Parameters for Monitoring, Reporting and Verification of Article 7 Energy Efficiency Directive
This report offers an overview of the most important parameters, terms, and concepts that are relevant for monitoring, reporting and verification procedures for Article 7 EED.
Several Member States have implemented an Energy Efficiency Obligation Scheme (EEOS) that requires the involvement of energy suppliers or energy distributers to implement or incentivise energy-saving actions. The obligation of electricity and natural gas suppliers or distributers is most common. Only a few Member States obligated energy suppliers in the transport sector or energy suppliers of all energy carriers. When setting up an EEOS, the involvement of relevant stakeholders is important for its success.
The white certificate system, a special form of an EEOS, uses certified energy savings instead of individual energy-saving actions as commodities.
Subsidy schemes and energy efficiency funds target private persons, private companies, and public institutions that consume final energy. They act as implementer of individual energy-saving actions and are responsible for the documentation. Along with formal testing institutes responsible for checking the correct appropriation of public funds, Article 7b (2) of the EED determines the implementation of independent verification systems to review the eligibility and methodical correctness of the calculation of energy savings attributable to the policy measure.
Energy taxes passively influence consumer behaviour insofar as higher energy prices reduce the number of non-essential consumption and encourage consumers to use more efficient equipment.
Regulatory actions determine energy efficiency requirements for energy-consuming objects (buildings, vehicles, electrical appliances, etc.). The regulations must be adhered to by all stakeholders concerned.
Voluntary agreements can target very different stakeholders (energy consumers, industry, energy distributer, etc.). For these agreements, the government negotiates with voluntary parties to define desired programmes, actions, and targets.
The ENSMOV Snapshot reports on alternative measures and on EEOS provide an overview of which countries use EEOS, alternative measures, or a combination of both to enhance their energy efficiency.
Authors: Elisabeth Böck and Christoph Ploiner, Austrian Energy Agency