The 2006 MECS is EIA's seventh survey of the manufacturing sector and covers the 50 States and the District of Columbia. Previous surveys were conducted for 1985, 1988, 1991, 1994, 1998, and 2002 respectively. Subsequent MECS are planned for every four years. For more about the scope of the MECS over time, see MECS attributes. Data collection for MECS 2010 will begin in 2011.

The basic unit of data collection for MECS is the manufacturing establishment. In previous survey years, establishments reported their energy information on mail questionnaires; in 2006, most used a secure web-based questionnaire. The 2006 MECS sample size of approximately 15,500 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).

For more on MECS Methodology, see 2002 Methodology