Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS)

EIA administers the Residential Energy Consumption Survey (RECS) to a nationally representative sample of housing units. Traditionally, specially trained interviewers collect energy characteristics on the housing unit, usage patterns, and household demographics. For the 2020 survey cycle, EIA used Web and mail forms to collect detailed information on household energy characteristics. This information is combined with data from energy suppliers to these homes to estimate energy costs and usage for heating, cooling, appliances and other end uses — information critical to meeting future energy demand and improving efficiency and building design.

First conducted in 1978, the fifteenth RECS collected data from nearly 18,500 households in housing units statistically selected to represent the 123.5 million housing units that are occupied as a primary residence. Data from the 2020 RECS are tabulated by geography and for particularly characteristics, such as housing unit type and income, that are of particular interest to energy analysis.

The results of each RECS include data tables, a microdata file, and a series of reports. Data tables are generally organized across two headings; 'Household Characteristics' and 'Consumption & Expenditures.'

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Last Updated November 01, 2023
File Format ['pdf', 'xls', 'zip']
Status Active
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Data Attributes

Collection Method

The Household Survey, a voluntary survey, collects data on energy-related characteristics and usage patterns of a national and sub-national (e.g., states) representative sample of housing units. The Energy Supplier Survey (ESS), a mandatory data collection, collects data on how much electricity, natural gas, propane/LPG, and fuel oil/kerosene were consumed in the sampled housing units during the reference year. The ESS also collects data on actual dollar amounts spent on these energy sources. EIA uses models (energy engineering-based models in the 2015 and 2020 survey) to produce consumption and expenditures estimates for heating, cooling, refrigeration, and other end uses in all housing units occupied as a primary residence in the United States using the data collected from the Household Survey and ESS. Wood-use estimates are also included as part of RECS. The target population for the RECS is all occupied housing units in the 50 states and the District of Columbia (DC) that are used as primary residences. The 2020 RECS introduced a completely self-administered design via web and paper questionnaire.
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