Annual Electricity Supply and Disposition Survey (AELE)

Detailed information for 2014

The purpose of this survey is to obtain information on the supply of, and/or demand for, energy in Canada.

Data release - November 20, 2015

• Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s)
• Description
• Data sources and methodology
• Data accuracy

Description

The purpose of this survey is to obtain information on the supply of, and/or demand for, energy in Canada. This information serves as an important indicator of Canadian economic performance, and is used by all levels of government in establishing informed policies in the energy area. The private sector also uses this information in the corporate decision-making process.

Statistical activity

The survey is administered as part of the Integrated Business Statistics Program (IBSP). The IBSP has been designed to integrate approximately 200 separate business surveys into a single master survey program. The IBSP aims at collecting industry and product detail at the provincial level while minimizing overlap between different survey questionnaires. The redesigned business survey questionnaires have a consistent look, structure, and content.

The integrated approach makes reporting easier for firms operating in different industries because they can provide similar information for each branch operation. This way they avoid having to respond to questionnaires that differ for each industry in terms of format, wording and even concepts. The combined results produce more coherent and accurate statistics on the economy.

• Additional documentation

Reference period: Calendar Year

Subjects

• Energy
• Energy consumption and disposition
• Nuclear and electric power

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The universe consists of electric utilities and industrial establishments that generate and/or distribute electricity. Utilities and companies which have at least one plant with a total generating capacity of 500 KW, or one solar plant with a total generating capacity of over 100 KW are included. No threshold applies to distributors of electricity.

The frame is derived from the Electric Power Generating Stations Annual Survey (record number 2193) and from information on inter-provincial transactions in the Electricity Monthly Survey (record number 2151).

Instrument design

The survey questionnaire comprises volumes of electricity generated by utilities and industry, and the volume and value of receipts and deliveries by province, country and ultimate consumer.

The questionnaire is respondent completed.

Sampling

This survey is a census with a cross-sectional design.

Data are collected for all units of the target population, therefore, no sampling is done.

Data sources

Data collection for this reference period: 2015-04-27 to 2015-07-03

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The data are collected through an electronic questionnaire. Follow-ups are conducted by phone, fax or e-mail as needed.

View the Questionnaire(s) and reporting guide(s) .

Error detection

Methods of error detection include a comparison of data for the respondent with:

- data for the same respondent from the same period of the previous year;
- data for the same respondent from the Electricity Monthly Survey (survey number 2151).

Imputation

In most provinces, the response rate for this survey is very high. As a consequence minimal imputation for non-response is required. Imputation for missing data values is rarely required and is done manually.

Missing data on deliveries to ultimate customers are computed based on ratios from the same quarter of the previous year, applied to the volume reported by the respondent in the Electricity Monthly for the current quarter.

In those provinces undergoing electricity restructuring, non-response can temporarily become higher than for other provinces as many new generators come on line. In those cases, imputation for missing data is carried out based on a mix of historical data, ratios based on data from the Annual Survey of Manufactures and Logging (Survey ID 2103) and special utilities databases, and trends from respondents.

Quality evaluation

The quality of the data to be released is evaluated in the following ways:

- The breakdown by category of Deliveries to Ultimate Customers is compared to information from the Annual Industrial Consumption of Energy Survey (survey number 5047).
- Data on generation and movement are compared to that reported by the respondent in the Monthly Electricity Survey (survey number 2151).

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects which could identify any person, business, or organization, unless consent has been given by the respondent or as permitted by the Statistics Act. Various confidentiality rules are applied to all data that are released or published to prevent the publication or disclosure of any information deemed confidential. If necessary, data are suppressed to prevent direct or residual disclosure of identifiable data.

Confidentiality analysis includes the detection of possible direct disclosure, which occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of a few respondents or when the cell is dominated by a few companies.

Data accuracy

Since the survey is a census of the target population, there is no sampling error. Given the very high response rate and the error detections based on other sources, non-sampling errors are reduced.

In provinces undergoing restructuring, data quality for some years may be lower during the transition years.