The Committee on Industry, Research and Energy adopted the report by Claude TURMES (Greens/EFA, LU) on the proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the Council on energy efficiency and repealing Directives 2004/8/EC and 2006/32/EC.
The committee reached informal agreement on the text with the Council and it recommends that the European Parliament’s position in first reading following the ordinary legislative procedure should amend the Commission proposal as follows:
Indicative national energy efficiency target: each Member State will be obliged to set an indicative national energy efficiency target, based on either primary or final energy consumption, primary or final energy savings or energy intensity. By 30 June 2014, the Commission will assess the progress achieved and whether the Union is likely to achieve energy consumption of no more than 1474 Mtoe of primary energy and/or no more than 1078 Mtoe of final energy in 2020.
Exemplary role of public bodies' buildings: public bodies will need to play an exemplary role, as Member States will have to ensure that as from 1 January 2014, 3% of the total floor area of heated and/or cooled buildings owned by their central government is renovated each year.
Building renovation: Member States shall establish a long-term strategy for mobilising investment in the renovation of the national stock of residential and commercial buildings, both public and private.
Energy efficiency obligation schemes: Member State must set up an energy efficiency obligation scheme, ensuring that obligated energy distributors and/or retail energy sales companies achieve a cumulative end-use energy savings target by 31 December 2020, That target shall be at least equivalent to achieving new savings each year from 1 January 2014 to 31 December 2020 of 1.5% of the annual energy sales to final customers of all energy distributors or all retail energy sales companies by volume, averaged over the most recent three-year period prior to 1 January 2013.
However, to achieve this target, Member States will have the option of using a bundle of flexibility measures as well as equivalent alternative measures such as:
· the possibility of achieving 1.5% target in three stages, reaching the 1.5% in 2018;
· excluding energy sales from ETS-covered industries;
· the counting of energy savings in the energy transformation, distribution sectors and counting early actions as from 31 December 2008.
The use of these flexibility measures should not lead to a reduction of more than 25% of the amount of the energy savings target.
Energy audits: Member States shall ensure that large enterprises are subject to an energy audit carried out in an independent and cost-effective manner by qualified and/or accredited experts or implemented and supervised by independent authorities under national legislation within three years after the entry into force of this Directive and at least every four years from the date of the previous energy audit.
Billing of customers based on actual consumption: in order to enable final customers to regulate their own energy consumption, billing should take place on the basis of actual consumption at least once a year, and billing information should be made available at least quarterly, on request or where the consumers have opted to receive electronic billing or else twice yearly. Gas used only for cooking purposes may be exempted from this requirement.
Promotion of efficiency in heating and cooling: by 31 December 2015, Member States shall carry out and notify to the Commission a comprehensive assessment of the potential for the application of high-efficiency cogeneration and efficient district heating and cooling. For the purpose of this assessment, Member States shall carry out a cost-benefit analysis covering their territory based on climatic conditions, economic feasibility and technical suitability.