EU members agree to aim for 9% energy savings over nine years

Brussels (Platts)--6Dec2005

European Union member states have agreed to try to save 9% of their
energy use over nine years, European Parliament member Mechtild Rothe said
Tuesday. The aim is part of the European Commission's proposed EU law to
promote energy efficiency and energy services.

     "We haven't achieved what we hoped," said Rothe, a German socialist who
as rapporteur is responsible for guiding the law through the EP and
negotiating with the EU Council, representing member states, and the European
Commission.

     "But I much prefer to have a law which... has indicative goals but
binding measures." Even the EP's Green party was conciliatory.

     "The targets are ridiculously weak," said Luxembourg Green MEP Claude
Turmes. "But we've established a good structure." The EP had wanted member
states to commit to a binding target of 11.5% over nine years, with separate,
higher targets for the public sector and intermediate targets every three
years. The EC originally proposed binding targets of 1%/year over six years,
with 1.5% for the public sector.

     But both the EP and the EC are putting a good face on having to concede
to Council on binding targets yet again. "For a long time we have set targets
and allowed subsidiarity in measures," said EU energy commissioner, Andris
Piebalgs. "We have had lots of targets and lots of infringements but little
achievement." In an enlarged EU of 25 members, target-based policy was not
enough, he said.

     In future, the focus would be on binding measures--in this case by
obliging member states to submit detailed national energy efficiency actions
plans showing how they intended to reach the target to the EC to review. The
action plans would force member states to develop long term energy efficiency
policies based on enough resources, and give national parliaments,
stakeholders and non-governmental organizations the chance to influence the
debate, said Piebalgs.

     The EC would not have the power to approve the national action plans in
quite the same way as it does for national allocation plans in the EU
emissions trading scheme, said an EC official. But it would have the power to
propose additional measures if its analysis revealed that a member state's
plan would not achieve the target.

     The EP is to vote on the compromise text during its plenary session next
week. If adopted by both the EP and the Council, member states would have to
submit their first energy efficiency action plan to the EC in June 2007, and
implement it from Jan 1, 2008.

     Member states have two years from the law's adoption to transpose it into
national law, during which time the EC is to work with an advisory committee
on developing a methodology for calculating energy savings. This is to be
another compromise between the top down approach favored by many member states
and a bottom up approach favored by the EP. The EP is also hosting a public
hearing to discuss energy efficiency for representatives of the 25 national
parliaments in Brussels on Jan 24, 2006.

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http://electricityalert.platts.com.

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