42 U.S.C. § 6216 — Annual Home Heating Readiness Reports

(a) In general. By September 1 each year, the Secretary^*, through the Administrator^* of the Energy Information Agency, must send Congress a Home Heating Readiness Report. It must address whether the natural-gas, heating-oil, and propane industries are ready to supply fuel in various weather conditions, including quickly falling temperatures.

(b) Contents. The report must include—
(1) estimates for the coming October-through-March period of consumption, spending, and average prices per gallon of heating oil and propane and per thousand cubic feet of natural gas. The estimates must cover various weather conditions, with special attention to extreme weather, and various regions of the country;
(2) an evaluation of—(A) worldwide and regional crude-oil and refined-product supplies; (B) whether refinery capacity is adequate and how it is used; (C) whether regional refined-product storage capacity is adequate, how it is used, and how it is distributed; (D) weather; (E) the refined-product transportation system; (F) market inefficiencies; and (G) any other factor affecting the heating-oil and propane industries’ ability to function that could affect national or regional supplies or prices;
(3) recommendations for steps Federal, State^*, and local governments can take to prevent or reduce the effects of sharp, lasting increases in natural-gas, heating-oil, and propane prices; and
(4) recommendations for steps companies producing, refining, storing, or transporting heating oil or propane, or doing other work related to either industry, can take to prevent or reduce the effects of sharp, lasting increases in heating-oil and propane prices.

(c) Information requests. The Secretary may request information needed to prepare the report from companies described in subsection (b)(4).