Energy efficiency monitoring agency

The national energy efficiency monitoring agency in Austria is a central body of the Republic of Austria for the implementation of the Directive 2012/27 / EU on energy efficiency, the amendment of the Directive 2009/125 / EC and the repeal of the Directive 2004/8 / EC and Directive 2006/32 / EG (EDL-RL) of the European Parliament and the Council as well as the law on energy efficiency (EEffG) and other energy efficiency measures.

Foundation, organization and activity

Foundation and organization

According to Article 4 (4) of Directive 2006/32 / EC on energy end-use efficiency and energy services (EDL Directive), the EU member states are obliged to designate an independent authority or public body that reviews, determines and determines the energy-saving measures taken reported. The energy efficiency monitoring center was therefore prepared by the Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW) in compliance with the relevant European guidelines in accordance with the Energy Efficiency Act. The business activities of the energy efficiency monitoring center are therefore not carried out by the Austrian state, but only monitored.

Due to the delay in the selection process for the energy efficiency monitoring agency, the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy took on the agendas of the energy efficiency monitoring agency on an interim basis. Since the end of April 2015, the Austrian Energy Agency has been commissioned by the Federal Ministry of Science, Research and Economy to set up and operate the National Energy Efficiency Monitoring Center.

activity

The business activity was awarded to the best bidder as part of a public tender.The energy efficiency monitoring agency, on behalf of the responsible Federal Ministry (BMWFW), objectively and appropriately (overview - detailed tasks and rights see below):

to monitor compliance with the Energy Efficiency Act (EEffG), and
to report on the energy savings from measures actually implemented in Austria and to Brussels, and
to evaluate these measures with transparent and comprehensible methods.

Legal basis

European law

The relevant provisions stipulate that one or more bodies should be named in each Union Member State who have overall responsibility for overseeing the achievement of the objectives set out in the Directive (see e.g. Art 4 Para. 4 EDL-RL and Art 5 Paragraph 2).

National law

In Austria, this EU directive was implemented in national law through the Energy Efficiency Act (EEffG). In the EEffG, the energy efficiency monitoring office is assigned a large number of individual tasks.

aims

The aim of the energy efficiency monitoring center is to increase the final energy efficiency in Austria through various measures and to help establish, strengthen and further develop the market for energy services, energy audits and other efficiency measures. Increases in efficiency should basically be achieved through economically sensible measures at the end customer with the support of the public sector and private energy suppliers.

An increase in energy efficiency is envisaged throughout the European Union, and the Union member states have committed to achieving these goals. Across the EU is

a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions of 20%,
an expansion of renewable energies to 20% and
an improvement in energy efficiency of 20%

set by 2020 (20-20-20 goals).

Duties and rights

Main tasks

According to § 24 ff EEffG, the national energy efficiency monitoring agency provided for in the EEffG must objectively and appropriately:

To determine the status of the achievement of the objectives of this Act,
To make reports
create the federal energy efficiency action plan
the coordination of the national energy efficiency action plan
Preparation of documents and data for the preparation of the energy efficiency report section of the joint evaluation and monitoring report
Assessment, measurement and evaluation of Austria's efficiency measures
Maintaining, updating and publishing a list of the companies obliged according to § 9 to § 11 EEffG;
Measurement and / or assessment and evaluation of companies
Measurement and / or assessment and evaluation of the measures taken by the energy suppliers
Providing information to users of the building database
Assessment, measurement and / or assessment, evaluation, supervision and continuous control of the voluntary commitments according to § 11 EEffG and the measures based on them;
Monitoring the market for energy services,
Energy audits and other energy efficiency measures and preparation of proposals for further development,
Establishment of an electronic platform to promote the exchange of supply and demand for energy services,
Informing the public about measures of the public sector in the field of energy efficiency in order to fulfill their role model function
Maintaining a register of the persons suitable for the provision of energy services;
Participation in the management and administration of the building database
Compliance with the reporting obligation in accordance with Section 30 (3) EEffG,
Measurement and / or assessment and evaluation of the measures funded in accordance with § 21 EEffG,
Development of a perspective for the assessment of the implementation of efficiency measures and their effects beyond 2020,
Development of additionally required methods for the assessment and evaluation in cooperation with the obligated suppliers.

Database

According to Section 24 (5) EEffG and taking into account the provisions of the Data Protection Act for the documentation and evaluation of the measures taken, the energy efficiency monitoring agency must maintain a database in which the data of every company obliged to report is recorded at least once a year. Companies that are not subject to the reporting obligation (e.g. Section 10 (1) and (7) EEffG) can also record their measures individually in the database (these must be shown separately).

National Energy Efficiency Action Plan

The national energy efficiency action plan must be drawn up by April 30, 2017 at the latest and submitted to the European Commission and then submitted every three years. The national energy efficiency action plan must in particular contain the energy efficiency measures envisaged to achieve the national targets and benchmarks and the energy savings calculated on the basis of these energy efficiency measures (Section 6 (1) EEffG). “ The national energy efficiency action plan consists of the federal government's energy efficiency action plan and the federal states ' energy efficiency action plans ” (Section 6 (2) EEffG).

The national energy efficiency monitoring agency has to draw up a federal energy efficiency action plan agreed with the federal agencies by January 1, 2017 and every three years thereafter (Section 6 (3) EEffG).

Corporate obligations

The obligated companies (§ 9 ff EEffG) must support the energy efficiency monitoring agency in fulfilling its tasks and the monitoring agency is authorized to inspect the relevant documents of the obligated parties and to request information from them (§ 24 Paragraph 3 EEffG) .

At sight

Federal supervision

The energy efficiency monitoring center is under the supervision of the Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy in accordance with Section 26 EEffG. It stands for this:

a power to issue orders to,
a right of inspection at all times, and
the right to request reports at any time.

Review of the activities of the energy efficiency monitoring body

The energy efficiency monitoring center is checked by an auditor appointed by the Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy. The auditor has u. a. to examine the activity of the monitoring agency, the appropriateness of the annual fee and the costs and to present the result of the examination to the Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy immediately (Section 24 (7) and Section 25 (4) EEffG).

The monitoring agency is subject to control by the Court of Auditors with regard to its activities under the EEffG (Section 24 (8) EEffG).

Criminal authority

The energy efficiency monitoring body has no independent authority to disregard its existing obligations, e.g. B. from energy suppliers to sanction themselves. The district administrative authorities ( district administration , magistrate ) or the courts are responsible for this, depending on the facts of the case (Section 31 EEffG).

financing

In accordance with Section 25 (3) EEffG, the energy efficiency monitoring agency is financed “ half by the funds of the Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy and the Federal Ministry for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management ”.

Web links

Monitoringstelle.at

Individual evidence

↑ OJ. No. L 315, 1.

↑ BMWFW website: Energy Efficiency Act (EEffG) - Implementation ( Memento of the original from January 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . @1@ 2

↑ See: The infrastructure for efficient processing .

↑ Section 25, Paragraph 1 EEffG: “ The Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy is responsible for the national energy efficiency monitoring agency entrusted with this federal law in agreement with the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management and the Federal Minister for Labor, Social Affairs and to award consumer protection to the best bidder ”.

↑ Federal Law Gazette I No. 72/2014.

↑ The monitoring agency may only use the personal data received in the course of its activities for its own purposes and may not pass it on to other authorities or third parties - Section 24 (5) EEffG.

[1] OJ. No. L 315, 1.