You asked that we respond to two questions posed by a constituent. The constituent heard a radio advertisement that he believes was sponsored by an entity called “EIA” that explained how homeowners could convert from oil to natural gas or other types of heating. You want to know (1) what is EIA and (2) whether it is using public funds to distribute this message.

You also wanted to know the amount and use of federal funds to support the Connecticut Clean Energy Fund.

EIA

It is likely that your constituent is referring to the Energy Information Administration, the statistical arm of the U. S. Department of Energy. EIA develops and publishes a wide range of data on energy prices and production, but it does not run advertisements. Nor does it promote fuel switching or advocate other types of energy policies. A description of EIA's mission and its products and services is available at http: //tonto. eia. doe. gov/abouteia/.

On its website, EIA does present information on how consumers can compare the costs of different types of heating systems by converting the various types of physical measurements of energy (e. g. , gallons of heating oil or thousands of cubic feet of natural gas) into a common measurement called British thermal units (BTU). A BTU is the amount of

energy needed to raise the temperature of one pound of water one degree Fahrenheit. The conversion calculator is available at http: //tonto. eia. doe. gov/ask/conversionequivalents_faqs. asp#compare_heating_fuels.

Before each heating season, EIA also projects the costs of heating a home using various fuels by region. For the 2009-2010 season, EIA projects that the average residential customer in the Northeast who heats with oil will spend $ 1,892. In contrast, it projects that the average residential gas customer in the Northeast will spend $ 1,135. The comparison between these and other heating fuels is available at www. eia. doe. gov/emeu/steo/pub/wf-table. pdf. While EIA does not promote fuel switching, it is possible that private entities, such as companies that sell gas furnaces, use EIA's cost data in their advertisements to encourage fuel switching.

CLEAN ENERGY FUND

Historically, the Clean Energy Fund has been supported by a surcharge on electric company bills rather than federal funding. But, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA-the stimulus bill) is indirectly providing approximately $ 20 million for the fund over the next three years.

ARRA appropriated over $ 38. 5 million to Connecticut for the federally-funded State Energy Program. The Office of Policy and Management (OPM) has directed that $ 20 million of Connecticut's funding go to the Clean Energy Fund to support renewable energy. It provided $ 5 million for a new geothermal program, $ 4 million for a new solar thermal program, $ 8 million to expand the fund's fuel cell programs, and $ 3 million to expand its photovoltaic programs. An OPM website, http: //www. ct. gov/opm/cwp/view. asp?a=2994&q=436446, describes its application for the federal funding and its contracts with the Clean Energy Fund for the funded programs. The Clean Energy Fund's website www. ctcleanenergy. com describes the programs in detail.

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