Energy end-use efficiency and energy services

 The committee adopted the report by Mechtild ROTHE (PES, DE) amending the proposal under the 1st reading of the codecision procedure:

- whereas the Commission was proposing that Member States be forced to save an annual amount of energy equal to 1% of energy distributed or sold to final consumers, over a six-year period, MEPs proposed three binding stages for energy savings up to 2015. Under this scheme, energy savings would reach 3% over the period 2006-2009, giving Member States the time to establish successful energy efficiency measures. For the period 2009-2012, the figure would rise to 4% (an average of 1.3% per annum) and for the period 2012-2015 to 4.5% (an average of 1.5% per annum);

- the Commission should have the option of laying down mandatory differentiated  national targets on the basis of energy efficiency gains made by the Member States and the potential for such gains;

- more ambitious targets should be laid down for the public sector - which should set an example - and the committee added a requirement to make energy efficiency one of the criteria for awarding public service contracts;

- MEPs introduced a new Article 5a providing for agreements to be reached and targets to be set, not on a national basis but per sector in Europe. They argued that this would reduce potential distortion of the internal market, as competing businesses would be jointly responsible for attaining the objective for their sector;

- the committee deleted the requirement in the proposal for energy distributors or energy sales operators to offer their customers free audits to evaluate their energy saving needs as long as 5% of them are not covered by energy services. It felt that this might lead to market imbalance between energy distributors and retail sales companies on the one hand and independent suppliers on the other;

- the committee introduced a new Article 7a requiring the Member States to take measures to inform the public, including energy customers, about possible energy savings. Moreover, customers should regularly receive information in their energy bills about their consumption figures, to enable them to regulate their own energy consumption;

- the Member States should set reference values for improving energy efficiency at European level on the basis of energy efficiency indicators;

- a transparent and unbureaucratic system should be set up to measure and check efforts made by the Member States.