In April 1995, the National Statistics Office (NSO), in coordination with the Department of Energy (DOE), conducted the second Household Energy Consumption Survey (HECS), nationwide. The first one was conducted in 1989.

The HECS gathered information on the following:

• household utilization of fuels, energy supply systems and appliances/device/equipment;

• patterns of energy use among households;

• incidence of cooking fuel switching and other changes in fuel consumption patterns that have occurred since 1990;

• potential household energy conservation and demand management techniques and interfuel substitution.

The HECS involved the collection of data from almost 6,500 households with January to December 1994 as reference period. The reporting unit in the HECS was the household. Hence, the statistics presented refer to the characteristics of the population residing in private households.

The data user should note that a household is counted only once in total number of households but may be counted under two or more categories for type of fuel used or sources of fuel.

Definition of Forms of Energy in the 1995 HECS are as follows:

Electricity - this includes electricity from large-to-small power generating plants and distributed to households by electric utilities or distribution companies such as Meralco, private utilities and electric cooperatives, as well as electricity derived from generators, chargeable storage batteries (car or truck batteries), and dry cells (plainly known as "batteries" which can be bought from stores in sizes D, C, or AA). Storage batteries are considered as electricity source if these generate electricity for the household and not for transport purposes.

Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) - is commercially available in steel tanks of different sizes and capacities and can be secured from major distributors or dealers (LPG outlets), LPG retail outlets (gasoline station and sari-sari stores) or delivered to the household. The usual sizes of tank for household use are 2.5 kilograms and 11 kilograms and for business use, 50 kilograms. The familiar brand names are Gasul, Shellane, Starflame, M-Gas, Island Gas, etc. LPG is generally used for cooking and lighting.

Kerosene - is locally known as "gaas". It is a colorless liquid generally used for lighting , cooking and firestarting.

Diesel - is commonly known as "crudo". This fuel is normally used in households to run generators. For purposes of this survey, diesel for transport, whether for household use or any economic activity, is not included.

Gasoline - which is commonly known as "gasolina" is used for transport and to run generators. However, for purposes of this survey, gasoline for transport, whether for the use of the household or any economic activity, is not included.

Fuelwood - a wood cut or gathered for fuel.

Charcoal - is a wood or plant residue which is burned into a black porous carbon. Biomass residues like wood chips or coconut shell are burned and compacted to be formed into charcoal briquettes.

Biomass residues - include agricultural or forest products residues such as bagasse, coconut shell and husk, coconut midrib, rice stalks and hull, corn stalks and husk, etc.