Evidence of meeting #95 for Natural Resources in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was collection.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Manager, Regulatory Policy and Research, Hydro Ottawa, Canadian Electricity Association
One piece of information I would give for the committee's consideration is that there is empirical data out there in the public domain that suggests that members of the public are more inclined to regard information coming from public sector sources as credible and trustworthy. One example that I would lend to the committee's consideration is some research by a gentleman named Mike Cleland, who I think is familiar to many of you. At the University of Ottawa, he's done some fantastic research for the Canada West Foundation on energy decision-making.
One report that he released in November 2016 looked at specific energy projects were being developed in Canada. Members of the local communities where those projects were being developed were interviewed to get their opinion on what sources of information they wanted for the particular project and which sources they saw as most trustworthy and credible. There were federal and provincial governments, municipal governments, the proponent, NGOs, and the energy regulator involved. In all four projects, federal and provincial governments ranked the highest, so there should be a recognition that in many instances when you're dealing with specific projects and local communities and the general public more broadly, there is a sense that public sector agencies providing energy-related information do rank very highly in terms of trustworthiness and credibility.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Gas Association
I appreciate the reference points and public perceptions. However, I don't think we should take those reference points as definitive for what the vehicle could be. Again, I see no reason this entity couldn't be a private sector entity. What is required for public credibility is clarity around rules of the game. How is data being collected. Is that transparent? How is the data being managed. Is that transparent? There's no reason the enterprise doing that couldn't be a private sector enterprise, and I think you could have public support for that.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Gentlemen, thank you very much for joining us today. It was very interesting. We never have enough time to get through all the things we'd like to, but that's just the way it is, unfortunately. We're very grateful.
We'll suspend for about two minutes while we get the next two witnesses lined up, who will be joining us by video conference.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
We're all set to resume here.
We are joined by Mr. Conti from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, and Duncan Millard from the International Energy Agency.
Can both of you gentlemen see and hear us okay?
Duncan Millard Chief Statistician and Head of the Energy Data Centre, International Energy Agency
Yes. It's Duncan Millard here. I can hear you very clearly, thank you.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal James Maloney
Perfect, thank you.
Each of you will be given up to 10 minutes to make a presentation, and then we will open the table to questions for both of you.
Mr. Conti, why don't we start with you.
John Conti Deputy Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
Good morning, members of the Standing Committee on Natural Resources. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to appear before you today to provide testimony on the roles and responsibilities of the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
I believe strongly in the value of relevant and credible national energy information in developing national and international energy policies. I am proud that the EIA plays a significant role in providing that kind of information. EIA is the statistical and analytical agency in the U.S. Department of Energy. It was created by federal statute in the late 1970s with a mission to collect, analyze, and disseminate independent and impartial energy information to promote sound policy-making, efficient markets, and public understanding regarding energy and its interaction with the economy and the environment.
EIA is the primary source within the U.S. federal government of energy information and, as firmly established within the law that created EIA, its data, analyses and forecasts are independent of approval by any other officer or employee of the United States government. The EIA is headed by an administrator who is appointed by the President and confirmed by the Senate. The administrator is the only political appointee at EIA, and the EIA's independence is vested directly in her. Every nominee for the position of administrator has been asked during the confirmation process in the U.S. Senate to commit to upholding EIA's independence, regardless of the party of the President or the leadership of the Congress.
My statement will provide an overview of EIA's stakeholders, organizational structure, and data collection and analysis. A wide range of stakeholders makes use of EIA's energy data and projections, which we generally make available through our website, www.eia.gov. Our 2017 web survey found that most active users of the website included interested business and industry, private citizens, and consultants and researchers, who together made up two-thirds of EIA's website customers. Other important users identified themselves in the areas of education, finance, energy, and government.
EIA data and analyses meet many of the diverse needs of our stakeholders. For example, business, industry, and financial professionals require good information about production, consumption, and prices to develop their own strategies and processes. Policy makers and interested private citizens need contextual information about energy activities and markets, and the opportunity to examine trends that affect their lives. Even consultants and media who are in business to produce their own energy data analysis need some of the statistics we produce to provide context and benchmarking for their work.
In fact, although media made up only 2% of our web users, it represents another important channel for disseminating EIA analysis and statistics. Many of our reports, data updates, and forecasts are actively used by trade and public press. By focusing both on statistics and their interpretation in the service of providing context about energy, EIA's work is accessible by a wide range of users, and consequently helps inform a wide variety of interested stakeholders.
EIA is organized to develop and integrate its statistics and forecasting into useful information, disseminate that information effectively to interested stakeholders, and manage its internal operations. To do that, EIA is organized into four offices. The two largest, the office of energy statistics and the office of energy analysis, focus on developing statistics and forecasts respectively, and on developing interpretation and analysis of their implications together. The office of communications focuses on the dissemination of our products, and the office of resource and technology management manages the budget, procurement, and technology.
I'd like to describe our approach to statistics, forecasting, and analysis in a little more detail.
As an official government statistical agency, EIA is dedicated to producing objective energy data that are relevant to market and policy questions. That means maintaining a strong commitment to the principles of official statistics as interpreted in the United States and as applied to all federal statistical agencies. The significant components of these principles include producing relevant, objective data; establishing and protecting credibility with data users; maintaining trust with data providers; and clearly operating outside political influence.
EIA has developed its statistical program in the context of U.S. law, with the U.S. Office of Management and Budget implementing standards and guidelines, and EIA implementing these standards and guidelines independently.
Maintaining effective and efficient management systems is an important component of EIA's statistical systems. We have developed a view of a statistical life cycle for identifying important information, developing efficient strategies to provide useful information, disseminating that information, and evaluating the results.
Our approach has been heavily influenced by international practices, and we've made good use of what we've learned from Statistics Canada, from the UN Oslo group work, and the International Energy Agency, among others in developing our life cycle.
In recent years this has led to increased use of third-party data sources, including administrative data, close-to-real-time business operating information, and crowd-sourced data, to bring vital energy context and information to our stakeholders. The role of official government statistics is often to provide timely and accurate information that is difficult to get.
For example, in the past few years EIA determined that it needed to introduce a monthly oil production survey to keep up with recent U.S. oil production growth. Prior to the EIA survey, oil production information had been estimated from state data. When the new survey was released, issues with some of the previously used administrative data became clear, and everyone's understanding of oil production in the United States improved significantly.
In total, EIA produces approximately 57 surveys and other data collections, with regular and irregular cycles ranging from one hour to four years. They cover a varied landscape of energy facilities, types, and uses. Often, these parts of the overall energy landscape don't seem to have much relation to one another, but we find that a working understanding of the pieces that make up energy in the United States and a focus on how they fit together brings genuine insight into our work, making all the parts work better.
Another important dimension to EIA's collection of energy data is our effort to look all along the value chain. This is evident from our weekly petroleum stocks report on Wednesday mornings and our natural gas storage report on Thursday mornings, which are known for routinely moving their respective financial markets.
The EIA's consumption surveys, which are among the most difficult and expensive and least regular, are acknowledged to provide information about energy consumption for industry, residential, and commercial sectors that is virtually unmatched in the world and invaluable in understanding those sectors' energy use.
The changes in commercial and residential consumption patterns in just the last decade are notable. The rapid expansion of distributed, off-grid solar photovoltaic systems for commercial and residential customers is changing utility planning in some areas.
In addition to energy statistics, EIA prepares a short-term domestic energy outlook examining monthly trends over the next one or two years and a domestic and international energy outlook with annual projections over the next 20 to 25 years. Also, when requested by congressional committees or the administration, EIA develops forecast analyses around other energy issues.
EIA derives tremendous value from both operating as a statistical agency and having a mission for forecasting analysis. Each side benefits. EIA forecasting has access to well-organized detailed statistics about U.S. energy activity, often having had input to the survey design.
EIA's reference case analyses and outlooks are developed using current laws and policies. This provides a common framework against which policy changes may be transparently assessed through sensitivity cases, using methodologies that are accessible and well documented for EIA stakeholders.
EIA statistics benefit from being combined with forecasting analysis as well. Our forecasters are deeply engaged in trying to understand energy activity. As a consequence, their identification of information needs tends to be closer to the cutting edge of new issues. That kind of feedback is invaluable in planning a relevant energy information program.
EIA's place as the recognized source for U.S. energy information over its more than four decades of existence arises directly from the intersection of statistics, analysis, and independence in its mission and operation. The legislation that created EIA enables it to propose what data is needed to serve its missions to perform analysis that policymakers and markets rely on and to solicit stakeholders' views while maintaining its independence.
Combining statistics and analysis in one governmental organization has worked well for the United States. As you consider a framework for providing Canadian government energy information, I would urge you to consider our experience with that combination and the value it has added for us in our work.
I'm happy to answer any of your questions.
Thank you.
Chief Statistician and Head of the Energy Data Centre, International Energy Agency
Good afternoon from Paris, and thank you very much for the invitation to provide some input for you. I'm Duncan Millard, the chief statistician at the International Energy Agency, and former chief statistician of the Department of Energy & Climate Change in the U.K.
I hope to bring some international and national experience to try to answer, firstly, the five questions you've asked me, and then, obviously, to contribute to any follow-up questions.
To start, one of the points was about the benefits of energy statistics and I think they need to be very clear to everybody. These days, energy underpins all social and economic activity. Therefore, the need for energy security, the need to understand energy, and the need to properly understand where energy comes from for businesses, investors, and the public are all very clear.
The need for energy data is also expanding. Maybe some time ago we were just looking at energy security and perhaps production, but now, increasingly, we're looking at the growth of renewables, energy efficiency, prices, and investment. This is perhaps particularly so in a country such as Canada where the data we discovered shows that energy relates to about 7% of GDP and about 18% of exports; and for consumers, energy and transport spending is around 6% of total household expenditure. So energy is very important there.
Energy is also very important for Canada in the international context. Again, using our global data, we can see that Canada is the second-largest producer of hydro, fourth-largest producer of crude oil, fourth-largest gas producer, sixth-largest nuclear producer, and seventh-largest wind producer. It's very clear that energy is very important to Canada and all Canadians.
The next question was about meeting user needs. It's very clear that the users have a variety of needs, but they also have a variety of needs to get the data. There will need to be different dissemination strategies used, and we're discovering an increasing use of social media as a means of getting information to consumers.
Overall, with energy information, you can think of the energy balance as being the fundamental framework for it, bringing together the production, transformation, and final use of all energy types in a framework where the interactions between them all can be understood and data quality can be improved through an energy balance.
Linked to that, this data is supported by information on energy prices, RD and D, and also bespoke policy monitoring, and it's worthwhile just saying a little thing about the role of the statisticians in policy-making.
If you think about a normal policy development cycle, you can think about the step of understanding the need for a policy, and one of the questions might be, is there a policy gap or is there an information gap? You can think of the development of policy and starting to appraise ideas in terms of how the outcomes of a policy might be monitored, and what the baseline is for moving that data forward. You can think about preparing for delivery and the potential need to undertake a pilot of the policies and put in place the policy and monitoring framework. Then, of course, there is the final stage, during and after the policy is running, the need to monitor and evaluate the policy. Thus, a very important question is the extent to which statisticians and energy data are being used effectively in policy-making.
The next question raised was around gaps in energy data. Of course, I'm not in the position to answer a question on gaps from the perspective of the Canadian government or the Canadian people, but perhaps I can make a few reflections from the point of view of the IEA.
We've been working very closely with colleagues in Statistics Canada and NRCan for many years to try to improve data, and we're very grateful for their continuing support in working with us. We do note potentially two larger issues, firstly around timeliness. Our deadline for data is September, and often our colleagues in Canada are not able to meet that. Other countries aren't either, but we just note that. I don't know if that's the same issue in relation to information for Canadians.
There's also the issue that I'm sure you're all very familiar with about confidentiality, where data exists but ultimately it has to be estimated because of statistics laws that are in place.
There are a number of other issues. There are some issues around data weaknesses where we notice specific issues about our electricity supply and demand, or notice a growth in distribution losses. Again, if that is a genuine trend, it's a policy area that might need to be addressed.
There are potentially some survey gaps. Most notably, a concern for us would be the non-reporting in some aspects of the oil industry. There are also some issues about comprehensiveness of data. One small example here would be that we're not currently able to get a breakdown of the combustible fuels used for electricity generation on a monthly basis.
We also know that going forward there's an increasing need for data. If I look globally at what the needs are—and I'm sure they also apply to Canada—there's an increasing need for energy-induced data, for understanding how and why energy is being used and not just that it is being used; there are the challenges of off-grid generation and of energy consumers increasingly being producers of electricity; but there are also opportunities around open data and digitalization.
Then there's thinking about some best practices for data systems. A very clear point to emphasize here is that we deal with many countries with many different models, and there is no one best-fit model, but there are some common features that feature in the ones that are the most effective.
It's perhaps first worth thinking about the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics, a very good document endorsed by the UN, which also talks about the need for data and the importance of the independence of statistical functions in terms of methodology and dissemination, but also about the need for coordination across ministries and other organizations to achieve the best practice data.
We note that generally data systems that are good are focused, they collect only the data needed, they maximize the use of that data so that it's collected once and used often, they use administrative data where available, they have a proper legal basis not only covering reporting and dissemination to an agreed timetable but a published legal basis so that everybody can understand. There are resources there—statistical work can cost money, and these are properly resourced. Also we see that they are ones that review their methodology. Statistical methodology and approach has to change as the market changes: surveys need to be reviewed, and the best ones will continuously do that.
Systems that work along those principles are generally able to meet the data needs of the users, and user feedback is of course very important.
I'll offer perhaps just a couple of words on sharing data across government. This is an area we work on with many countries, and it is seen as an important area. Canadians perhaps are like many citizens of the world and would view government as a single entity. They may appreciate, of course, the difference between the provincial government and the national government, but to many citizens, from what we understand, government is one organization. There's a certain understanding, though, that maybe there should be decent co-operation among government departments and ministries.
Of course, some data needs stronger protection. Tax and health data are two examples of this. There are, however, many examples in which data can be shared either at an aggregate level or an anonymized record level and can thereby really boost the understanding and the ability to produce more comprehensive energy data. Such systems often require memoranda of understanding between ministries to achieve this, but generally those that use them achieve a reduced burden on business and a reduced burden on households to comply with data.
Finally, I was asked to make some recommendations or offer some thoughts. I should start with a very important point. Globally, Canada has a very strong reputation for overall statistics. We're also very keen to see visibly—visibly to us—the strong co-operation that we see between the various parties.
If I think, however, from where we are and from our understanding of the data, about some of the issues that could be coming forward and therefore some of the recommendations we might propose, it's first to understand the user needs—what data are needed at the national, provincial, and federal levels—and then how to assess the data availability from all sources, including administrative data, and then to do a data map of the way the data meets the users: are there any gaps in the data, or are there areas of duplication?
Then, you need to think about the clear responsibility of who is doing what. That clarity is very important. It should again help avoid any duplication, or help identify the gaps. It's often the case that some sort of governance structure across senior representatives of the ministries or agencies involved can be helpful in bringing everybody together. In the Canadian situation, it would likely include the provinces as well.
Our stress would be to focus on improvements in data rather than the structures of organizations. We would like to think of all parties involved as being part of an “energy statistics Canada”, with everybody involved in the production of data to meet the users' needs across Canada and internationally.
Naturally, we in the IEA are very happy to continue to provide support, technical advice, and any other assistance that would be of use to Canada in helping you improve the energy data you have.
I hope that was helpful. I'm delighted to answer questions.
Liberal
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Good morning, gentlemen.
Thank you very much for joining us this morning and sharing the benefit of your expertise and experience with our committee. As you know, we're trying to understand, through this study, how we might improve and go forward with our energy data here in Canada.
I'll start with our wonderful colleague in the U.S.
By way of very quick background for you, a lot of testimony has indicated that we are gathering a lot of data. There's a lot of data coming in that's collected at the federal and provincial levels. It's collected by stakeholders and industry and so forth. Clearly, your agency has the responsibility of coordinating, analyzing, and then disseminating that data.
Prior to having that centralized approach, can you talk to us about what some of those challenges were? In other words, were you experiencing what we seem to be experiencing here by way of challenges?
Deputy Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
I think I can answer that question, but it might be in a slightly different way from what you'd expect.
There were a few predecessor organizations to the EIA, but its creation in 1977 was the result of the OPEC oil embargo. The U.S. government and the Congress were getting information, mostly from oil companies, about energy data. They didn't have a source to get its own energy data. Everybody was skeptical of the type of information that was provided by oil companies that had their own interests in providing this data.
The motivation for establishing an agency like EIA was independence, so that it not have any ulterior motives in its collection process, and to be able to collect in a systematic way across all the different sources and uses of information.
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
Thank you for that.
Can you help us understand or maybe give us some advice as we're thinking through this?
We are increasingly hearing that data such as the inclusion of indigenous knowledge, for example, in energy sector analysis and socio-economic and environmental data, is important as part of the datasets. Could you talk about any of those specifics?
In other words, knowing the changing climate now and in the future, would you even be looking at it? Would you advise us, as the federal government, about those additional data inputs as we are thinking about this at this particular juncture because we have that opportunity?
Liberal
Mary Ng Liberal Markham—Thornhill, ON
That's in the context of climate change and what we're trying to achieve to enable good policy-making, but also good planning on the part of those who are the providers of energy.
Deputy Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
Okay, I'll try to answer that question. Realize that my answer is very limited, because the Energy Information Administration only deals with the collection of energy information. We have the Environmental Protection Agency, which deals with other pollutants that contribute to climate change.
It's important, as you mentioned, that in the collection of energy data you understand the local and regional characteristics of the data. That will change according to the data elements you collect. You'll have to have a stream of specialized knowledge in the collection of that information. Probably methane emissions from hydraulic fracking was not a big thing 20 years ago; it's a very important thing now. It's information that probably needs to be regulated.
The important thing to note is that you need, as you construct this entity that's going to coordinate your energy information, collection, and dissemination, to build into it a process in which there are professionals identifying the need for the information on an ongoing basis, and then put in place life-cycle analyses to get that information and disseminate it. We could sit here today and delineate all the specific Canadian energy needs that might be missing, but it's not relevant, if you're setting this institute up for the next 20 years. It has to be embedded in the organization.
One thing we noticed in looking across our international counterparts is the lack of end-use information. That's a very important aspect. People don't want to consume energy and hence emit carbon; they really want to use energy to achieve the modern activities of life. If we can understand what they're trying to do with the energy, maybe we can eliminate some of those associated emissions.
Liberal
Liberal
TJ Harvey Liberal Tobique—Mactaquac, NB
Thank you, Ms. Ng, and once again, thank you to both of our guests for being here with us today.
Mr. Conti, I have a couple of questions around jurisdictional boundaries. How does the EIA work, within the context of a federal overarching organization, in conjunction with the individual states? What role does the state level play there, or what are the boundaries between the two levels?
Deputy Administrator, U.S. Energy Information Administration
In the United States, very little information at this point is obtained directly from states. All of the information is obtained mostly from users of energy or providers of energy or transporters of energy.
We have good relationships with the states and we try to maintain them and build on them continuously, because they're one of our major users of information, and that helps. The main interaction along those lines is the identification of information needs. It's constantly evolving, and so you want to make sure as a stakeholder that you understand what their energy information needs are.
In the past, I mentioned, we used to collect oil production information directly from administrative data from states. In the process of creating this new data form, we've eliminated that data collection. We've noticed that there had been a lot of problems, when we looked back and saw the data that we had received previously.
