[Federal Register Volume 82, Number 86 (Friday, May 5, 2017)]
[Notices]
[Pages 21213-21214]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2017-09128]


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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 2017 pursuant to the Energy Policy and 
Conservation Act (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 June 5, 2017 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 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 March 23, 2016, 81 FR 15513.
    On June 5, 2017, the cost figures published in this notice will 
become effective and supersede those cost figures published on March 
23, 2016. The cost figures set forth in this notice will be effective 
until further notice.
    DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) is the data source 
for the 2017 representative average unit after-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 
April 2017, 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 April 2017, Monthly 
Energy Review DOE/EIA-0035(2017/04). 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 2017 averages of the U.S. residential sector prices found 
in the Annual Energy Outlook 2017, AEO2017 (January 5, 2017). 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 2017 representative average unit costs under section 323(b)(4) 
of the Act are set forth in Table 1, and will become effective June 5, 
2017. They will remain in effect until further notice.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2017.
Daniel Simmons,
Acting Deputy Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable 
Energy.

            Table 1--Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy for Five Residential Energy Sources
                                                     [2017]
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                                            Per million                                   As required by test
             Type of energy                   Btu \1\       In commonly used terms             procedure
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Electricity.............................          $37.72  12.9[cent]/kWh \2\ \3\....  $0.129/kWh.
Natural Gas.............................           10.52  $1.052/therm \4\ or $10.86/ $0.00001052/Btu.
                                                           MCF \5\ \6\.
No. 2 Heating Oil.......................           18.83  $2.59/gallon \7\..........  $0.00001883/Btu.
Propane.................................           16.72  $1.53/gallon \8\..........  $0.00001672/Btu.
Kerosene................................           22.32  $3.01/gallon \9\..........  $0.00002232/Btu.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (April 11, 2017), Annual Energy
  Outlook (January 5, 2017), and Monthly Energy Review (April 25, 2017).
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.

[[Page 21214]]

 
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 1,032 Btu.
7. For the purposes of this table, one gallon of No. 2 heating oil has an energy equivalence of 137,561 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. 2017-09128 Filed 5-4-17; 8:45 am]
 BILLING CODE 6450-01-P