Electric Power Selling Price Indexes for Non-residential Customers (EPSPI)

Detailed information for May to August 2016

Status:

Active

Frequency:

3 times per year

Record number:

2325

The Electric Power Selling Price Index (EPSPI) is a monthly series measuring the price movements of sales of electricity by distributors to commercial and industrial users; the estimates are produced three times per year.

Data release - October 17, 2016

Description

The Electric Power Selling Price Index (EPSPI) is a monthly series measuring the price movements of sales of electricity by distributors to commercial and industrial users; the estimates are produced three times per year. The index is a useful measure of the change in the cost of electric power to the non-residential customer.

Reference period: The time period for which the EPSPI equals 100; currently this is the year 2014.

Collection period: Monthly

Subjects

  • Energy
  • Nuclear and electric power
  • Prices and price indexes

Data sources and methodology

Target population

The universe for the EPSPI consists of all major generating and distributing utilities for each province in Canada.

Instrument design

Commodity specialists collect the various electricity charges on the internet and calculate a final bill by keeping the electricity usage constant over time. The resulting amount reflects the real price change of electricity.

Sampling

This is a sample survey with a longitudinal design.

In the provinces where the electricity market is regulated, the sample is in fact a census. For Alberta and Ontario, where the markets are now deregulated, the sample of establishments surveyed was chosen in order to include the municipalities with the larger revenues from electricity generation in 2014.

Data sources

Data are collected from other Statistics Canada surveys and/or other sources.

The collection of price information is carried out via internet collection as all data is publicly available. Follow-up by telephone and research on the internet for data verification is done, where necessary, to clarify information.

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

Error detection

All collected data points are checked by the commodity specialist and incorrect or suspicious data is verified on-line and if required with the utility.

Imputation

Imputation is generally carried out for missing data. In rare instances, utility websites may not be updated prior to the release of EPSPI results. In this situation, an estimate will be made to the utilities rates based on other utilities rate changes.

Estimation

Weights

The weights for the EPSPI are derived from the 2014 volume of electricity delivered as reported to the Electricity Supply and Disposition Survey.

Prices

The collected prices are for non-interruptible power contracts with manufacturing, service and other Canadian industrial customers. This consists of two broad industrial categories of sales, less than 5000kW and 5000kW or more.

Free on board plant selling prices of electricity are obtained using selected bills collected monthly from all major generating and distributing utilities. The number of specified prices (bills) selected from each utility is determined by the various utility rate schedules. The prices collected are simulated transaction prices from each utility with fixed usage variables or specifications, to measure pure price movement. Specifications of these transactions are provided by the utility.

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.

Collected data are converted to price indexes and data are released as such, so that it is not possible to identify the suppliers of raw prices.

Revisions and seasonal adjustment

With each release, data for the previous 12 months may have been revised. The indexes are not seasonally adjusted.

Data accuracy

The statistical accuracy of the EPSPI depends on price data and weight information. Price data are obtained from a sample of utilities, while the weights are estimated using 2014 company distribution of electricity. Both kinds of input data are subject therefore to their own errors.

Though the EPSPI uses a sample survey methodology to obtain the necessary information, confidence intervals are not currently estimated, due to the longitudinal nature of price index series. Indexes for higher and lower levels of aggregation are considered to be statistically reliable.

Documentation

Report a problem on this page

Is something not working? Is there information outdated? Can't find what you're looking for?

Please contact us and let us know how we can help you.

Privacy notice

Date modified: