EMB ERJ 145 ER/LR
Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP)
Situational Awareness; Time Pressure; Workload
Aircraft Equipment Problem Critical; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Weight And Balance; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Published Material / Policy
Flight Crew Landed As Precaution; Flight Crew Returned To Departure Airport; Flight Crew FLC complied w / Automation / Advisory
Aircraft; Human Factors
Immediately after takeoff the crew received a EICAS message of Electrical Emergency Abnormal.  We identified the malfunction; completed the climb checklist; and requested level off.  At that time we proceeded to run the ELEC EMERG ABNORMAL checklist. I knew that if my batteries were draining I had a maximum of 40 minutes of battery life and wanted to get on the ground as quickly as possible. We requested to return to [departure airport]. The tower turned us on a downwind and cleared us to land. At this time I knew we were going to make a overweight landing and landed with a minimum descent rate.  After landing I deplaned the passengers and filled out the maintenance logbook. During this incident I should have declared an emergency per our operating procedures (overweight landing).  At that time we were minutes from landing and immediately given a landing clearance; I was more focused on flying the airplane and getting the passengers safely on the ground. I also recognize that declaring an emergency for the electrical emergency abnormal would have given us more options/services at that time.
EMB-145 Captain reported returning to the departure airport after noting the EICAS message 'ELEC EMERG ABNORMAL.'