The U.S. Energy Information Administration
Summary
EIA is the government's independent energy scorekeeper -- funded at $135.0 million and 246 people in FY2026, about $0.39 per U.S. resident, after a 30 percent cut to staff at an unchanged budget.
What is this organization?
What does it do?
EIA runs the National Energy Information System, surveying energy producers and consumers to publish more than 300 reports a year⧉ -- hourly, weekly, monthly, quarterly, and annual -- plus three flagship outlooks, the Annual Energy Outlook, Short-Term Energy Outlook, and International Energy Outlook⧉. Its Weekly Petroleum Status Report and Weekly Natural Gas Storage Report typically spur price formation activity⧉ in energy markets. To limit the burden on the businesses it surveys, EIA also draws on more than 60 administrative data sets⧉ already held by other federal agencies.
What does it cost to run — money and people?
Congress enacted $135.0 million⧉ for EIA in fiscal year 2026, flat against FY2025 and FY2024. That funds 246 full-time staff, down from 353⧉ the year before -- a 30 percent cut in headcount at an unchanged dollar total, concentrated in a $7.0 million reduction to salaries and benefits⧉. Measured against the Census Bureau's 341.8 million U.S. residents⧉ as of July 2025, that budget works out to about $0.39 per person.
View data as table
| Salaries and Benefits | 64.8 | 246 FTEs |
|---|---|---|
| Support Services | 59.8 | surveys, modeling, IT contracts |
| Other Related Expenses | 10.2 | rent, equipment, licenses |
| Travel | 0.2 | stakeholder engagement |
Why is it good for society?
Before EIA existed, energy statistics were scattered across eight uncoordinated federal agencies⧉, and at the same January 1974 hearings where testified, one witness told Congress "there simply is no adequate, credible, objective base of real information⧉" -- a crisis documented directly, finding energy data that lagged actual events by up to two years. The 1977 law's fix was structural: EIA's publishing decisions need no other official's approval, and energy companies' data submissions to it are mandatory, not voluntary -- the mechanism markets now lean on for real-time price formation instead of embargo-era guesswork.
- EIA's FY2026 budget works out to about $0.39 per U.S. resident -- and has held flat at $135.0 million for three straight years even as its count fell 30 percent, from 353 to 246.
- The same 1977 law that created EIA insulated it from other officials' approval before publishing -- a direct answer to 1974 testimony that no credible, objective energy data existed.
Your handles.* EIA is asking for public comment on renewing its EIA-914 monthly oil-and-gas production survey ( control no. 1905-0205) through September 8, 2026 -- see the Federal Register notice and email EIA-FRNcomments@eia.gov. To ask EIA a question directly, use its Contact Us form. To get its data and analysis as it publishes, sign up for EIA email updates.
Sources(6) ▾
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, About EIA — Legislative and Regulatory History (2026-05-04) — EIA's own official timeline of the laws that created and shaped it — the source for this entry's founding-statute citation (Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977, P.L. 95-91, 42 USC 7135) and the verbatim independence language. eia.gov · original document
- U.S. Energy Information Administration, About EIA (2026-07-13) — EIA's own about page — mission statement and headquarters address (1000 Independence Ave., SW, Washington, DC), used for this entry's identity clause and geo pin. eia.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration FY 2027 Congressional Justification (DOE Volume 2 — EIA) (2026-04-03) — 's FY2027 congressional budget justification for EIA — the most current dated document showing FY2026 ENACTED budget authority and Federal levels (as opposed to the earlier FY2026 request document), plus current mission language and the '300+ reports/year' workload figure. Source for this entry's budget and KPIs. energy.gov · original document
- U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Energy Information Administration FY 2026 Congressional Justification (DOE Volume 2 — EIA) (2025-06-01) — 's FY2026 congressional budget justification for EIA — source for this entry's workload/mechanism detail not repeated verbatim in the newer FY2027 volume: EIA's three flagship publications (AEO/STEO/IEO), the price-formation role of its weekly petroleum and natural-gas reports, and its use of 60+ administrative data sets from other agencies to reduce survey burden. These describe EIA's standing operating structure, not a dated annual figure. energy.gov · original document
- Congressional Research Service, The U.S. Energy Information Administration (CRS Report R46524) (2020-09-09) — Congress's own nonpartisan research service's history of why EIA was created — the pre-1977 fragmentation across federal agencies, the 1973-74 oil embargo, and contemporaneous testimony that there was no credible, objective base of energy information at the time. Source for this entry's counterfactual in the 'why is it good for society' section. Not a primary legal document, but a legislative-branch analytic product that quotes primary testimony and statute directly; the underlying statutory-history facts it reports are not time-sensitive. everycrsreport.com · original document
- U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Population Growth Slows Due to Historic Decline in Net International Migration (Vintage 2025 national population estimate) (2026-01-27) — The Census Bureau's own Vintage 2025 national population estimate release, giving the U.S. resident population as of July 1, 2025 — the per-resident denominator for this entry's cost-per-person KPI, per better_metrics.md's sourced-denominator discipline. census.gov · original document
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Congress created the Energy Information Administration in the Department of Energy Organization Act of 1977⧉, which made EIA "the single Federal Government authority for energy information" and gave it independence "from the rest of with respect to data collection, and from the whole Government with respect to the content of EIA reports." EIA is the statistical agency within the U.S. Department of Energy⧉, headquartered at 1000 Independence Ave., SW⧉ in Washington -- inside , but no other officer can require sign-off on what it collects, analyzes, or forecasts.