[Federal Register Volume 81, Number 56 (Wednesday, March 23, 2016)]
[Notices]
[Pages 15513-15514]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2016-06581]


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DEPARTMENT OF ENERGY

Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy


Energy Conservation Program for Consumer Products: Representative 
Average Unit Costs of Energy

AGENCY: Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Department of 
Energy.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: In this notice, the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) is 
forecasting the representative average unit costs of five residential 
energy sources for the year 2016 pursuant to the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act. The five sources are electricity, natural gas, No. 2 
heating oil, propane, and kerosene.

DATES: The representative average unit costs of energy contained in 
this notice will become effective April 22, 2016 and will remain in 
effect until further notice.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: 
John Cymbalsky, U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy Forrestal Building, Mail Station EE-5B, 1000 
Independence Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-0121, (202) 287-1692, 
[email protected].
Francine Pinto, Esq. U.S. Department of Energy, Office of General 
Counsel Forrestal Building, Mail Station GC-33, 1000 Independence 
Avenue SW., Washington, DC 20585-0103, (202) 586-7432, 
[email protected].

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: Section 323 of the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act (Act) requires that DOE prescribe test procedures for 
the measurement of the estimated annual operating costs or other 
measures of energy consumption for certain consumer products specified 
in the Act. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) These test procedures are found in 
Title 10 of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) part 430, subpart B.
    Section 323(b)(3) of the Act requires that the estimated annual 
operating costs of a covered product be calculated from measurements of 
energy use in a representative average use cycle or period of use and 
from representative average unit costs of the energy needed to operate 
such product during such cycle. (42 U.S.C. 6293(b)(3)) The section 
further requires that DOE provide information to manufacturers 
regarding the representative average unit costs of energy. (42 U.S.C. 
6293(b)(4)) This cost information should be used by manufacturers to 
meet their obligations under section 323(c) of the Act. Most notably, 
these costs are used to comply with Federal Trade Commission (FTC) 
requirements for labeling. Manufacturers are required to use the 
revised DOE representative average unit costs when the FTC publishes 
new ranges of comparability for specific covered products, 16 CFR part 
305. Interested parties can also find information covering the FTC 
labeling requirements at http://www.ftc.gov/appliances.
    DOE last published representative average unit costs of residential 
energy in a Federal Register notice entitled, ``Energy Conservation 
Program for Consumer Products: Representative Average Unit Costs of 
Energy'', dated August 27, 2015, 80 FR 52039.
    On April 22, 2016, the cost figures published in this notice will 
become effective and supersede those cost figures published on August 
27, 2015. The cost figures set forth in this notice will be effective 
until further notice.
    DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) has developed the 
2016 representative average unit after-

[[Page 15514]]

tax residential costs found in this notice. These costs for 
electricity, natural gas, No. 2 heating oil, and propane are based on 
simulations used to produce the March 2016, EIA Short-Term Energy 
Outlook (EIA releases the Outlook monthly). The representative average 
unit after-tax cost for kerosene is derived from its price relative to 
that of heating oil, based on the 2010-to 2013 averages of the U.S. 
refiner price to end users, which include all the major energy-
consuming sectors in the U.S. for these fuels. The source for these 
price data is the February 2016, Monthly Energy Review DOE/EIA-
0035(2016/02). The Short-Term Energy Outlook and the Monthly Energy 
Review are available on the EIA Web site at http://www.eia.doe.gov. The 
representative average unit after-tax cost for propane is derived from 
its price relative to that of heating oil, based on the 2016 averages 
of the U.S. residential sector prices found in the Annual Energy 
Outlook 2015, DOE/EIA-0383(2015). For more information on the data 
sources used in this Notice, contact the National Energy Information 
Center, Forrestal Building, EI-30, 1000 Independence Avenue SW., 
Washington, DC 20585, (202) 586-8800, email: [email protected].
    The 2016 representative average unit costs under section 323(b)(4) 
of the Act are set forth in Table 1, and will become effective April 
22, 2016. They will remain in effect until further notice.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on March 11, 2016.
David Friedman,
Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy.

         Table 1--Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy for Five Residential Energy Sources (2016)
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                                          Per million
            Type of energy                  Btu \1\      In commonly used terms    As required by test procedure
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Electricity...........................          $36.87  12.6[cent]/kWh \2\ \3\..  $0.126/kWh.
Natural Gas...........................            9.32  $0.932/therm \4\ or       $0.00000932/Btu.
                                                         $9.58/MCF \5\ \6\.
No. 2 Heating Oil.....................           14.28  $1.98/gallon \7\........  $0.00001428/Btu.
Propane...............................           15.44  $1.41/gallon \8\........  $0.00001544/Btu.
Kerosene..............................           17.06  $2.30/gallon \9\........  $0.00001706/Btu.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (March 8, 2016), Annual Energy
  Outlook (April 14, 2015), and Monthly Energy Review (February 25, 2016).
Notes: Prices include taxes.
\1\ Btu stands for British thermal units.
\2\ kWh stands for kilowatt hour.
\3\ 1 kWh = 3,412 Btu.
\4\ 1 therm = 100,000 Btu.
\5\ MCF stands for 1,000 cubic feet.
\6\ For the purposes of this table, one cubic foot of natural gas has an energy equivalence of 1,028 Btu.
\7\ For the purposes of this table, one gallon of No. 2 heating oil has an energy equivalence of 138,690 Btu.
\8\ For the purposes of this table, one gallon of liquid propane has an energy equivalence of 91,333 Btu.
\9\ For the purposes of this table, one gallon of kerosene has an energy equivalence of 135,000 Btu.

[FR Doc. 2016-06581 Filed 3-22-16; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P