM EIA-861M
MONTHLY ELECTRIC POWER
INDUSTRY REPORT
INSTRUCTIONS

OMB No. 1905-0129
Approval Expires: XX/XX/2026
Burden: 2.33 hours

SCHEDULE 4. MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS
If a merger or acquisition has occurred during the reporting period, report those newly-acquired entities
whose operations are now included in this report.

GLOSSARY

The glossary for this form is available online at the following URL:
http://www.eia.gov/glossary/index.html

SANCTIONS

The timely submission of Form EIA-861M by those required to report is mandatory under 15
U.S.C. §772(b), as amended. Failure to respond may result in a civil penalty of not more
than $10,633 each 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.

REPORTING BURDEN

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average 2.0 hours
per response, including the time for reviewing instructions, searching existing data sources,
gathering and maintaining thedata 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 the U.S. Energy Information
Administration, Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration, EI-21 Forrestal
Building, 1000 Independence Avenue SW, Washington, D.C. 20585-0670; and to the Office
of Informationand Regulatory Affairs, Office of Management and Budget, Washington,
D.C. 20503. A person is not required to respond to the collection ofinformation unless the
form displays a valid OMB number.
The following information reported on this survey will be protected and not disclosed to the
public to the extent that it satisfies the criteria for exemptionunder 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:
•
•

DISCLOSURE OF
INFORMATION

All information associated with the “Survey Contact” and the “Supervisorof Contact
Person for Survey” on Schedule 1.
Schedule 2, Parts B and C: This information will be protected and not publicly released
in identifiable form for nine (9) months after the end of the reporting year. After nine (9)
months from the end of the reporting year this information will be considered
nonsensitive and maybe publicly released in identifiable form.

All other information reported on Form EIA-861M is considered public information and may
be publicly released in company identifiable form. The Federal Energy Administration Act
requires 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 Department of Energy (DOE) to any Committee of
Congress, the Government Accountability Office, or other Federal agencies authorized by
law to receive such information. 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 not applied to the aggregate statistical data published
from this survey. There may be some statistics that are based on data from fewer than three
respondents, or that are dominated by data from one or two large respondents. In these
cases, it may be possible for a knowledgeable person to closely estimate the information
reported by a respondent.

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