Energy statistics
The European Parliament adopted, by 619 votes to 18 with 14 abstentions, a legislative resolution amending the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy statistics. The report had been tabled for consideration in plenary by Claude TURMES (Greens/EFA, LU) on behalf of the Committee on Industry, Research and Energy.
The main amendments - which were adopted in first reading under the codecision procedure - are the result of a compromise between the Council and the Parliament and the Council and are as follows:
Quality of data: Parliament stated that the following quality assessment dimensions shall apply to the data to be transmitted: (a)"relevance" refers to the degree to which statistics meet current and potential needs of the users;(b)"accuracy" refers to the closeness of estimates to the unknown true values; (c)"timeliness" refers to the time lag between the availability of the information and the event or phenomenon it describes;(d)"punctuality" refers to the time lag between the date of the release of the data and the target date when it should have been delivered;(e)"accessibility" and "clarity" refer to the conditions and modalities by which users can obtain, use and interpret data;(f)"comparability" refers to the measurement of the impact of differences in applied statistical concepts and measurement tools and procedures when statistics are compared between geographical areas, sectoral domains or over time;(g)"coherence" refers to the adequacy of the data to be reliably combined in different ways and for various uses.
Every five years, Member States must provide Eurostat with a report on the quality of the data transmitted as well as on “eventual occurred methodological changes.”
Nuclear power: a new Article 8 on Annual Nuclear Statistics is incorporated into the text. Eurostat shall, in cooperation with the nuclear energy sector in the EU, define a set of annual nuclear statistics which shall be reported and disseminated from 2009 onwards, that year being the first reported period, without prejudice to confidentiality, where it is necessary, and avoiding any duplication of data collection, as well as keeping production costs and reporting burden low. The set of annual nuclear statistics shall be established and may be modified in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny. A new recital states that In order for the energy statistics system to assist political decision-making by the EU and its Member States and promote public debate which includes citizens, it must afford guarantees of comparability, transparency, flexibility and ability to evolve. Thus, in the near future, statistics on nuclear energy should be incorporated and relevant data concerning renewable energy (e.g. solar power and wood) should be developed more. Similarly, with regard to energy efficiency, the availability of detailed statistics on habitat and transport would be extremely useful.
Renewable energy and final energy consumption statistics: a new Article 9 states that, with a view to improving the quality of energy statistics, Eurostat, in collaboration with the Member States, shall make sure that these statistics are comparable, transparent, detailed and flexible by:
- reviewing the methodology used to generate renewable energy statistics in order to make available additional, pertinent, detailed statistics on each renewable energy source, annually and in a cost effective manner. Eurostat shall present and disseminate the statistics generated from 2010 (reference year) onwards;
- based on the current state of play, existing studies and feasibility pilot-studies, as well as cost-benefit analysis yet to be conducted, and evaluating the findings of the pilot studies and cost benefit analysis with the view to establishing breakdown keys for final energies by sector and main energy uses and gradually integrating the resulting elements in the statistics from 2012 (reference year) onwards. The set of renewable energy statistics may be modified in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny, and the set of final energy consumption statistics shall be established and may be modified in accordance with the regulatory procedure with scrutiny.
Derogations: an amendment to the Annex states that the derogation which France has for reporting the aggregates related to heat shall lapse as soon as France is able to forward the report and, at all events, not more than 4 years after the date of entry into force of the Regulation.
A new recital states that exemptions or derogations may be granted only upon justification which indicates the present situation and the excessive burdens transparently. The period for which they remain in force should be limited to the shortest time necessary.
Dissemination of data: a new clause states that Eurostat shall disseminate yearly energy statistics by 31 January of the second year following the reported period.