The Utilities sector (sector 22) comprises establishments engaged in the provision of the following utility services: electric power, natural gas, steam supply, water supply, and sewage removal. Within this sector, the specific activities associated with the utility services provided vary by utility: electric power includes generation, transmission, and distribution; natural gas includes distribution; steam supply includes provision and/or distribution; water supply includes treatment and distribution; and sewage removal includes collection, treatment, and disposal of waste through sewer systems and sewage treatment facilities.
Among electric, gas, and water utilities, many locations with activities that might in other industries be considered as support or auxiliary activities (such as headquarters operations), are included in this report as operating locations.
Exclusions. Establishments primarily engaged in waste management services are not included in this sector. These establishments are classified in Subsector 562, Waste Management and Remediation Services. These establishments also collect, treat, and dispose of waste materials; however, they do not use sewer systems or sewage treatment facilities.
The reports described below exclude establishments of firms with no paid employees. These “nonemployers,” typically self-employed individuals or partnerships operating businesses that they have not chosen to incorporate, are reported separately in Nonemployer Statistics. The contribution of nonemployers, relatively small for this sector, may be examined at www.census.gov/nonemployerimpact.
Definitions. Industry categories are defined in Appendix B, NAICS Codes, Titles, and Descriptions. Other terms are defined in Appendix A, Explanation of Terms.
The following reports provide statistics on this sector.
Industry Series. There are three reports, each covering a group of related industries. The reports present, by kind of business for the United States, general statistics for establishments of firms with payroll on number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment; comparative statistics for 2002 and 1997; product lines; and concentration of business activity in the largest firms. The data in industry reports are preliminary and subject to change in the following reports.
Geographic Area Series. There is a separate report for each state, the District of Columbia, and the United States. Each state report presents, for establishments of firms with payroll, general statistics on number of establishments, revenue, payroll, and employment by kind of business for the state and metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas. Greater kind-of-business detail is shown for larger areas. The United States report presents data for the United States as a whole for detailed kind-of-business classifications.
Subject Series:
Other reports. Data for this sector are also included in reports with multisector coverage, including Nonemployer Statistics, Comparative Statistics, Bridge Between 2002 NAICS and 1997 NAICS, Business Expenses, and the Survey of Business Owners reports.
The level of geographic detail varies by report. Maps are available at www.census.gov/econ2002maps. Notes specific to areas in the state are included in Appendix D, Geographic Notes. Data may be presented for –
All dollar values presented are expressed in current dollars; i.e., 2002 data are expressed in 2002 dollars, and 1997 data, in 1997 dollars. Consequently, when making comparisons with prior years, users of the data should consider the changes in prices that have occurred.
All dollar values are shown in thousands of dollars.
Both the 2002 Economic Census and the 1997 Economic Census present data based on the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS). While there were revisions to some industries for 2002, none of those affect this sector.
Among electric, gas, and water utilities, many locations with activities that might in other industries be considered as support or auxiliary activities (such as headquarters operations), are included in this report as operating locations.
All data compiled for this sector are subject to nonsampling errors. Nonsampling errors can be attributed to many sources: inability to identify all cases in the actual universe; definition and classification difficulties; differences in the interpretation of questions; errors in recording or coding the data obtained; and other errors of collection, response, coverage, processing, and estimation for missing or misreported data. Data presented in the Miscellaneous Subjects and Product Lines reports for this sector are subject to sampling errors, as well as nonsampling errors.
The accuracy of these tabulated data is determined by the joint effects of the various nonsampling errors or by the joint effects of sampling and nonsampling errors. No direct measurement of these effects has been obtained except for estimation for missing or misreported data, as by the percentages shown in the tables. Precautionary steps were taken in all phases of the collection, processing, and tabulation of the data in an effort to minimize the effects of nonsampling errors. More information on the reliability of the data is included in Appendix C, Methodology.
In accordance with federal law governing census reports (Title 13 of the United States Code), no data are published that would disclose the operations of an individual establishment or business. However, the number of establishments in a kind-of-business classification is not considered a disclosure; therefore, this information may be released even though other information is withheld. Techniques employed to limit disclosure are discussed at www.census.gov/epcd/ec02/disclosure.htm.
The County Business Patterns program offers annual statistics on the number of establishments, employment, and payroll classified by industry within each county, and Statistics of U.S. Businesses provides annual statistics classified by the employment size of the enterprise, further classified by industry for the United States, and by broader categories for states and metropolitan areas.
Questions about these data may be directed to the U.S. Census Bureau, Service Sector Statistics Division, Utilities and Financial Census Branch, 1-800-541-8345 or ucb@census.gov.
The following abbreviations and symbols are used with these data:
| D | Withheld to avoid disclosing data of individual companies; data are included in higher level totals |
| N | Not available or not comparable |
| Q | Revenue not collected at this level of detail for multiestablishment firms |
| S | Withheld because estimates did not meet publication standards |
| X | Not applicable |
| Z | Less than half the unit shown |
| a | 0 to 19 employees |
| b | 20 to 99 employees |
| c | 100 to 249 employees |
| e | 250 to 499 employees |
| f | 500 to 999 employees |
| g | 1,000 to 2,499 employees |
| h | 2,500 to 4,999 employees |
| i | 5,000 to 9,999 employees |
| j | 10,000 to 24,999 employees |
| k | 25,000 to 49,999 employees |
| l | 50,000 to 99,999 employees |
| m | 100,000 employees or more |
| r | Revised |
| – | Represents zero (page image/print only) |
| (CC) | Consolidated city |
| (IC) | Independent city |
| CDP | Census designated place |