[Federal Register Volume 84, Number 46 (Friday, March 8, 2019)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8516-8517]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2019-04245]


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DEPARTMENT OF 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 2019 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 April 8, 2019 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 April 24, 2018, 83 FR 17811.
    On April 8, 2019, the cost figures published in this notice will 
become effective and supersede those cost figures published on April 
24, 2018. The cost figures set forth in this notice will be effective 
until further notice.
    DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) has developed the 
2019 representative average unit after-tax residential costs found in 
this notice. These costs for electricity,

[[Page 8517]]

natural gas, No. 2 heating oil, and propane are based on simulations 
used to produce the February 2019, 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 January 2019, Monthly Energy Review DOE/EIA-0035(2019/1). The 
representative average unit after-tax cost for propane is derived from 
its price relative to that of heating oil, based on the 2019 averages 
of the U.S. residential sector prices found in the Annual Energy 
Outlook 2019, AEO2019 (January 24, 2019). The Short-Term Energy 
Outlook, the Monthly Energy Review, and the Annual Energy Outlook are 
available on the EIA website at http://www.eia.doe.gov. 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 2019 representative average unit costs under section 323(b)(4) 
of the Act are set forth in Table 1, and will become effective April 8, 
2019. They will remain in effect until further notice.

    Issued in Washington, DC, on February 28, 2019.
Daniel R Simmons,
Assistant Secretary, Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy.

         Table 1--Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy for Five Residential Energy Sources (2019)
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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.........................          $38.83  13.2[cent]/kWh 2 3..........  $0.132/kWh.
Natural Gas.........................           10.38  $1.038/therm \4\ or $10.79/   0.00001038/Btu.
                                                       MCF \5 6\.
No. 2 Heating Oil...................           20.80  $2.86/gallon \7\............  0.00002080/Btu.
Propane.............................           21.65  $1.98/gallon \8\............  0.00002165/Btu.
Kerosene............................           24.64  $3.33/gallon \9\............  0.00002464/Btu.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (February 12, 2019), Annual Energy
  Outlook (January 24, 2019), and Monthly Energy Review (January 28, 2019).
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 1,039 Btu.
\7\ For the purposes of this table, one gallon of No. 2 heating oil has an energy equivalence of 137,476 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. 2019-04245 Filed 3-7-19; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P