Title 15Commerce and TradeRelease 119-73

§790a National Energy Information System; information required to be maintained

Title 15 › Chapter CHAPTER 16B— - FEDERAL ENERGY ADMINISTRATION › Subchapter SUBCHAPTER II— - OFFICE OF ENERGY INFORMATION AND ANALYSIS › § 790a

Last updated Apr 6, 2026|Official source

Summary

The Director must create and run a National Energy Information System, which the Office will operate and keep up. System = a national database about U.S. energy, kept by the Office. It must serve the Federal Energy Administration, Congress, other federal officials with energy policy duties, and the States when required by the Natural Gas Act and the Federal Power Act. At minimum, the System must have the data needed for the Administration’s statistics and forecasts. As soon as resources allow, it must also include information to study seven areas: who owns and controls fuels and electricity and how they are produced and sold; how fuels and electricity are used by sector and region; how reserves and energy activities react to economic, environmental, and technological changes and to switching fuels; how to compare data from different sources; effects on industry, jobs, and regions; international energy issues; and long-term U.S.-world energy relationships.

Full Legal Text

Title 15, §790a

Commerce and Trade — Source: USLM XML via OLRC

(a)It shall be the duty of the Director to establish a National Energy Information System (hereinafter referred to in this chapter as the “System”), which shall be operated and maintained by the Office. The System shall contain such information as is required to provide a description of and facilitate analysis of energy supply and consumption within and affecting the United States on the basis of such geographic areas and economic sectors as may be appropriate to meet adequately the needs of—
(1)the Federal Energy Administration in carrying out its lawful functions;
(2)the Congress;
(3)other officers and employees of the United States in whom have been vested, or to whom have been delegated energy-related policy decisionmaking responsibilities; and
(4)the States to the extent required by the Natural Gas Act [15 U.S.C. 717 et seq.] and the Federal Power Act [16 U.S.C. 791a et seq.].
(b)At a minimum, the System shall contain such energy information as is necessary to carry out the Administration’s statistical and forecasting activities, and shall include, at the earliest date and to the maximum extent practical subject to the resources available and the Director’s ordering of those resources to meet the responsibilities of his Office, such energy information as is required to define and permit analysis of—
(1)the institutional structure of the energy supply system including patterns of ownership and control of mineral fuel and nonmineral energy resources and the production, distribution, and marketing of mineral fuels and electricity;
(2)the consumption of mineral fuels, nonmineral energy resources, and electricity by such classes, sectors, and regions as may be appropriate for the purposes of this chapter;
(3)the sensitivity of energy resource reserves, exploration, development, production, transportation, and consumption to economic factors, environmental constraints, technological improvements, and substitutability of alternate energy sources;
(4)the comparability of energy information and statistics that are supplied by different sources;
(5)industrial, labor, and regional impacts of changes in patterns of energy supply and consumption;
(6)international aspects, economic and otherwise, of the evolving energy situation; and
(7)long-term relationships between energy supply and consumption in the United States and world communities.

Legislative History

Notes & Related Subsidiaries

Editorial Notes

References in Text

The Natural Gas Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(4), is act
June 21, 1938, ch. 556, 52 Stat. 821, which is classified generally to chapter 15B (§ 717 et seq.) of this title. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 717w of this title and Tables. The Federal Power Act, referred to in subsec. (a)(4), is act
June 10, 1920, ch. 285, 41 Stat. 1063, which is classified generally to chapter 12 (§ 791a et seq.) of Title 16, Conservation. For complete classification of this Act to the Code, see section 791a of Title 16 and Tables.

Amendments

1977—Subsec. (a)(4). Pub. L. 95–91 added par. (4).

Statutory Notes and Related Subsidiaries

Effective Date

Section effective 150 days after Aug. 14, 1976, see section 143 of Pub. L. 94–385, set out as a note under section 790 of this title.

Transfer of Functions

Functions assigned to Director of Office of Energy Information and Analysis under this subchapter vested in Administrator of Energy Information Administration within Department of Energy by section 7135(c) of Title 42, The Public Health and Welfare. Federal Energy Administration terminated and functions vested by law in Administrator thereof transferred to Secretary of Energy (unless otherwise specifically provided) by section 7151(a) and 7293 of Title 42.

Reference

Citations & Metadata

Citation

15 U.S.C. § 790a

Title 15Commerce and Trade

Last Updated

Apr 6, 2026

Release point: 119-73