Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey

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

OMB No. XXXX-XXXX
Expiration Date: XX/XX/XX
Version No.: 2013.02

EIA-877
WINTER HEATING FUELS TELEPHONE SURVEY
INSTRUCTIONS
Your EIA Identification Number is the 10-digit number
printed on the label.

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.

Indicate month, day, and year (e.g., November 3, 2014
is: Month 11 Day 03 Year 14).

2. PURPOSE

Reference Dates

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 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.

The reference period for prices is as of 7 a.m. Monday
st
th
from October 1 through March 15 .

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
st
during the heating season (October 1 through March
th
15 ) 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
PART 1. IDENTIFICATION DATA
Report corrections to information contained on the label
if the label information is incomplete or incorrect.

The reference period for inventories is as of 7 a.m. on
the Friday before the Monday price data are reported.
PART 2. 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.
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 = $2.265.
Prices reported must be rounded to the nearest tenth of
a cent. Accordingly, 225 9/10 cents is shown as $2.259

EIA-877, “Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey”
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PART 3. 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 from September 1 through
August 31 of the previous year.
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.
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 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.

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 93-275), 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: U.S. Energy Information
Administration, Office of Survey Development and Statistical
Integration, EI-21, 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.

EIA-877, “Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey”

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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.

AL
AR
CO
CT
DE
DC
FL
GA
ID
IL
IN
IA
KS
KY
ME
MD
MA
MI
MN
MS
MO
MT
NE
NH
NJ
NY
NC
ND
OH
PA
RI
SD
TN
TX
UT
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.
United States - The 50 States and the District of
Columbia.

STATE ABBREVIATIONS
-

Alabama
Arkansas
Colorado
Connecticut
Delaware
District of Columbia
Florida
Georgia
Idaho
Illinois
Indiana
Iowa
Kansas
Kentucky
Maine
Maryland
Massachusetts
Michigan
Minnesota
Mississippi
Missouri
Montana
Nebraska
New Hampshire
New Jersey
New York
North Carolina
North Dakota
Ohio
Pennsylvania
Rhode Island
South Dakota
Tennessee
Texas
Utah
Vermont
Virginia
Wisconsin

EIA-877, “Winter Heating Fuels Telephone Survey”
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