Understanding Errors in EIA Projections of Energy Demand

22 Pages Posted: 11 Nov 2008

See all articles by Carolyn Fischer

Carolyn Fischer

University of Ottawa - Department of Economics; Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam

Evan Herrnstadt

Government of the United States of America - Congressional Budget Office (CBO)

Richard D. Morgenstern

Resources for the Future

Date Written: November 7, 2008

Abstract

This paper investigates the potential for systematic errors in the Energy Information Administration's (EIA) widely used Annual Energy Outlook, focusing on the near- to midterm projections of energy demand as measured in physical quantities. Overall, based on an analysis of the EIA's 22-year projection record, we find a fairly modest but persistent tendency to underestimate total energy demand by an average of 2 percent per year over the one- to five-year projection horizon after controlling for projection errors in gross domestic product, oil prices, and heating/cooling degree days. For the 14 individual fuels/consuming sectors routinely reported by the EIA, we observe a great deal of directional consistency in the error patterns over time, ranging up to 7 percent per year. Electric utility renewables, electric utility natural gas, transportation distillate, and residential electricity all show significant biases, on average, across the full five year projection horizon examined. Projections for certain other fuels/consuming sectors have significant unexplained errors for selected time horizons. Independent evaluation of this type can be useful for validating ongoing analytic efforts and for prioritizing future model revisions.

Keywords: EIA, energy forecasting, bias

JEL Classification: Q43, C53

Suggested Citation

Fischer, Carolyn and Fischer, Carolyn and Herrnstadt, Evan and Morgenstern, Richard D., Understanding Errors in EIA Projections of Energy Demand (November 7, 2008). RFF Discussion Paper No. 07-54, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1299037 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1299037

Carolyn Fischer (Contact Author)

University of Ottawa - Department of Economics ( email )

Social Sciences Building Room 9005
Ottawa, Ontario K1N 6N5
Canada

Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam ( email )

De Boelelaan 1105
1081HV Amsterdam
Netherlands

HOME PAGE: http://https://research.vu.nl/en/persons/carolyn-fischer

Evan Herrnstadt

Government of the United States of America - Congressional Budget Office (CBO) ( email )

Ford House Office Building
2nd & D Streets, SW
Washington, DC 20515-6925
United States

Richard D. Morgenstern

Resources for the Future ( email )

1616 P Street, NW
Washington, DC 20036
United States

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