About the Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey
The Manufacturing Energy Consumption Survey (MECS) is a national sample survey that collects information on the stock of U.S. manufacturing establishment, their energy-related building characteristics, and their energy consumption and expenditures.
The MECS was first conducted in 1985; the eleventh, and most recent survey, began in 2023 and the first data will be appearing starting in January 2025 to provide data for calendar year 2022. MECS is currently conducted on a quadrennial basis.
In previous survey years, establishments reported their energy information on mail questionnaires; in 2006, most used a secure web-based questionnaire, and since that time, this has been the main method of reporting data for the MECS. The 2022 MECS sample size of approximately 15,000 establishments was drawn from a nationally representative sample frame representing 97-98% of the manufacturing payroll. This sample allows EIA to report separate estimates of energy use for 21 3-digit industry subsectors, and 50 industry groups and industries according to the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).
