[Federal Register Volume 85, Number 158 (Friday, August 14, 2020)]
[Notices]
[Pages 49645-49646]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 2020-17803]


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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 2020 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 September 14, 2020 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)

[[Page 49646]]

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 8, 2019, 84 FR 8516.
    On September 14, 2020, the cost figures published in this notice 
will become effective and supersede those cost figures published on 
March 8, 2019. The cost figures set forth in this notice will be 
effective until further notice.
    DOE's Energy Information Administration (EIA) has developed the 
2020 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 July 
2020, 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 June 2020, Monthly Energy Review 
DOE/EIA[hyphen]0035(2020/6). The representative average unit after-tax 
cost for propane is derived from its price relative to that of heating 
oil, based on the 2020 averages of the U.S. residential sector prices 
found in the Annual Energy Outlook 2020, AEO2020 (January 29, 2020). 
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 2020 representative average unit costs under section 323(b)(4) 
of the Act are set forth in Table 1, and will become effective 
September 14, 2020. They will remain in effect until further notice.

Signing Authority

    This document of the Department of Energy was signed on August 10, 
2020, by Daniel R Simmons, Assistant Secretary for Energy Efficiency 
and Renewable Energy, pursuant to delegated authority from the 
Secretary of Energy. That document with the original signature and date 
is maintained by DOE. For administrative purposes only, and in 
compliance with requirements of the Office of the Federal Register, the 
undersigned DOE Federal Register Liaison Officer has been authorized to 
sign and submit the document in electronic format for publication, as 
an official document of the Department of Energy. This administrative 
process in no way alters the legal effect of this document upon 
publication in the Federal Register.

    Signed in Washington, DC, on August 11, 2020.
Treena V. Garrett,
Federal Register Liaison Officer, U.S. Department of Energy.

         Table 1--Representative Average Unit Costs of Energy for Five Residential Energy Sources (2020)
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                                      Per million Btu
           Type of energy                   \1\         In commonly used terms    As required by test procedure
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Electricity........................             $38.28  13.1[cent]/kWh \2\ \3\  $0.131/kWh.
Natural Gas........................              10.13  $1.013/therm \4\ or     $0.00001013/Btu.
                                                         $10.52/MCF \5\ \6\.
No. 2 Heating Oil..................              17.97  $2.47/gallon \7\......  $0.00001797/Btu.
Propane............................              17.81  $1.63/gallon \8\......  $0.00001781/Btu.
Kerosene...........................              21.28  $2.87/gallon \9\......  $0.00002128/Btu.
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Sources: U.S. Energy Information Administration, Short-Term Energy Outlook (July, 2020), Annual Energy Outlook
  (January 29, 2020), and Monthly Energy Review (June, 2020).
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 1,038 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. 2020-17803 Filed 8-13-20; 8:45 am]
BILLING CODE 6450-01-P