CBECS Lead Respondent Letter

Dear Building Owner or Manager:

This building has been selected to participate in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2012 Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS). The U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), the statistical agency within the Department of Energy, is responsible for the administration of the CBECS and the dissemination of its data.

Through CBECS, EIA provides the only comprehensive source of energy-related information for U.S. commercial buildings. People use CBECS for many useful purposes, including:

• Building owners and managers, to compare their own energy-related information with other similar buildings through benchmarking tools like Energy Star;

• Energy modelers and forecasters, to assess current energy use and to forecast future energy patterns; and,

• Agencies of the federal government, including Congress, as well as State and local governments, to formulate energy policies.

Be assured that every piece of information we collect about this building will be kept strictly confidential. Your information will be combined with data from other buildings and released to the public in a statistical, summary format.

This building was scientifically selected to represent approximately 1,000 similar buildings. Consequently, your participation is essential. If you agree to participate you will be asked about the kinds of energy this building uses, how it is used, how much it costs, and other questions related to energy use in this building.

In the next few weeks, an employee from the U.S. Department of Energy’s contractor, Westat, will be visiting you. Westat is a national research organization with headquarters located in Rockville, Maryland.

If you have any questions, please call Lillian Diaz-Hoffmann, Westat’s Director of Survey Operations, at

(888) 528-3906 or e-mail her at lilliandiaz-hoffmann@westat.com. To speak directly with someone at the U.S. Department of Energy, please call Joelle Michaels, the CBECS Survey Manager, at (202) 586-8952 or email her at Joelle.Michaels@eia.gov. Information collected from previous CBECS surveys is also available on the internet by visiting http://www.eia.gov/consumption/commercial.

We look forward to working with you, and we thank you for participating in this important national energy survey.

Sincerely,

T
homas Leckey

Director, Office of Energy Consumption and Efficiency Statistics

Energy Information Administration

U.S. Department of Energy

Authorizing Legislation:

Respondent Confidentiality:

The information you provide for the Commercial Buildings Energy Consumption Survey (CBECS) will be used for statistical purposes only and is confidential by law. In accordance with the Confidential Information Protection and Statistical Efficiency Act of 2002 and other applicable Federal laws, your responses will not be disclosed in identifiable form without your consent. Per the Federal Cybersecurity Enhancement Act of 2015, Federal information systems are protected from malicious activities through cybersecurity screening of transmitted data. Every EIA employee, as well as every agent, is subject to a jail term, a fine, or both if he or she makes public ANY identifiable information you reported.

Public Reporting Burden:

Public reporting burden for this collection of information is estimated to average between 30 and 60 minutes per questionnaire, including the time for searching existing data records, filling out the worksheets, and completing the interview. Send comments regarding the 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 Statistical Development and Survey Integration

Survey Development Team (EI-21)

1000 Independence Ave, SW

Washington, D.C. 20585

and

Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs

Office of Management and Budget

Washington, D.C. 20503