Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC (Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 338(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure⁽¹⁾,

Whereas:

1. Competitiveness, sustainability and energy security are the overarching goals of a resilient energy union with a forward-looking climate change policy.

2. High-quality, comparable, up-to-date, reliable and harmonised data on natural gas and electricity prices charged to final customers are needed in order to draft energy union policy and monitor the Member States’ energy markets.

3. This Regulation aims to provide for a common framework for European statistics to underpin energy policies in particular towards the creation of a fully integrated internal energy market for customers. Greater transparency on energy costs and prices, as well as on the level of public support, should be made available to improve market integration. This Regulation does not entail any harmonisation of the structure of prices or charges across Member States.

4. To date, Directive 2008/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽²⁾ has provided a common framework for producing, transmitting and disseminating comparable statistics on the natural gas and electricity prices charged to industrial customers in the Union.

5. The collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices charged to final customers in the household sector has so far been carried out on the basis of a voluntary agreement.

6. The growing complexity of the internal energy market makes it increasingly difficult to obtain reliable and up-to-date price data on natural gas and electricity in the absence of legally binding obligations to provide such data, in particular on the household sector.

7. In order to guarantee the reporting of high-quality price data for the household sector and for the non-household sector, the collection of both types of data should be covered by a legislative act.

8. In most Member States, data on transmission systems are available from energy regulators. However, a much larger number of data compilers are involved in distribution costs and the reporting of data is considered to be more difficult in some Member States. Given the significance of distribution costs and the need for transparency on this matter, the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices should follow the established practices within the European Statistical System.

9. The system of consumption bands used by the Commission (Eurostat) in its price publications should ensure transparency of the market and broad dissemination of non-confidential price data, and should enable the calculation of European aggregates.

10. Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽³⁾ is the reference framework for European statistics. That Regulation provides for statistics to be collected in accordance with the principles of impartiality, transparency, reliability, objectivity, professional independence and cost-effectiveness, while protecting statistical confidentiality.

11. Member States should compile the data on natural gas and electricity prices by using the most appropriate sources and methods to provide the required information.

12. Data on prices charged to final customers of natural gas and electricity should enable comparisons with the prices of other energy commodities.

13. Information on the collection of data on prices and on the quality of data should be provided as part of standard reporting procedure.

14. Detailed data on the breakdown of consumption bands and their respective market shares are an essential part of natural gas and electricity price statistics.

15. Price analysis can be carried out only if high-quality official statistics are available from Member States regarding the different components and sub-components of natural gas and electricity prices. A revised methodology for generating a detailed breakdown of the various components and sub-components of the prices of natural gas and electricity charged to final customers will make it possible to analyse the impact of different aspects on the final prices.

16. The data provided to the Commission (Eurostat) on prices and conditions of sale to final customers, and the breakdown of the number of final customers by consumption in each consumption band, should contain all the information necessary to enable the Commission to decide on appropriate measures or proposals in relation to energy policy.

17. A good understanding of the taxes, fees, levies and charges in each Member State is essential for ensuring price transparency. The importance of a breakdown of the data on network costs, taxes, fees, levies and charges has been identified.

18. Member States in which there is low consumption of natural gas as a proportion of the final energy consumption of households should be exempt from the obligation to provide data on natural gas prices for final household customers.

19. To improve data reliability, the Commission (Eurostat), together with the Member States, should assess and, if required, improve the methodology for collecting and processing data in a precise manner, in accordance with the governance framework for statistics. Therefore, quality reports should be prepared regularly and assessments of the quality of price data should be carried out regularly.

20. Based on a reasoned request from a Member State, the Commission should be entitled to grant derogations to that Member State in relation to specific obligations for which the application of this Regulation to the national statistical system of that Member State requires major adaptations or is likely to lead to a significant additional burden on respondents.

21. In order to ensure uniform conditions for the implementation of this Regulation, implementing powers should be conferred on the Commission as regards the format of and arrangements for the transmission of data, technical quality assurance requirements regarding the content of standard quality reports, and the granting of derogations. Those powers should be exercised in accordance with Regulation (EU) No 182/2011 of the European Parliament and of the Council⁽⁴⁾.

22. Since the objective of this Regulation, namely the establishment of a common legal framework for the systematic production of European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices, cannot be sufficiently achieved by the Member States but can rather, by reason of its scale and effects, be better achieved at Union level, the Union may adopt measures, in accordance with the principle of subsidiarity as set out in Article 5 of the Treaty on European Union. In accordance with the principle of proportionality, as set out in that Article, this Regulation does not go beyond what is necessary to achieve that objective.

23. Directive 2008/92/EC should therefore be repealed.

24. The European Statistical System Committee has been consulted,

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