The 2019 RASS provides a snapshot of California household equipment and average energy consumption in 2019 that can be compared to results from the two previous RASS study years 2009 and 2003.

Use the tabs above to explore the study results:

• Saturation Tables provides the ability to design queries of the RASS data to generate tables of survey results for one study year (2019, 2009 or 2003) or to compare across two years (2019 vs. 2009, 2019 vs. 2003 or 2009 vs. 2003)
• UEC Tables provides the capability to download static tables of estimates of annual unit energy consumption values for household equipment from one study year (2019, 2009 or 2003) or across all three study years (2019 to 2009 to 2003)

Overview of the California Energy Commission's Residential Appliance Saturation Study

From 2018 to 2020, the California Energy Commission funded and administered a Residential Appliance Saturation Study that serves as an update to the 2009 RASS, with the following utilities participating: Pacific Gas and Electric Company (PG&E), Southern California Edison (SCE), Sacramento Municipal Utility District (SMUD), San Diego Gas & Electric Company (SDG&E), Southern California Gas Company (SoCalGas), and Los Angeles Department of Water and Power (LADWP). DNV Energy Insights (formerly KEMA, Inc.) was the prime consultant for this study as well as the 2009 and 2003 studies.

The research team implemented the study as online and mailed paper surveys. The surveys requested households to provide information on appliances, equipment, and general consumption patterns, including electric vehicle (EV) charging and the presence of renewable energy technology such as a solar photovoltaic (PV) system. The research team completed data collection in early 2020 just before the full impact of COVID-19 events.

The study yielded energy consumption estimates for 28 electric and nine natural gas residential end uses and appliance saturations for households. The project team developed these consumption estimates using a conditional demand analysis, an approach that applied statistical methods to combine survey responses, household energy consumption data, and weather information to calculate average annual consumption estimates per appliance. The 2019 RASS resulted in end-use saturations for 39,682 individually metered and 303 master-metered households. The team weighted survey and conditional demand analysis results to provide population-level estimates, representative of the participating utilities that allow comparison across utility service territories, forecasting climate zones, and other variables of interest including dwelling type, dwelling age group, and income.