General: The Monthly Flash Estimates of Electric Power Data (“Flash Estimates”) is prepared by the Electric Power Division, Office of Coal, Nuclear, Electric and Alternate Fuels, Energy Information Administration (EIA), U.S. Department of Energy. Data published in the Flash Estimates are compiled from the following sources: Form EIA-826,“Monthly Electric Utility Sales and Revenues with State Distributions Report,” Form EIA-906, “Power Plant Report,” Form EIA-920, “Combined Heat and Power Plant Report,” and Form EIA-923, “Power Plant Operations Report.”

The survey data is collected monthly from a statistically-derived sample of power plants and electricity retailers. The nominal sample sizes are: for the EIA-826, approximately 450 electric utilities and other energy service providers; for the EIA-923, approximately 1,610 power plants. With the exception of stocks, a regression-based method is used to estimate totals from the sample. Essentially complete samples are collected for the Electric Power Monthly, which includes State-level values. The Flash Estimates is based on an incomplete sample and includes only national-level estimates. Stocks data for out-of-sample plants and any monthly non-respondents are estimated by bringing forward the last reported value for a plant.

For complete documentation on EIA monthly electric data collection and estimation, see the Technical Notes to the Electric Power Monthly, at: http://www.eia.doe.gov/cneaf/electricity/epm/epm.pdf. Values displayed in the Flash Estimates may differ from values published in the Electric Power Monthly due to independent rounding. This report represents the EIA's initial release for national level electricity data. Updated information will be released in the Electric Power Monthly.