Electricity Disposition - Quarterly Residential Sector

Detailed information for fourth quarter 2015

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

Data release - March 7, 2016

• 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 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. In the case of public utilities, it is used by governmental agencies to fulfill their regulatory responsibilities. The private sector also uses this information in the corporate decision-making process. The information may also be used by Statistics Canada for other statistical and research purposes.

Subjects

• Energy
• Energy consumption and disposition

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The universe consists of all electric utilities in Canada who sell electricity to residential customers.

Instrument design

The survey questionnaire comprises volumes and values of electricity sold to residential customers.

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

Responding to this survey is mandatory.

Data are collected directly from survey respondents.

The data are collected through a mail-out/mail-back process. Follow-ups are conducted by phone, fax or email as needed.

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

Error detection

The data processing consists of applying a set of edits that has been developed to detect errors and inconsistencies for each questionnaire. Edits are performed during data capture to ensure that keying errors are corrected.

Imputation

The values for any non-respondents to the quarterly survey are imputed based on previously reported quarterly data.

Estimation

This methodology type does not apply to this statistical program.

Quality evaluation

The data are compared with data for the respondent from the same period of the previous year.

Disclosure control

Statistics Canada is prohibited by law from releasing any information it collects that 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.

In order to prevent any data disclosure, confidentiality analysis is done using the Statistics Canada Generalized Disclosure Control System (G-Confid). G-Confid is used for primary suppression (direct disclosure) as well as for secondary suppression (residual disclosure). Direct disclosure occurs when the value in a tabulation cell is composed of or dominated by few enterprises while residual disclosure occurs when confidential information can be derived indirectly by piecing together information from different sources or data series.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

This methodology does not apply to this survey.

Data accuracy

Since the survey is a census of the target population, there is no sampling error. Given the error detection, non-sampling errors are reduced.

If changes are received from respondents, the data are incorporated and the published data are revised.