In an effort to more accurately estimate retail natural gas prices, the Energy Information Administration said Tuesday in a Federal Register notice that it is seeking public comment on a proposal to expand its Form EIA-910, the “Monthly Natural Gas Marketer Survey,” to include data from retail marketing companies serving seven additional states and the District of Columbia.

The agency said that because of the expansion of retail customer choice programs in Florida, Illinois, Michigan, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Virginia, West Virginia and the District, the current retail prices that it gathers from utility companies (Form EIA-857) in those states and the District represent only about 23-63% of the commercial volumes in those areas.

“These states were identified by EIA as having some of the highest and most problematic levels of missing price data for the residential and commercial consumer sectors due to the active customer programs that allow customers to choose to purchase their gas from marketers instead of local distribution or utility companies,” EIA said in its notice.

It also noted that customers frequently switch to retail marketers because of lower prices. “Therefore EIA’s lack of coverage of sales by marketers may lead to price estimates that are higher than the actual prices paid. This bias in the data has serious implications for both public and private users of EIA data,” the agency said.

EIA said its inclusion in 2002 of data from EIA-910 to its price estimates in the residential and commercial sectors in Georgia, Maryland, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania resulted in raising the percent coverage of gas prices at the national level from 92.2% to 97.2% for the residential sector and from 65.8% to 78.4% in the commercial sector.

In its notice, the agency requested comments from potential respondents on the reporting burden, the cost and the need for such data. It also asked potential users of the information for comments on its usefulness, quality and any alternative sources of such data. Comments must be filed by July 9 to Elizabeth Campbell, director of EIA’s gas division: (Fax) (202) 586-4420 or (e-mail) elizabeth.campbell@eia.doe.gov.

©Copyright 2004 Intelligence Press Inc. All rights reserved. The preceding news report may not be republished or redistributed, in whole or in part, in any form, without prior written consent of Intelligence Press, Inc.