EIA-857: Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers

Department of Energy Washington, DC 20585 July 2, 2013

Chad Whiteman

Department of Energy Desk Officer

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, DC 20503

SUBJECT: Use of Generic Clearance for U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA-882T (53), approved under OMB number 1905-0186) to conduct cognitive interviews for Form EIA-857, “Monthly Report of Natural Gas Purchases and Deliveries to Consumers.”

Dear Mr. Whiteman:

The EIA-857 form collects volume and cost data on natural gas delivered to residential, commercial, and industrial consumers in the United States. Respondents included in the survey are a sample of natural gas companies that deliver natural gas to consumers in the United States.

Background: In preparation for the 2014 Office of Oil, Gas and Coal Supply Statistics (OGCSS) OMB clearance package (1905-0175) for the EIA-857 survey, the OGCSS has requested EIA’s survey methodologists to conduct cognitive interviews with respondents. The purpose of these visits is:

• To understand how the current respondent, both the person and the company, complete the EIA-857 data collection instrument and the level of effort this data request requires;

• To better understand how natural gas companies are reporting the total costs and the associated volumes, of natural gas being delivered;

• And, to understand the respondent’s response process in providing these costs and what barriers exist to form completion, including availability of the data request in the respondent’s records.

Proposed Cognitive Interviews: EIA plans to conduct up to 20 cognitive interviews with EIA-857 respondents. These interviews may occur in up to two rounds of testing. EIA plans to conduct the cognitive interviews from August to December of 2013 in metropolitan areas that are yet to be determined.

EIA may use the information collected from these cognitive interviews to revise the EIA-857 form. Specifically, the information collected may be used to update the proposed wording for data requests and instructions in order to retrieve more accurate and uniform reporting of the data from respondents.

Burden: Each cognitive interview will be about an hour. Total burden across all interviews is estimated to be up to 20 hours.

Costs: Costs for respondents are estimated to be $1366.40 ($68.32 * 20 hours * one respondent).

Costs for EIA are estimated to be $7732.80, which includes wages and travel costs. Wages are estimated to be $2732.80 ($68.32 * 20 hours * two persons from EIA). Travel costs are estimated to be $5000 ($2500.00 * two persons from EIA).

Total costs (respondents and EIA) are estimated to be $9099.20.

EIA will provide OMB with the results of these tests in the annual summary of generic clearances. Attached is the draft protocol for the EIA-857, which will be used during the cognitive interviews, the current EIA-857 form, and the completed cognitive interview template.

For questions on the cognitive interviews, please contact Renee Miller (202) 586-6070.

Sincerely,

Stephanie Brown

Director

Office of Survey Development and Statistical Integration

U.S. Energy Information Administration

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