Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices : 2016 edition.
Date: 2017-10-03
Institutions: Eurostat
Subjects: EU statistics, energy grid, energy production, gas supply, price index, price of energy, producer price

Compilers guide on 
European statistics 
on natural gas 
and electricity prices

2016 edition

M A N U A L S 
A N D   G U I D E L I N E S

MANUALS AND GUIDELINESMain title2016 editionCompilers guide on European 
statistics on natural gas 
and electricity prices 

2016 edition 

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ISBN 978-92-79-69342-7 
ISSN 2315-0815 
doi: 10.2785/81667
Cat. No: KS-GQ-16-106-EN-N 

Theme: Environement and energy 
Collection: Manuals and guidelines 

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Content 

Content 

Content ........................................................................................................................ 3 

Project Management ................................................................................................... 6 

Acknowledgements .................................................................................................... 6 

Foreword ..................................................................................................................... 7 

1. Introduction ............................................................................................................. 8

2. Background information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity
prices ......................................................................................................................... 10 

2.1.  Legal basis for EU energy price statistics ..................................................................... 11 

2.2.  Data collection on energy price statistics ..................................................................... 13 

2.1.1. 
2.1.2. 
2.1.3. 

Definitions of the main variables used ..................................................................... 14 
Coverage ................................................................................................................. 15 
Data sources ............................................................................................................ 15 

3. Description of the questionnaires ....................................................................... 17

3.1.  General overview ............................................................................................................. 17 

3.1.1. 
3.1.2. 
3.1.3. 
3.1.4. 
3.1.5. 

General information ................................................................................................. 18 
Consumption bands ................................................................................................. 18 
Price components .................................................................................................... 19 
Consumption volumes ............................................................................................. 22 
Units of measurement .............................................................................................. 22 

4. Reporting frequencies and deadlines ................................................................. 23

5. Quality reports ...................................................................................................... 24

6. Transmission methods ......................................................................................... 25

6.1.  The standard transmission tool (EDAMIS) .................................................................... 25 

6.1.1. 
6.1.2. 

Registration in EDAMIS ........................................................................................... 25 
Registration to EDAMIS Web Application ................................................................ 27 

6.2.  Data transmission ............................................................................................................ 28 

6.2.1. 
6.2.2. 

Sending the data in interactive mode ...................................................................... 28 
Sending the data in fully-automated mode .............................................................. 30 

6.3.  File naming conventions ................................................................................................. 30 

6.3.1. 
6.3.2. 

DATASET ID ............................................................................................................ 30 
DATASET OCCURRENCE ID ................................................................................. 31 

7. IRELAND - Electricity price for the household sector ........................................ 32

7.1.  General description of the reporting authority responsible for the reporting of 
natural gas and energy price statistics in Ireland ................................................................... 32 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

3 

Content 

7.2.  Data sources and quality assurance .............................................................................. 33 

7.3.  Price levels ....................................................................................................................... 35 

7.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges .................................................... 36 

7.5.  Other specific issues ....................................................................................................... 37 

8. NORWAY - Electricity price for the non-household sector ................................ 38

8.1.  General description of the reporting authority responsible for the reporting of 
natural gas and electricity price statistics in Norway ............................................................. 38 

8.2.  Data sources and quality assurance .............................................................................. 38 

8.3.  Price levels ....................................................................................................................... 40 

8.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges .................................................... 41 

8.5.  Other specific issues ....................................................................................................... 42 

9. NETHERLANDS - Natural gas prices for the household sector ......................... 43

9.1.  General description of the reporting authority responsible for reporting natural gas 
and electricity price statistics in the Netherlands ................................................................... 43 

9.2.  Data sources and quality assurance .............................................................................. 43 

9.3.  Price levels ....................................................................................................................... 46 

9.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges .................................................... 46 

9.5.  Other specific issues ....................................................................................................... 47 

10. UNITED KINGDOM - Natural gas prices for the household sector .................. 49

10.1. 
natural gas and electricity price statistics in the United Kingdom ........................................ 49 

General description of the reporting authority responsible for the reporting of 

10.2. 

10.3. 

10.4. 

10.5. 

Data sources and quality assurance ........................................................................ 49 

Price levels .................................................................................................................. 53 

Sub-components of the taxes, fees, levies and charges. ....................................... 53 

Other specific issues .................................................................................................. 54 

11. AUSTRIA - Natural gas prices for the non-household sector .......................... 56

11.1. 
natural gas and electricity price statistics in Austria .............................................................. 56 

General description of the reporting authority responsible for the reporting of 

11.2. 

11.3. 

11.4. 

11.5. 

Data sources and quality assurance ........................................................................ 56 

Price levels .................................................................................................................. 59 

Sub-components of the taxes, fees, levies and charges ........................................ 60 

Other specific issues .................................................................................................. 61 

Annex 1 —  Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 ................................................................... 62 

Annex 2 — Four questionnaires (draft versions).................................................... 75 

Annex 3 — Frequently Asked Questions ................................................................ 80 

Frequently asked questions on natural gas and electricity price statistics ......................... 80 

1 
2 
3 

Switching bonuses ........................................................................................................ 80 
Penalties for terminating a contract .............................................................................. 80 
Time period for reporting the breakdown of network prices .......................................... 80 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

4 

Content 

4 
5 
6 
7 
8 
9 
10 
11 
12 
13 
14 

Use of Excel templates ................................................................................................. 81 
Late submission of data from a data provider ............................................................... 81 
Format of questionnaires .............................................................................................. 81 
Provisional data ............................................................................................................ 81 
Quality report ................................................................................................................ 82 
Threshold for gas consumption .................................................................................... 82 
Download of questionnaires ......................................................................................... 82 
Consumption figures ..................................................................................................... 82 
Old questionnaires ........................................................................................................ 82 
Estimation of data ......................................................................................................... 83 
IEA price data collections ............................................................................................. 83 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

5 

Acknowledgements 

Project Management 

General project management: John Goerten (Eurostat) 
Technical assistance: Monica-Ana Somesan (Eurostat) 

Project Manager - Joanna Piotrowicz (GOPA Consultants) 
Associated expert – Mihai Gheorghe (Statistics Romania) 

Acknowledgements 

This compilers guide could not have been completed without the very valuable input from the following 
organisations: 

Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy, United Kingdom 
Iain Macleay 
Elizabeth Vincent 
Reuben Pullan 

Statistics Austria 
Wolfgang Bittermann 
Jasmin Gülden Sterzl 

Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland 
Martin Howley 
Mary Holland 
Amanda Barriscale 

Statistics Netherlands-CBS 
Ria Smit 
Robbie Vrenken 
Eva Witteman 

Statistics Norway 
Marius Bergh 
Thomas Aanensen 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

6 

Foreword 

Foreword 

The aim of the compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices is to provide 
an overview of conceptual issues and practical information and guidance for reporting authorities that 
will compile and report natural gas and electricity price statistics to Eurostat. 

The growing interest of natural gas and electricity price data for the household’s sector and the need 
of additional micro data has resulted in a new regulation, which has been adopted on 17 November 
2016. Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 that repeals Council Directive 2008/92/EC does not only include a 
legal obligation for reporting authorities to provide households natural gas and electricity prices but 
also introduced additional elements that will have to be reported for a better analysis of the natural gas 
and electricity price structures. 

The primary purpose of the compilers guide is to provide guidance to reporting authorities to compile 
and report natural gas and electricity price data in a timely, accurate and comprehensive manner. The 
compilers guide includes examples of 5 reporting authorities that illustrate the practical application of 
Regulation  (EU)  2016/1952,  in  particular  the  reporting  of  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  sub-
components. 

The  electronic  version  of  the  Eurostat  Compilers  guide  on  European  statistics  on  natural  gas  and 
electricity prices will be updated on a regular basis especially the section on questions and answers. 

The latest version of this guide will be available on the Eurostat website. 

This guide will be a useful resource to both compilers and users of data on natural gas and electricity 
prices. 

Eurostat expresses sincere thanks to all those involved in the production of this compilers guide. 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

7 

Introduction 

1 

1 Introduction 

Introduction 

The energy sector has been in the spotlight in recent years due to a number of issues that have pushed 
energy  to  the  top  of  national  and  European  Union  (EU)  political  agendas.  Actually,  one  of  the  10 
priorities of the European Commission is an Energy  Union. It is intended that  an European Energy 
Union  will  ensure  secure,  sustainable,  competitive  and  affordable  energy  for  all  its  citizens  and 
businesses. 

One  of  the  actions  of  the  Energy  Union  Package  under  the  chapter  of  the  internal  energy  market 
defines an analysis of energy prices and costs to be carried out in 2016 and every two years thereafter. 

An  additional  set  of  sub-components  on  taxes  and  levies  and  network  prices  on  natural  gas  and 
electricity  has  been  drawn  up  in  order  to  reflect  the  goals  of  the  Energy  Union  Package  and,  in 
particular, addresses the need for greater transparency on energy costs and prices referred to in action 
point 8 of the Package. 

Price  analysis  can  be  carried  out  only  if  high-quality  official  statistics  are  available  regarding  the 
different components and sub-components of natural gas and electricity prices. In order to guarantee 
the  uniform  reporting  of  high-quality  price  data for the  household  sector and for the  non-household 
sector, the collection of both types of data is covered by the Regulation (EU) 2016/1952, which entered 
into force on 17 November 2016.  

The data provided to the Commission (Eurostat) on prices and conditions of sale to final customers, 
and  the  relative  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. 

The in-depth analysis of European energy prices and costs is based on three main price components: 
energy & supply, network, and taxes, fees, levies and charges, which help to better understand the 
relationship between energy prices and policy. These elements are used also by the user to analyse 
what drives the gas and electricity bills and to assess the price competition in the retail market at the 
level of European Union. 

A good understanding of the taxes, fees, levies and charges in each Member State is essential for 
ensuring price transparency. This component of the consumer energy bill was identified as being the 
major source of the price divergence at the European level and of the lack of comparability of energy 
prices across Member States. 

The purpose of this compilers guide is to provide guidance on the concepts and definitions used by 
the Commission (Eurostat) to collect the electricity and gas natural gas prices. As such difference with 
the price collection utilised by the IEA are set out in the FAQ section in Annex A. This compilers guide 
is  intended  to  support  data  providers  in  reporting  electricity  and  natural  gas  price  data  in  a  timely, 
accurate  and  comprehensive  manner.  It  is  also  intended  to  guide  data  users  so  they  can  better 
understand the concepts and definitions behind the data. 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

8 

 
 
 
 
 
Introduction 

1 

To make the data as consistent, reliable and transparent as possible, it is important both to provide 
clear definitions of price components, and to share common practices in the collection of electricity 
and  natural  gas  price  statistics.  It  is  for  this  reason  that  this  compilers  guide  includes  examples  of 
country practices.  

This compilers guide consists of ten chapters and three annexes.  

Chapter 2 presents background information on the data collection of natural gas and electricity prices. 
The  background  information  consists  of  a  short  summary  of  the  legal  basis  for  EU  energy  price 
statistics;  data  collection  on  energy  prices  statistics,  including  a  presentation  of  the  main  actors 
involved, definition of the main variables used, coverage and possible data sources. 

Chapter 3 focuses on the description of the questionnaires that are to be used for the reporting of the 
energy price statistics.  

In Chapter 4 and chapter 5 guidance is given on reporting frequencies and deadlines, and on quality 
report.  

Chapter 6 describes the format and arrangements for data transmission established and adopted by 
the Commission (EUROSTAT).  

Chapter 7 to Chapter 11 give information on the data collection in 5 countries. 

Annex 1 presents the REGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL 
on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  a  Community  procedure  to  improve  the 
transparency of gas and electricity prices charged to industrial end-users; Regulation (EU) 2016/1952  

Annex 2 presents the 4 questionnaires which have to be used for the reporting of the natural gas and 
electricity prices. 

Annex 3 contains a list of frequently asked questions on natural gas and electricity price statistics. This 
list will be extended or a regular basis. 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

9 

 
 
 
 
 
Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

Background information  
on the collection of data  
on natural gas and 
electricity prices  

2 

Background information on the collection of 
data on natural gas and electricity prices  

Our modern society relies on energy that is available whenever and wherever it is needed, at generally 
affordable  and  stable  prices,  the  supply  of  which  can  be  relied  upon  in  the  near  future.  Industry, 
transport, comfortable homes, effective workplaces and the safety of the nation are all made possible 
by ever more ingenious methods of provision and application of various sources and forms of energy. 
The expectations of the European Union (EU) in the energy sector are set out very clearly in the Lisbon 
Treaty.  The energy sector has been in the spotlight in recent years due to a number of issues that 
have pushed energy to the top of national and EU political agendas. Currently, one of the 10 priorities 
of the European Commission is an Energy Union. It is intended that a European Energy Union will 
ensure secure, sustainable, competitive and affordable energy.  

At the European Council on 22nd May 2013 on energy and taxation, heads of state and government 
stated that the EU’s energy policy should aim to provide households and companies with affordable 
and  competitively-priced  energy  in  a  safe  and  sustainable  manner.  Consequently,  the  Commission 
was asked to provide analysis of the ‘composition and drivers of energy prices and costs in Member 
States’. This analysis was to focus on the impact of energy prices on households, small and medium-
sized  enterprises  and  energy-intensive 
the  EU’s 
competitiveness in relation to its global economic counterparts. 

industries,  and,  more  broadly,  examine 

The Commission, having identified that additional detailed pricing data was needed for this analysis, 
collected  the  required  information  from  all  28  EU  Member  States  on  the  basis  of  a  voluntary 
arrangement.  A  report,  including  detailed  analysis  of  the  components  of  natural  gas  and  electricity 
prices, was presented to the Council in January 2014. 

In 2014, policymakers made several requests for more detailed official statistics on natural gas and 
electricity prices. At its meeting on 13th June 2014, the Transport, Telecommunications and Energy 
(TTE)  Council  acknowledged  the  negative  impact  of  high  and  rising  energy  prices  and  costs  on 
Europe’s global competitiveness and on the standard of living of individual consumers. For this reason, 
the TTE Council called for a ‘follow-up review by the Commission on energy prices and costs and on 
consumers by 2016’. 

The European Commission adopted on 25th February 2015 the Energy Union Package. The Energy 
Union  strategy  has  five  mutually-reinforcing  and  closely  interrelated  dimensions,  designed  to  bring 
greater energy security, sustainability and competitiveness:  

 

 

 

 

energy security, solidarity and trust;  

a fully integrated European energy market;  

energy efficiency contributing to moderation of demand;  

decarbonising the economy, and  

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

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Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

 

research, innovation and competitiveness.  

One of the key functions of the Energy Union Package, under the chapter of the internal energy market, 
is an analysis of energy prices and costs to be carried out in 2016 and every two years thereafter. 

An  additional  set  of  sub-components  on  taxes  and  levies  and  network  prices  on  natural  gas  and 
electricity  has  been  drawn  up  in  order  to  reflect  the  goals  of  the  Energy  Union  Package  and,  in 
particular, addresses the need for greater transparency on energy costs and prices referred to in action 
point 8 of the Package. 

2.1.  Legal basis for EU energy price statistics  

Council  Directive  No  90/377/EEC  of  29  June  1990,  Community  procedure  to  improve  the 
transparency of gas and electricity prices charged to industrial end-users, OJ L 185, 17.7.1990, p. 
16-24  

Commission  Decision  No  2007/394/EC  of  7  June  2007  amending  Council  Directive  90/377/EEC 
with regard to the methods to be applied for the collection of gas and electricity prices charged to 
industrial end-users (Text with EEA relevance), OJ L 148, 9.6.2007, p. 11-16  

Directive 2008/92/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 22 October 2008 concerning 
a  Community  procedure  to  improve  the  transparency  of  gas  and  electricity  prices  charged  to 
industrial end-users (recast) (Text with EEA relevance), OJ L 298, 7.11.2008, p 

REGULATION (EU) 2016/1952 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL on 
European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC of the 
European  Parliament  and  of  the  Council  concerning  a  Community  procedure  to  improve  the 
transparency of gas and electricity prices charged to industrial end-users  

The collection of natural gas and electricity prices for the household sector has been carried out on a 
voluntary  basis  since  1985.  Since  1990,  non-household  end-user  prices  have  been  regulated  by  a 
Directive.  

The EU has acted to liberalise electricity and gas  markets since the second half of the 1990s. It is 
anticipated  that  increased  transparency  for  gas  and  electricity  prices  should  help  to  promote  fair 
competition, by encouraging consumers to choose between different energy suppliers. Energy price 
transparency  can  be  made  more  effective  by  disseminating  price  statistics  and  pricing  systems  as 
widely as possible. 

The  first  Directive  for  the  collection  of  energy  prices  came  into  force  in  1990.  Council  Directive 
90/377/EEC outlines the procedure to improve the transparency of gas and electricity prices charged 
to industrial end-users.  

It covered prices charged to industrial consumers only; household energy prices were only provided 
on a voluntary basis. Back then, the process of liberalisation of the European energy market was just 
beginning, basically in the United Kingdom. The price statistics at the time were collected on the basis 
of  tariffs  for  standard  consumers.  Consumers  paid  a  fixed  tariff  based  on  their  key  consumption 
characteristics:  annual  consumption,  voltage  and  the  so-called  ‘load  factor’  (number  of  hours 
consumed per day).  

As the liberalisation process progressed, the notion of tariffs, especially for industries, did not make 
much sense. The method of price data collection in a liberalised market and what energy prices should 
cover had to reflect the fact that real prices are set by market forces and are not the fixed tariffs used 
in the past.  

Consequently, the Council Directive 90/377/EEC concerning a Community procedure to improve the 
transparency of gas and electricity prices paid by industrial end-users has been significantly amended.  

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

11 

 
 
 
 
 
 
Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

A new method of collecting of price data paid by industrial consumers was agreed by Member States 
in December 2006. The following changes were introduced (Commission Decision 2007/394/EC): 

 

 

 

 

collection of national prices instead of regional prices; 

prices for electricity and natural gas provided by the companies based on the real prices 
paid by industrial consumers, averaged over a given period of six months; 

the definition of standard consumers replaced by consumption bands, including one  for 
big industrial users; 

collection of disaggregated electricity prices (separate component price data for energy & 
supply, network and taxes). 

As with all important methodological changes, there has been a transition phase. The first complete 
data set using the new methods became available for the first half of 2008. 

The  Directive,  which  was  adopted  in  2008  (Directive  2008/92/EC),  defines  the  procedure  of  data 
collection of gas and electricity prices charged to non-household consumers. It replaces the Council 
Directive 90/377/EEC. At the end of November 2015, the proposal of the new regulation was presented 
to the public and was discussed in 2016 by the EU Commission, EU Parliament and European Council. 
The main reasons behind this proposal were: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2013, delegates of the Energy Statistics Working Group indicated that the voluntary data 
collection regarding gas and electricity prices for the household sector is in danger due to 
the absence of a legal basis (a possible candidate for the reduction of the reporting burden 
for gas and electricity enterprises);  

The demand for data on energy prices for the household sector is significant; 

Energy  Council  (May  2013):  Request  for  an  analysis  of  the  composition  and  drivers  of 
energy  prices  and  costs  with  a  focus  on  households,  SMEs  and  energy-intensive 
industries; 

The Energy Council (June 2014) called for a follow-up review of the 2014 report by the 
Commission on energy prices and costs and on consumers by 2016 

The Energy Union Package (Feb. 2015) called for the analysis of energy prices and costs 
to be published in 2016 and every two years thereafter; 

The  European  Council  Conclusions  of  19th  March  2015  mandated  the  Commission  to 
periodically carry out a detailed analysis of energy prices and costs. 

The new requirements introduced by this regulation are:  

 

 

Reporting of natural gas and electricity prices for the household sector will be obligatory 
under the proposed regulation. There will be no obligation for data providers to report price 
data relating to natural gas for the household sector if the consumption is below 1.5% of 
the national total energy consumption in the household sector 

Introduction of sub-components, both for gas and electricity prices 

o  Network (2 sub-components) 

  Global  average  relative  share  of  transmission  costs,  expressed  as  a 

percentage of total network costs; 

  Global  average  relative  share  of  distribution  costs,  expressed  as  a 

percentage of total network costs; 

o  Taxes, fees, levies and charges (6 sub-components) 

  Value added tax (VAT); 

  Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  the  promotion  of  renewable 

energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation; 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

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Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

  Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  capacity  payments,  energy 
security and generation adequacy; taxes on coal industry restructuring; 
taxes on electricity distribution; 

  Taxes,  fees,  levies  or charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 

purposes, to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emission taxes; 

  Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  the  nuclear  sector,  including 
nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations 
(electricity only); 

  All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices); 

 

 

Introduction of one additional consumption band for very large consumers, both for gas 
and electricity; 

Extension  of  the  deadline  for  reporting  final  price  data  from  2  to  3  months  after  the 
reference period 

2.2.  Data collection on energy price statistics 

The  price  and  reliability  of  energy  supplies,  electricity  in particular, are key  elements  in  a  country’s 
energy supply strategy. Electricity prices are of particular importance for international competitiveness, 
as electricity usually represents a significant proportion of total energy costs for industrial and service-
providing businesses. 

The purpose of the ‘Compiler's guide to European statistics relating to natural gas and electricity prices’ 
is to provide necessary information and guidance to the reporting bodies that will compile the data and 
report the natural gas and electricity price statistics to Eurostat. 

The  main  actors  involved  in  the  data  collection  process  for  gas  and  electricity  prices  are  the 
Commission (Eurostat), the Member States, through the relevant national authorities and the parties 
responsible for providing the information on gas and electricity prices at a national level, i.e. enterprises 
which supply gas or electricity to end-users (households and non-households sector) 

The  responsibilities  of  the  reporting  authorities  and  the Commission  are defined  by the  Regulation: 
Eurostat collects and publishes EU statistics; Member States compile the gas and electricity prices in 
accordance with the established rules and transmit them to Eurostat within defined deadlines.  

The collection, compilation and calculation of national energy prices must be in line with the subsidiary 
principle.  

Responsibility of Eurostat 

The Commission (Eurostat) collects national data on natural gas and electricity prices using a method 
that enables price comparisons between Member States. This price data must be collected at an EU 
level to ensure that the data is reliable and comparable across all EU Member States and to aggregate 
data for the EU and for the euro area.  

The  transparency  of  electricity  and  natural  gas  prices  is  guaranteed  through  the  obligation  of  EU 
Member States to send Eurostat information relating to prices for different categories of end-users, as 
well as data relating to market shares, conditions of sale, and pricing systems. 

Electricity and gas tariffs or price schemes vary from one supplier to another. They may result from 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

13 

 
 
 
 
 
Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

negotiated contracts, especially for large industrial users. For smaller consumers, they are generally 
set  according  to  the  amount  of  electricity  or  gas  consumed,  along  with  a  number  of  other 
characteristics; most tariffs also include some form of fixed charge. There is, therefore, no single price 
for electricity or natural gas. 

In order to compare prices over time and between countries, the information required by Eurostat is 
detailed  using  a  number  of  pre-defined  consumption  bands  for  household  and  non-household 
consumers.  

There are in total five different types of households for which electricity prices are collected, according 
to annual consumption bands, while for natural gas statistics, information is collated for three different 
types of households.  

Across non-households consumers, electricity prices are collected for a total of seven different types 
of  users,  while  for  natural  gas  prices  there  are  six.  Quantities  of  natural  gas  used  for  chemical 
processes or electricity production are excluded from the survey. 

Every  3  years,  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  will  assess  the  quality  of  the  transmitted  data  and  the 
information provided in the quality reports and prepare and disseminate a summary quality assessment 
report. 

Responsibilities of Member States 

In line with the subsidiarity principle, natural gas and electricity price regulations impose obligations on 
Member  States,  while  letting  States  decide  how  to  organise  data  collections  and  how  to  share 
responsibilities between national administrations. 

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. Therefore, Member States must 
take  the  steps  necessary  to  ensure  that  organisations  which  supply  gas  or  electricity  to  end-users 
inform them of the form, content and all other relevant information regarding natural gas and electricity 
prices. 

Also, Member States must draw up a quality report demonstrating how this data is calculated. This 
report  is  to  include  information  on  the  scope  and  method  of  collection  of  the  data,  the  calculation 
criteria, methods and data sources used, and any changes in the sources or methods.   

Responsibilities of national reporting authority 

The natural gas and electricity price legislation does not determine any criteria or requirements about 
exactly which institution in a Member State should be responsible or how it should operate. In some 
countries, the national reporting authority is the national statistical office, in other countries it is the 
national energy regulator or other national energy authority set up by national legislation.  

The reporting authorities that are responsible for the collection of price data and the computation of 
average national energy price data will have to ensure that the collected information is in line with the 
established rules and that the data will be transmitted to Eurostat within the defined deadlines. 

2.1.1. 

DEFINITIONS OF THE MAIN VARIABLES USED 

Member States must transmit information on the relative share of natural gas and electricity in each 
consumption band based on the total volume to which the prices refer, and the prices which are to be 
subdivided into their three main components and sub-components.  

Prices  to  be  reported  are  prices  charged  to  household  and  final  non-household  consumers  buying 
electricity/natural gas for their own use.  

The prices in question are to include all charges payable: network charges plus energy consumed, 

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Background Information on the collection of data on natural gas and electricity prices 

2 

minus any rebates or premiums, plus other charges (e.g. meter rental, standing charges). 

Prices  are  to  be  weighted  according  to  the  market  share  of  the  natural  gas  or  electricity  supply 
undertakings  in  each  consumption  band.  If  it  is  not  possible  to  calculate  weighted  average  prices, 
arithmetic average prices may be provided. In either case, the data must cover a representative share 
of the national market. 

Market shares should be based on the quantity of electricity or natural gas billed by the suppliers to 
household  end-users.  If  possible,  market  shares  will  be  calculated  separately  for  each  band.  The 
information  used  for  calculating  weighted  average  prices  will  be  managed  by  Member  States, 
respecting confidentiality rules. 

‘Energy and Supply' prices will include the following costs: generation, aggregation, balancing energy, 
supplied energy costs, customer services after sales management, and other supply costs. 

‘Network” price will include the following costs: transmission and distribution tariffs, transmission and 
distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and 
metering costs. 

2.1.2. 

COVERAGE 

Geographical coverage 

Member States are to ensure that the data collection and compilation is in accordance with methods 
set out by Eurostat, provide comprehensible and comparable high-quality data that is representative 
of their respective natural gas and electricity prices and consumption. 

Sector coverage 

The data on natural gas and electricity retail prices charged to final consumers in the household and 
non-household sectors are to be transmitted to the Commission (Eurostat).  

In the case of natural gas prices, consumers who use natural gas only for: (i) electricity generation in 
power plants or in combined heat and power (CHP) plants; or (ii) non-energy purposes (e.g. for use in 
the chemical industry) are to be excluded.  

Member States will not be obliged to transmit data on natural gas prices for household consumers to 
the  Commission  (Eurostat)  if  the  consumption  of  natural  gas  in  the  household  sector  is  below  a 
threshold of 1.5 % of national total energy consumption in the household sector.  

The Commission (Eurostat) shall review regularly, at least every 3 years, which Member States qualify, 
according to the consumption of natural gas in the household sector of their country, for being excluded 
from the obligation to transmit data. 

Coverage of reporting units 

Natural gas includes natural gas and other gaseous fuels blended with natural gas in the transmission 
and distribution network, such as biogas. Other gaseous fuels that are distributed through dedicated 
networks without being blended with natural gas (e.g. gas works gas, coke oven gas, blast furnace 
gas and biogas) are to be excluded. 

The  data  must  include  all  household  and  non-household  end-users  of  electricity,  but  electricity 
generated and consumed by auto producers is to be excluded from the reporting obligation. 

2.1.3. 

DATA SOURCES  

The data provided to the Commission (Eurostat) on prices and conditions of sale to final consumers, 
and the breakdown of the number of final consumers by consumption in each consumption band is 

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based on a standard form prepared by the Commission (Eurostat). More details about this standard 
form are presented in the next chapter. The appropriate data transmission format is a questionnaire in 
MS Excel file format. 

The data collected by the Member States from enterprises which supply energy to the end-users could 
come from the following types of sources 

 

statistical surveys: 

o 

specific  statistical  surveys  related  to  natural  gas  and  electricity  retail  prices 
addressed  to  producers  or  traders,  transmission  and  distribution  system 
operators, importers or exporters of energy products, and suppliers; 

o  other statistical surveys addressed to consumers in the household sector and final 

consumers in the non-household sector; 

 

 

administrative sources, such as those held by national regulators of the natural gas and 
electricity markets; 

other sources applying sound statistical estimation procedures. 

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3  

Description of                          
the questionnaires 

Description of the questionnaires 

The  overall  objective  of  the  questionnaires  on  natural  gas  and  electricity  prices  is  to  provide 
internationally comparable data and to improve the transparency of gas and electricity prices charged 
to end-users.  

This section focuses on a detailed description of the questionnaires as well as modifications and new 
requirements concerning the reporting of data introduced by Regulation (EU) 2016/1952.  

It  also  provides  a  comparison  between  the  old  (introduced  in  2007)  and  the  new  version  of  the 
questionnaires  and  it  gives  an  overview  of  the  information  on  the  new  variables  which  should  be 
reported by Member States.  

3.1.  General overview 

Regarding  the  natural  gas  and  electricity  prices  similar  to  the  previous  reporting  practices, 
questionnaires  are  addressed,  for  each  product,  to  two  categories  of  end-users  (sectors)  i.e.:  for 
household and non-household consumers. Summing up, there will be four questionnaires that should 
be used for official data transmissions: two for electricity and two for natural gas. Prices recorded are 
to  be  based  on  the  same  system  of  standard  consumption  bands  defined  by  the  ranges  of  annual 
natural gas and electricity consumption by different types of consumers i.e. small, medium, large, very 
large.  

Setting out the main modifications to the data reporting process proposed by new questionnaires helps 
Member  States  to  introduce  the  changes  in  data  collection  surveys  in  a  consistent  manner.  The 
following changes to the questionnaires have been made: 

 

 

 

 

more disaggregated price data regarding taxes, fees charges and levies are requested;  

regarding the consumption bands for non-household and household end-users the same 
types of data are requested by Eurostat. In the case of household users, Member States 
have a legally binding obligation to report them on regular basis to Eurostat; 

the relative consumption volumes for each type of consumption band have to be provided 
by Member States. This information should be reported in the questionnaires on an annual 
basis;  

two sub-components of network price data on natural gas and electricity prices for both 
household and non-household end-users should be provided to Eurostat;  

A detailed description of the changes is provided in the following sections.  

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Description of the questionnaires 

3 

3.1.1. 

GENERAL INFORMATION  

The first part of the questionnaire asks for some general information regarding: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

the product to which the information (data) refers: natural gas or electricity  

the type of the end-user (sector) covered by the data: household or non-household 

o  note that household prices had to be reported on voluntary basis in the past, and 
that  after  the  entry  into  force  of  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1952,  the  reporting  of 
household data is obligatory 

period to which the data is referring: Year and Semester (1 or 2) 

country: this can be selected from a drop down menu that contains a list of countries 

reporting  organisation:  the  reporting  authorities  that  are  responsible  for  the  price  data 
reporting 

contact details: the name of the person who is responsible within the reporting organisation 
and the e-mail address 

o 

this will be used to clarify inconsistencies in the data provided  

3.1.2. 

CONSUMPTION BANDS 

The range of prices available to consumers in different consumption bands provides an indication of 
the  level  of  choice  and  diversity  in  the  market  and  the  possible  savings  that  could  be  achieved  if 
consumers switched to the lowest tariff. 

The price which should be reported by Member States must be based on a system of standard annual 
natural  gas  and  electricity  consumption  bands.  Regulation  (EU)  2016/1952  introduces  an 
additional consumption band for very large non-household consumers, both for gas and electricity. In 
the absence of any international standard of classification of the consumption bands, the intervals for 
each  band  has  been  adopted  by  the  Commission  at  the  moment  that  Commission  Decision  No 
2007/394/EC came into force. 

Reference consumers are characterised by the following annual consumption bands: 

Natural Gas Prices  

(a) For household consumers, the following bands are to be applied: 

Band-D1 (Small): annual consumption below 20 GJ 

Band-D2 (Medium): annual consumption between 20 and 200 GJ 

Band-D3 (Large): annual consumption above 200 GJ 

 (b) For final non-household consumers, the following bands are to be applied: 

Band-I1: annual consumption below 1 000 GJ 

Band-I2: annual consumption between 1 000 and 10 000 GJ 

Band-I3: annual consumption between 10 000 and 100 000 GJ 

Band-I4: annual consumption between 100 000 and 1 000 000 GJ 

Band-I5: annual consumption between 1 000 000 and 4 000 000 GJ 

Band-I6: annual consumption above 4 000 000 GJ  

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3 

Electricity Prices 

(a) For household consumers, the following bands are to be applied: 

Band-DA (Very small): annual consumption below 1 000 kWh 

Band-DB (Small): annual consumption between 1 000 and 2 500 kWh 

Band-DC (Medium): annual consumption between 2 500 and 5 000 kWh 

Band-DD (Large): annual consumption between 5 000 and 15 000 kWh 

Band-DE (Very large): annual consumption above 15 000 kWh 

(b) For final non-household consumers, the following bands are to be applied: 

Band-IA: annual consumption below 20 MWh 

Band-IB: annual consumption between 20 and 500 MWh 

Band-IC: annual consumption between 500 and 2 000 MWh 

Band-ID: annual consumption between 2 000 and 20 000 MWh 

Band-IE: annual consumption between 20 000 and 70 000 MWh 

Band-IF: annual consumption between 70 000 and 150 000 MWh 

Band-IG: annual consumption above 150 000 MWh  

3.1.3. 

PRICE COMPONENTS  

In  order  to  better  understand  the  relationship  between  energy  prices  and  policy,  it  is  necessary  to 
disaggregate  prices  into  their  various  components  and  sub-components.  This  disaggregated 
information  is  used  by  the  user to  analyse  what  drives  gas  and  electricity  bills  and  to  assess  price 
competition in the retail market at the level of the European Union. 

A major source of price divergence at the European level is the different tax regimes existing in the 
Member States. The in-depth analysis of European energy prices and costs shows that the European 
framework for energy taxation does not provide for a full harmonisation, so Member States may change 
their taxes and tax rates individually, going beyond the core elements or minimum levels contained in 
EU law.  

Another source of non-comparability of energy prices between different national markets, which is also 
related to taxes and levies, is due to the divergence of the billing system. The composition of taxes 
and levies which has to be included in the consumer bills differs from country to country, and therefore 
the  price  details  based  on  component  and  on  taxation  are  often  not  directly  comparable  between 
countries.  

In order to avoid this lack of comparability at a European level, the prices of natural gas and electricity 
to be reported by Member States should cover: 

 

Level of detail based on taxation:  

o  Level 1 prices excluding all taxes, levies and VAT; 

o  Level 2 prices excluding VAT and all other recoverable taxes and levies; 

o  Level 3 prices including all taxes, levies and VAT (also if it is refundable). 

 

Level of detail required for the components:  

o  Energy and supply; 

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Description of the questionnaires 

3 

o Network costs;
o Taxes, fees, levies and charges.

Level of detail based on taxation 

Prices excluding all taxes, fees, levies and charges 

The new Regulation ensures explicitly that taxes and levies are not included in the energy & supply or 
the network component. As against Directive 2008/92/EC, the new Regulation proposed that this price 
level should include only the energy and supply component and the network component. The meaning 
of  this  is  that  all  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  are  excluded  from  this  price  level,  irrespective  of 
whether or not they are or are not explicitly mentioned on consumer bills.  

Prices excluding value added tax (VAT) and other recoverable taxes 

This price level includes the energy and supply component, the network component and taxes, fees, 
levies  and  charges  considered  non-recoverable  for  final  non-household  consumers.  For  household 
consumers this price level includes the energy and network components and taxes, fees, levies and 
charges, but excludes VAT. 

Prices including all taxes 

This  price  level  includes  the  energy  and  supply  component,  the  network  component,  and  all 
recoverable and non-recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges.

Level of detail required for components 

The disaggregated prices of the three main components have to be reported only once a year, along 
with the price data covering the actual calendar year.

As against the Directive 2008/92/EC, the new Regulation stipulates that the disaggregated prices of 
the three main components has to be reported by the Member States not only for electricity, but for 
natural gas as well. 

Energy and supply costs 

For natural gas, the cost of this component must include the commodity price for natural gas paid by 
the supplier or the price of natural gas at the point of entry into the transmission system, including, if 
applicable, storage costs plus costs relating to the sale of natural gas to final consumers. 

For electricity,  this  component  must  include  the  following  costs:  generation,  aggregation,  balancing 
energy, supplied energy costs, customer services, after-sale management and other supply costs. 

Network costs 

For natural gas, the network price must include the following costs: transmission and distribution tariffs, 
transmission and distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs and 
meter rental  and  metering  costs.  For electricity,  the  network  price  must  include  the following costs: 
transmission  and  distribution  tariffs,  transmission  and  distribution  losses,  network  costs,  after-sale 
service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and metering costs. 

According to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952, two additional sub-components for both gas and electricity 
prices  are  to  be  reported  by  Member  States:  total  average  relative  share  of  transmission  costs, 
expressed as a percentage of total network costs; 

 

and total average relative share of distribution costs expressed as a percentage of total 
network costs. 

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Description of the questionnaires 

3 

Taxes, fees, levies and charges 

Once a year, along with the price reporting for the second semester, the Member States must report 
the total cost of taxes, fees, levies and charges on gas and electricity sales. The total cost of the taxes, 
fees,  levies  and  charges  on  gas  and  electricity  sales  is  the  sum  of  all  sub-components  listed  by 
Regulation (EU) 2916/1952.  

As has been described above, there are two clearly separate categories of taxes that can be used to 
describe the taxes, fees, levies and any other fiscal charges: 

 

 

taxes, fees, levies and any other fiscal charges considered non-recoverable, which might 
or  might  not  be  listed  on  consumer bills.  These  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  any  other  fiscal 
charges  have  to  be  included  under  the  reported  figures  for  the  price  level  of  ‘Prices 
excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes’; 

value added tax (VAT) and other recoverable taxes identified on consumer bills. The items 
described  here are to  be included  under  the  reported  figures  for  the  price level:  ‘Prices 
including all taxes’. 

An outline of the different categories of taxes, fees, levies, and fiscal charges that can be applicable, 
in the case of natural gas, are: 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Value added tax as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of 
value added tax; 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  the  promotion  of  renewable  energy  sources, 
energy efficiency and CHP generation; 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  strategic  stockpiles,  capacity  payments  and 
energy security; taxes on gas distribution; stranded costs and levies on financing energy 
regulatory authorities or market operators; 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  air  quality  and  the  environment;  taxes  on 
emissions of CO2 or other greenhouse gases; 

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous four categories: 
support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional  fiscal  charges;  island  compensation; 
concession  fees  relating  to  licences  and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or 
private property by networks or other devices. 

The different categories of taxes, fees, levies, and fiscal charges that can be applicable, 
in the case of electricity are: 

Value added tax as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the common system of 
value added tax; 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  the  promotion  of  renewable  energy  sources, 
energy efficiency and CHP generation; 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to capacity payments, energy security and adequate 
capacity  for  generation;  taxes  on  coal  industry  restructuring;  taxes  on  electricity 
distribution. Stranded costs and levies on financing energy regulatory authorities or market 
operators 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to air quality and environmental purposes, to CO2 
or other greenhouse gas emission taxes 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  the  nuclear  sector,  including  nuclear 
decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations 

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Description of the questionnaires 

3 

 

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous five categories: 
support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional  fiscal  charges;  island  compensation; 
concession  fees  relating  to  licences  and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or 
private property by networks or other devices. 

3.1.4. 

CONSUMPTION VOLUMES  

Member States are obliged to transmit information on the relative share of natural gas and electricity 
in each consumption band based on the total volume to which the prices refer. 

The annual consumption volumes for each consumption band are to be reported once a year, at the 
same time that the price data for the second semester is reported. 

The  consumption  volumes  should  be  supplied  based  on  the  latest  available  annual  consumption 
figures or sold quantities. The consumption volumes according to  which consumers are placed in a 
certain band will be determined on the basis of the consumption by that consumer over the last 12 
months (2 semesters). If no data is available for the last 12 months, the consumer will be assigned a 
consumption  based  on  their  consumption  in  the  reporting  semester,  as  a  share  of  the  annual 
consumption for that band. 

The consumption data must not be older than two years. 

3.1.5. 

UNITS OF MEASUREMENT 

The  prices  to  be  reported  are  the  national  average  prices  charged  to  household  and  final  non-
household consumers.  

Regarding electricity prices, they should be expressed in national currency per kilowatt-hour (kWh).  

Natural gas prices are to be expressed in national currency per gigajoule (GJ). The unit of energy 
used is to be measured on the basis of the gross calorific value (GCV).  

Both natural gas and electricity prices are to be weighted according to the market share of supplier 
companies  in  each  consumption  band.  If  it  is  not  possible  to  calculate  weighted  average  prices, 
arithmetic average prices may be provided. In either case, the data must cover a representative share 
of the national market.  

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4  

Reporting frequencies  
and deadlines 

Reporting frequencies and deadlines 

According to the new Regulation, natural gas and electricity prices must be reported no more than 3 
months after the reference period.  

Natural gas and electricity prices are reported to Eurostat twice a year and electricity and natural gas 
price components and sub-components once a year.  

The prices are collected twice a year, at the beginning of each six-month period (January and July), 
and refer to the average prices paid by household and non-household end-users over a period of six 
months. 

The  published  data  are  national  average  prices  over  a  period  of  6  months. 
Semester 1 prices are average prices between 1st January and 30th June of each year, semester 2 
prices are average prices between 1st July and 31st December of each year. 

Once  every  three  years,  information  about  the  compilation  system  applied  must  be  sent  to  the 
Statistical Office of the European Communities, and including a description of the survey and its scope 
(number of suppliers surveyed, aggregated percentage of the market represented, etc.) and the criteria 
used  to  calculate  the  weighted  average  prices,  as  well  as  the  aggregated  consumption  volumes 
represented by each band. 

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5 Quality reports 

Quality reports 

According  to  the  new  regulation,  the  Member  States  must  submit  to  the  Commission  (Eurostat)  a 
quality report on the data every three years, demonstrating how the electricity and natural gas prices 
and volumes are calculated. The structure of the quality report will be determined by the Commission 
from 2017 onwards. 

It is expected that the first reporting of the quality report will take place in 2019, describing the data 
collection for 2018 

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6 Transmission methods 

Transmission methods 

Member States must provide the data in a manner described in Regulation (EU 2016/1952, using the 
format and arrangements for data transmission established and adopted by the Commission.  

6.1.  The standard transmission tool (EDAMIS) 

Data  files  are  sent  using  Eurostat's  Single  Entry  Point  system  for  NSIs'  and  ONAs'  data  transfers, 
EDAMIS.  It  requires  registration  in  the  EDAMIS  system,  user  ID  and  password.  Confirmation  after 
receiving the file is sent automatically by EDAMIS. 

EDAMIS  is  a  complete  environment  that  offers  data  transmission  and  management  services  in  the 
European  Statistical  System.  It  stands  for  "Electronic  Data  files  Administration  and  Management 
Information System". It includes:  

 

 

 

advanced data transmission facilities for all Eurostat data providers, mainly based on three 
main approaches: the EWA (EDAMIS Web Application), the EWP (EDAMIS Web Portal) 
direct upload system and the EWF (EDAMIS Web Form) which looks like a spreadsheet.  

advanced data reception features at the Eurostat "Single Entry Point" (SEP), which is the 
EDAMIS server  

a reporting system that provides reports on traffic  

6.1.1. 

REGISTRATION IN EDAMIS 

The  external  EDAMIS  users  who  are  already  registered  in  the  system  should  select  the  ‘ECAS 
authentication’ tab in order to log in. 

Steps to be followed: 

 

 

Go to the EDAMIS portal using the URL https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/edamis 

Click on ‘ECAS authentication’ button.  

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Transmission methods 

6 

 

You will see the following page. 

 

Enter your e-mail account and click on the ‘Next’ button. 

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Transmission methods 

6 

 

 

Enter your password and click on ‘Sign in’ button.  

You will be connected to EDAMIS. 

If you do not yet have your own ECAS account, please self-register at EU Login by selecting the ‘Create 
an account’ tab (figure presented under the third step presented above). 

Then you will be redirected to the EU Login registration form, which should be filled in by new users. 
Then select the ‘Create an account’ button. At that stage, a confirmation e-mail will be sent to you. 

Please take the following into account: 

 

 

 

The confirmation e-mail contains a link to activate the account, which is the final step in 
the  registration  process.  Therefore,  make  sure  to  enter  a  valid  address  in  the  account 
creation form in order to receive the e-mail. 

Once the registration is completed, you can use your e-mail address to log into EDAMIS. 

The  system  will  automatically  create  a  username  based  on  parts  of  your  first  and  last 
names. The generated username will be included in the account activation email. 

6.1.2. 

REGISTRATION TO EDAMIS WEB APPLICATION 

The EWA is a local HTTP server that enables the secure transmission of data from Member States to 
Eurostat. The statistical data that needs to be transmitted to Eurostat is made available to the EWA, 
which converts it into a standardised message and uses a telecommunication component (STATEL – 
hidden for the data sender) to transfer the message to the EDAMIS server in Eurostat. Based on the 
metadata associated with the data in the message, the server knows where and how to deliver the 
data. The server then sends an acknowledgement to the EWA to inform the user that the data has 
been delivered. 

The first step required for transmitting the data to Eurostat using EWA is to obtain the URL from the 
administrator of the local EWA, who usually is the national “Transmission Coordinator” or “the Local 
Coordinator”.  The administrator in your country  will provide a user-ID, which in principle, should be 
identical to the user’s EU Login user-ID.  

Once the user has both a URL and a user-ID, he/she can open his/her web browser and copy the 
provided URL into the address field. This URL is the internal hyperlink under which the EWA has been 
, or it can also be an address – (depending on 
installed and it looks like 

your network configuration) – such as http://192.168.1.100/Login. 

When logging in for the first time, the user must only fill in his/her User-ID and leave the password field 
empty. The registration process will be completed during the first login, during which he/she will have 
the possibility to specify his/her own password. 

Once the registration is complete, the full main menu is made available and a confirmation that the 
user management parameters have been updated. 

The upper right corner of the EWA window shows the status of the connection to Eurostat. If the status 
line  is  green,  datasets  will  be  transmitted  to  Eurostat.  If  the  status  line  is  red,  there  might  be  a 
communication problem and it would be advisable to contact your EWA system administrator or the 
Local Coordinator. 

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6 

6.2.  Data transmission  

6.2.1. 

SENDING THE DATA IN INTERACTIVE MODE 

Sending a data file to Eurostat in interactive mode is as simple as this:  

 

 

 

 

 

Log on to the EDAMIS Web Application  

Select “Send Data file”  

Browse for the file to transmit  

Complete the metadata as requested  

Click Perform Transfers 

Go to “Send Data File” on the main menu and the “Send Data File” screen appears; 

The screen areas are as described in the table below: 

1 

File name 

This is the name of the file which will be sent to Eurostat. It can 
be  any  file  type  or  size.  The  EDAMIS  Web  Application  will 
automatically  complete  the  “send  data  file”  input  form,  provided 
that the file name is structured according to the dataset naming 
convention and that the file is GESMES formatted. This includes 
the dataset, the year, the period and the action fields  

2 

Dataset 

In the dataset drop down box is the list of datasets that the user is 
supposed to send to Eurostat. as configured by the administrator 
of the EDAMIS Web Application.  

3 

Year 

This is the year of the reporting period, for example “2016”. 

4 

Period 

This is the reporting period and it depends on the periodicity of the 
dataset. This field is grey when it is not relevant. For instance, it 
is not visible for yearly datasets, since the year itself is sufficient 
to determinate the coverage of the reported data. 

5 

Action 

The action code is only given as information and has no effect on 
the data transmission chain. It can be “New”, “Append”,” Partial”, 
“Replace”  or  “Other”.  When  used,  there  must  be  an  agreement 

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28 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Transmission methods 

6 

about the meaning of the action code between the production unit 
at Eurostat and the data providers in Member States.  

6 

Encrypt? 

In the EDAMIS inventory, when a domain has an encryption key 
attached  to  it,  the  encrypt  flag  is  automatically  proposed  to  the 
data sender. When ticked, the data file which is transmitted will be 
encrypted with the public encryption key attached to the domain 
which the dataset belongs to. At that time, only the owner of the 
corresponding private key (domain manager at Eurostat) will be 
able to decode the ciphered data file. 

7 

Valid? 

In the EDAMIS inventory, when a dataset has defined validation 
rules, the valid flag is automatically proposed to the data sender. 
It  will  then  be  possible  to  check  the  coherence  of  the  data  file 
against  the  defined  validation  rules  before  sending  the  data  to 
Eurostat. The [Add/Validate] button will launch the validation and 
the  validation  report  will  appear  in  a  separate  window.  If  the 
validation  does  not  report  validation  errors,  then  the  [Perform 
Transfer]  button  will  be  enabled,  allowing  the  data  file  to  be 
transmitted. If the validation fails, the data sender must correct the 
corresponding  file  and  process  it  again.  In  any  case,  the  data 
sender is able to “force” a transmission using the [Force] button 
even if the data file does not match the validation rules. 

8 

Force 
The [Force] button can be used to “force” a data file transmission.  

9 

Clear 

The  [Clear]  button  allows  a  row  from  the  “send  data  file”  input 
screen to be deleted. 

10 

Free text comments 

This  is  a  place  where  the  data  sender  can  leave  a  free  text 
message for the attention of his/her counterpart at Eurostat. It has 
a maximum length of 256 characters.  

11 

File with explanatory notes 

  When a description of the method used for collection needs to be 
provided, an explanatory note is used. This allows the data sender 
to  attach  a  file  which  has  a  maximum  size  of  2Mb.  It  will  be 
delivered to the statistician in charge of the dataset, together with 
a notification message. 

12 

Browse 

The  [Browse]  button  allows  the  data  sender  to  “browse”  the 
directories in which the data files are located.  

13 

Add/Validate 

The  [Add/Validate]  button  has  two  functions.  It  allows  a  list  of 
several data files to be transferred to Eurostat to be compiled in 
the case of multiple transmissions, and if validation rules exist for 
the dataset(s), it performs the validation of the attached data file.  

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Transmission methods 

6 

14 

Perform transfer 

The [Perform transfer] button, used at the final stage, transmits of 
the  data 
the 
[Add/Validate] button.  

file(s)  which  has/have  been  selected  with 

6.2.2. 

SENDING THE DATA IN FULLY-AUTOMATED MODE 

Fully-automated mode allows a third party application to deliver data files in a particular directory of 
the EWA belonging to a specific user. Usually, EWA is installed by default under the \\EWA directory 
on a dedicated server. Under the “EWA” directory there is a “user” subdirectory containing all defined 
EWA users. In each user's sub-directory, there is an “EDI” sub-directory. Once data files are placed in 
this specific directory, EWA considers that these data files must be automatically sent to Eurostat. 

EWA regularly browses all EDI users’ sub-directories and whenever a data file is found, EWA 
initiates an automatic transmission to Eurostat.  

The mechanisms which allow fully-automated mode to work effectively rely on the use of dataset 
naming conventions to build the data file name (which is the envelope) or on the use of GESMES-
formatted data files.  

6.3.  File naming conventions 

The naming convention described below is used by all the Data Transmission Tools and Services. 

6.3.1. 

DATASET ID 

Definition, “Dataset”: the concept of one or several statistical tables (having one single data 
structure), with a specific periodicity and which must be transmitted within a certain period. 

Identification rule: 

DATASET ID = (DOMAIN ID) + “_” + (DATASET STRUCTURE ID) + “_” + (PERIODICITY or 
PERIODICITIES).  

Field: 
DOMAIN ID: 

DATASET 
STRUCTURE ID: 

PERIODICITY 
PERIODICITIES: 

or 

Description/Remark: 
Identifies the statistical domain (group of datasets closely linked together) 
Identifies the Dataset Structure (associated to one or several statistical tables). 
If no Dataset Structure ID is defined, the ‘periodicity ID for data’ will be used as 
default value. 
If 2 positions are used for the ‘Periodicity or periodicities’ field, then the Dataset 
structure ID should be in no more than 6 positions. 
The first position, identifies the periodicity of the data being reported: 

 
 

“A” for annual 
“0” for multi-annual > 10 years 

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Transmission methods 

6 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

“1” for every 10 years 
“2” to “9” for every 2 to 9 years 
“S” for semester 
“Q” for quarterly 
“M” for monthly 
“W” for weekly 
“D” for daily 
“O” for other periodicity 
“N”  for  non-periodic  (e.g.  sequential)  defined  in  EDAMIS  up  to 
version 3.2, to be discontinued 
“I” for irregular / aperiodic (e.g. sequential) defined for future use, not 
yet implemented (see also EDAMIS RFC504) 

The second position identifies the periodicity of transmission. It is provided only if 
the periodicity for transmission is different from the periodicity of the data. This is 
called  mixed  periodicity.  The  second  position  uses  the  same  code  as  the  first 
position. 

The following EDAMIS data flows are available for the transmission of electricity and gas prices: 

ENERGY_PRELH_S 
ENERGY_PRELI_S 
ENERGY_PRGAH_S 

ENERGY_PRGAI_S 

For transmission of bi-annual electricity prices for household end-users: 
For transmission of bi-annual electricity prices for non-household end-users: 
For transmission of bi-annual natural gas prices for household end-users: 
For  transmission  of  bi-annual  natural  gas  prices  for  non-household  end-
users: 

6.3.2. 

DATASET OCCURRENCE ID 

Definition, “Dataset occurrence”: An occurrence of a dataset, for 1 sending country responsible (or 1 
international organisation) and 1 primary receiving country (or 1 international organisation), for 1 period 
(or time series or sequence). 

Identification rule: 

DATASET OCCURRENCE ID = (DATASET ID) + “_” + (FROM) + “_” + (YEAR) + “_” + (PERIOD) + 
“_” + (FORMAT) 

Field: 
DATASET ID: 

FROM 

YEAR 

PERIOD: 

FORMAT 

Description/Remark: 
DATASET is any of the datasets listed above. 
The country code of the country to which the primary data providing organisation 
belongs. 
Format: YYYY, identifies the reporting year. For non-periodic datasets: “0000” or 
reporting year 
Identifies the reporting period for periodic datasets or the sequence number for 
non-periodic datasets. For electricity and gas prices the reporting period is “0001” 
or “0002”.  
For electricity and gas prices the extension should be xlsx. 

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7 IRELAND 

Electricity price for                
the household sector 

IRELAND - Electricity price for the household sector 

7.1.  General description of the reporting authority 

responsible for the reporting of natural gas and 
energy price statistics in Ireland 

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI), formerly the Irish Energy Centre, was set up by 
the government in 2002 as Ireland’s national energy authority. 

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland (SEAI) has a mission to play a leading role in transforming 
Ireland into a society based on sustainable energy structures, technologies and practices. To fulfil this 
mission, the SEAI aims to provide well-timed and informed advice to the government and deliver a 
range  of  programmes  efficiently  and  effectively,  while  engaging  and  motivating  a  wide  range  of 
stakeholders and showing continuous flexibility and innovation in all its activities. 

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland is financed by Ireland’s EU Structural Funds Programme 
co-funded by the Irish Government and the European Union. 

The  SEAI  has  a  leading  role  in  developing  and  maintaining  comprehensive  national  and  sectoral 
statistics  for  energy  production,  transformation  and  end  use.  This  data  is  vital  input  for  meeting 
international reporting obligations, for advising policy makers and informing investment decisions.  

Unit responsible for natural gas and electricity prices 

Based in Cork, the Energy Policy Statistical Support Unit (EPSSU) is SEAI’s specialist statistics team. 
Its core functions are to: 

 

 

 

Collect, process and publish energy statistics to support policy analysis and development 
in line with national needs and international obligations. 

Conduct  statistical  and  economic  analyses  of  energy  service  sectors  and  sustainable 
energy options. 

Contribute to the development and promulgation of appropriate sustainability indicators. 

EPSSU only produces national energy statistics. 

Product covered 
Electricity for the household sector 

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32 

 
 
 
 
 
 
IRELAND Electricity price for household sector 

7 

7.2.   Data sources and quality assurance 

For households, electricity prices include all charges payable, including: energy consumed, network 
charges,  other  charges  (capacity  charges,  commercialisation,  meter  rental,  etc.),  all  netted  for  any 
rebates or premiums due. Initial connection charges are not included.  

All  licensed  electricity  suppliers  are  surveyed.  Electricity  prices  are  surveyed  for  the  categories  of 
household end-user, shown in the table below: 

Household end-
user 

Annual electricity consumption (KWh) 

Band share of residential 
electricity consumption in 
Ireland 

Lowest 

Highest 

<1000 

1000 

2500 

5000 

>15000 

2500 

5000 

15000 

1.80% 

10.30% 

36.00% 

44.20% 

7.60% 

Very small (DA) 

Small (DB) 

Medium (DC) 

Large (DD) 

Very large (DE) 

Survey coverage 

Currently, there are seven active electricity suppliers on the domestic market, which are listed below 
(graph) along with their share of the market as in Q1 2016 Electricity and Gas Retail Markets Report 
of Ireland’s Commission for Energy Regulation.  

Frequency of the survey 

All domestic price data for Ireland is collected directly from energy suppliers on a bi-annual basis. The 
survey  is  managed  by  the  EPSSU  team.  All  data  is  collected  on  a  confidential  basis  to  reflect  the 

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33 

 
 
  
 
 
 
IRELAND Electricity price for household sector 

7 

market-sensitive nature of the data. Electricity suppliers return their completed surveys by email to a 
member of the energy price statistics team. 

Quality Assurance 

Checks are carried out on returns by suppliers on a number of levels.  The variation in price and or 
volume  since  the  previous  semester  is  assessed  and  if  there’s  a  large  variation  the  supplier  is 
requested  to  confirm  or  amend.    Checks  are  made  on  each  price  point,  and  volumes,  between 
suppliers and again if there is a large variation in individual data items the supplier is reverted to.  

Consistency between price levels is checked for each return.  For instance, the difference between the 
level 2 and level 3 should be approximately equal to the VAT amount. 

Some  pre-checking  is  included  in  the  spreadsheet  questionnaire  sent  to  the  suppliers  to  ensure 
consistency  between  disaggregated  prices  and  prices  by  level.    Guidance  is  also  included  on  the 
questionnaires to aid filling it in by the suppliers.  

Geographical coverage 

All regions in Ireland are covered 

Completeness of the data reported 

Ireland  did  not  have  confidentiality  issues  for  categorising  households  into  bands.  However,  the 
EPSSU is bound by the primary confidentiality rules of the Central Statistics Office (CSO). Where data 
is not already in the public domain, EPSSU cannot publish the data if there are less than three units in 
the category, if one unit accounts for more than 80% of the total market share, or if two units account 
for more than 90%. 

Method used to calculate the national average price  

In Ireland a weighted average price is used and, as all suppliers are surveyed, this represents the full 
market.  Market  shares  are  based  on  the  quantity  of  electricity  invoiced  by  electricity  supply 
undertakings to household end-users.  

The weighted averages prices are calculated based on the market shares of suppliers in each band. 

 where P is the average price, 

is the price of company j in band i 

and 

 is the market share (weight) of company j and band i.  

, where 

 is the quantity of company j in band i. 

Compilers guide on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices 

34 

jip,jiW,jiq,jijijiWpP,,,*jijijijiqqW,,,, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IRELAND Electricity price for household sector 

7 

Consumption pattern 

Ireland can provide data about relative consumption in consumption bands. 

7.3.  Price levels 

Three pricing levels are provided by each supplier to the EPSSU by filling in an Excel questionnaire: 

 

 

 

prices excluding taxes and levies; 

prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes; 

prices including all taxes, levies and VAT. 

Prices  excluding  all  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  (level  1)  -  This  price 
level  only  includes  the  energy  &  supply  component  and  the  network 
component 

In Ireland, for household electricity, this price is currently calculated as the total price before VAT and 
the Public Service Obligation Levy. 

Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (level 2) - This price level 
should include the energy and supply component, the network component 
and taxes, fees, levies and charges considered as non-recoverable for final 
non-household  consumers.  For  household  consumers,  this  price  level 
includes the energy and network components, as well as taxes, fees, levies 
and charges, but excludes VAT 

In Ireland, for household electricity, this price includes Level 1 and the Public Service Obligation Levy. 

Prices including all taxes (level 3) - This price level includes the energy and 
supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-
recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges, including VAT 

In Ireland, for household electricity, this price includes Level 1, Public Service Obligation Levy and VAT 
at 13.5%. 

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35 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IRELAND Electricity price for household sector 

7 

7.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges 

Value added tax (VAT) as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the 
common system of value added tax 

In Ireland, 13.5% VAT is charged to households. No reduced rate is available to household consumers. 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to the promotion of renewable energy 
sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation 

EPSSU will include the portion of the PSO levy that supports renewable energy generation schemes, 
known  as  the  Alternative  Energy  Requirement  (AER)  and  the  Renewable  Energy  Feed-in  Tariff 
(REFIT). 

Public  Service  Obligation  (PSO):  The  PSO  levy  is  a  government  initiative  designed  to  support  the 
electricity  generation  infrastructure,  in  order  to  meet  national  policy  objectives  regarding  energy 
security, the use of indigenous fuels (i.e. peat) and the use of renewable energy sources in electricity 
generation. 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to capacity payments, energy security 
and  generation  adequacy;  taxes  on  coal  industry  restructuring;  taxes  on 
electricity  distribution;  stranded  costs  and  levies  on  financing  energy 
regulatory authorities or market and system operators (for electricity) 

EPSSU considers that this includes the portion of the PSO levy that supports peat plants and security 
of supply. 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 
purposes, to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emission taxes 

Not applicable to household electricity. 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  the  nuclear  sector,  including 
nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations 

Not applicable to Ireland. 

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices) 

The following charges will be included:  

 

Market Operator Charges (charged on a per MWh basis, on energy bought in the Single 
Electricity  Market).  The  Single  Electricity  Market  (SEM)  is  administered  by  the  Single 
Electricity  Market  Operator  (SEMO).  The  SEMO  imposes  a  Market  Operator  charge  to 
recover the costs of administering the SEM to all electricity users on a cent per kilowatt 
hour (c/kWh) basis. This tax is revised annually on 1st October.  

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36 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
IRELAND Electricity price for household sector 

7 

 

 

Better Energy Charges  

Fuel Poverty  

Consequently, these charges are excluded from the level 1 prices and included in the level 2 prices 
and level 3 prices. 

7.5.  Other specific issues 

Recovery of taxes 

Not applicable to household electricity. 

Return of refundable taxes 

Not applicable to household electricity. 

Switching bonuses 

These bonuses are applicable in Ireland, but there is not a defined way for taking those into account, 
as those bonuses are often impossible to quantify as they might be natural products (e.g. free goods, 
free theatre tickets etc.). 

Derogations 

At the time of the interview, EPSSU stated that Ireland will most likely not apply for derogation 

Disaggregation of network prices 

EPSSU will advise suppliers on the best way to do this during a workshop later in the year. 

However, the EPSSU mentioned that data might be available from Ireland’s Commission for Energy 
Regulation. 

Broker Commission  

Brokers are becoming a bigger part of the Industrial & Commercial side of the business and they are 
also beginning to target smaller business customers. They can often ask for commission (c/kWh) to 
be added to the electricity/gas price.  

Eurostat advises that this should not be included in electricity prices. 

Free Electricity Allowance 

The Department of Social Protection has set the rate for the Free Electricity Allowance at €35.00 per 
month. This allowance will appear as a credit of €1.15* per day on Irish Electric electricity bills. 

This  package  is  available  to  everyone  aged  over  70  and  to  people  aged  under  70  in  certain 
circumstances. 

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37 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
    8 NORWAY 

Electricity price for                
the non-household sector 

NORWAY - Electricity price for the non-household sector 

8.1.  General description of the reporting authority 

responsible for the reporting of natural gas and 
electricity price statistics in Norway 

Statistics Norway reports to the Ministry of Finance in accordance with the Statistics Act of 1989: This 
Act sets out the formal framework for all Norwegian official statistics and gives Statistics Norway the 
authority to determine the content of its own statistics and analyses. The Statistics Norway bureau has 
overall responsibility for producing and disseminating official statistics within Norwegian society. 

The  Statistics  Act  provides  the  professional  autonomy  necessary  in  order  to  maintain  society’s 
confidence in official statistics. 

Responsible unit for natural gas and electricity prices 

Division for Energy and Environmental Statistics 

Product covered 

Electricity for the non-household sector 

8.2.  Data sources and quality assurance 

Data on electricity prices is collected from a sample of the electricity companies within the electricity 
supply system, which means a division 35.1 in the Norwegian Standard Industrial Classification. The 
survey is based on electronic questionnaires collected via National Collecting tool ‘Altinn’. About 95 
per cent of the responses are returned via ‘Altinn’. Reminders are issued by an electronic pdf letter 
delivered to ‘MY message’ box in Altinn. The response rate is about 98 per cent. 

To estimate the grid rent, data from the national regulator for the Norwegian electricity market (NVE) 
is used. 

From  the  1st  quarter  of  2012  onwards,  the  measuring  period  was  increased  from  one  week  in  the 
middle of each quarter to cover the whole quarter. Data published after the 1st quarter of 2012 is still 

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NORWAY Electricity price for non-household sector 

8 

comparable with earlier quarters. 

Survey coverage 

The statistics are compiled from information from a sample of about 45 electricity suppliers in the end-
user market. The sample is constructed to cover as well as possible both large and small electricity 
plants, different geographical areas, and the different consumer groups to whom the electricity plants 
sell electricity. 

The electric energy price survey covers about 85 per cent of the consumption of electricity in the non-
household sector. Not all companies respond to the question about prices divided between consumer 
bands.  

For  grid  rent  the  survey  covers  all  the  companies,  but  estimations  are  made  to  split  the  grid  rent 
between different bands. 

Frequency of the survey 

The electricity price survey is conducted on a quarterly basis. 

Quality assurance  

Maximum  and  minimum  values  are  controlled.  Processing  errors  may  occur  during  quality  control 
activities. Misunderstandings of the variables and valuations by the units in the sample may lead to 
uncertainty in the figures obtained from the survey.  

For instance, the prices are supposed to be reported without public taxes. If one company loses sight 
of this requirement, then the price reported can be too high. The prices are also to be reported inclusive 
of  the fixed  charges  (standing  charge).  If  one  company  overlooks  this  requirement,  then  the  prices 
reported can be too low.  

The figures are also compared with previous reported data for each of the electricity plants. Decimal- 
and thousand separators and denominations are checked thoroughly. The prices are compared with 
the spot prices of electricity at Nord Pool. The quantities reported are compared with those in the yearly 
electricity statistics and energy use in the manufacturing sector.  

Missing questionnaires are not imputed. Quantities sold and average prices are collected for different 
types of contracts and consumer groups. Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are 
constructed from this.  

Geographical coverage 

All  regions  of  the  country  are  represented  in  the  price  data.  Moreover,  the  grid  rent  covers  all  the 
regions. 

Coverage of the non-household sector 

The  electricity  price  data  from  Norway  covers  all  non-household  consumers,  such  as  restaurants, 
offices, farming, transport etc. 

Completeness of the data reported 

All prices can be reported without any confidentiality restrictions.  

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NORWAY Electricity price for non-household sector 

8 

Method used to calculate the national average price  

Quantities sold and average prices are collected for different types of contracts and consumer groups. 
Weighted average prices and measures of dispersion are made from this.  

The  quarterly  and  bi-annual  prices  are  calculated  as  weighted  average  prices  by  using  the  real 
consumption available for each consumer band. 

The  volumes  are  only  calculated  from  a  sample  of  the  population  and  should  not  be  used  as  an 
approximation for consumption in the whole population. 

8.3.  Price levels 

Prices  excluding  all  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  (level  1)  -  This  price 
level should include only the energy & supply component and the network 
component 

The estimation of this price level is the sum of the electricity prices reported by the electricity 
companies and the grid rent received from the NVE and distributed by band based on the modelling 
approach. The grid rental price includes the power tariff that some consumers that is hourly metered 
pay. 

Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (level 2) - This price level 
should include the energy and supply component, the network component 
and taxes, fees, levies and charges considered as non-recoverable for final 
non-household  customers.  For  household  customers  this  price  level 
includes the energy and network components and taxes, fees, levies and 
charges but excludes VAT 

Within this level there are two taxes on the consumption of electricity: 

1.   A mark up on the network price that is transferred to a fund for promotion of renewables and energy 

efficiency (“Enova tax”). 

2.  Tax on consumption of electricity: There are two levels levied for this tax: a normal tax, which is 
paid  by  all  companies  except  manufacturing  companies  and  a  few  other  consumer  groups  that 
pays a reduced tax. 

Norway will use a modelling approach to calculate the average of this tax. One solution is to divide the 
total  consumption  between  the  manufacturing  consumers  and  non-manufacturing  consumers  and 
calculate  the  weights  of  these  two  components.  The  weights  could  then  be  applied  to  compile  the 
average level of this tax on consumption of electricity.  

Prices including all taxes (level 3) - This price level includes the energy and 
supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-
recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges, including VAT 

Level 3 prices are estimated as a sum of level 2 prices and VAT tax. 

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NORWAY Electricity price for non-household sector 

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8.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges 

Value added tax (VAT) as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the 
common system of value added tax 

VAT is currently levied at 25% on all non-domestic consumers, without any exceptions.  

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to the promotion of renewable energy 
sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation 

A mark up on the network price (“Enova tax”), which is related to the promotion of renewable energy 
sources and energy efficiency, is included in this sub-component. 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to capacity payments, energy security 
and  generation  adequacy;  taxes  on  coal  industry  restructuring;  taxes  on 
electricity  distribution.  Stranded  costs  and  levies  on  financing  energy 
regulatory authorities or market and system operators 

Not applicable. 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 
purposes, to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emissions taxes 

No such charges on the end use of electricity. 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  the  nuclear  sector,  including 
nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations 

Not applicable, there is no nuclear power in Norway.  

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices 

In Norway most non-household customers pay tax on their consumption of electricity, which is 
included in this sub-component.  

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NORWAY Electricity price for non-household sector 

8 

8.5.  Other specific issues 

Recovery of taxes 

All electricity consumers pay full 25% VAT, which is refunded subsequently. 

Return of refundable taxes 

Refundable taxes are refunded after the end of the year. They are not deducted from bills directly. 

Switching bonuses 

Some electricity enterprises might offer bonuses for new clients, and some products have a discount 
when switching to a different electricity enterprise. The scale of switching bonuses and discounts in 
Norway is currently unknown.  Electricity enterprises are not supposed to include switching bonuses 
when they report the electricity price.  

End-users in largest consumption bands 

Norway  declared  that  most  probably  there  will  be  no  problem  in  reporting  the  data  for  the  largest 
consumption bands.  

Derogations 

At the time of the interview, the Statistics Norway representatives indicated that Norway will most likely 
not apply for derogation.  

Disaggregation of network prices 

Still under discussion at the time of the interview. 

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42 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
9 NETHERLANDS 

Natural gas prices for         
the household sector 

NETHERLANDS - Natural gas prices for the household sector 

9.1.  General  description  of 

reporting  authority 
responsible  for  reporting  natural  gas  and  electricity 
price statistics in the Netherlands 

the 

As  of  3  January  2004,  the  Central  Bureau  of  Statistics  (CBS)  has  the  status  of  an  autonomous 
administrative  body  (in  Dutch:  ZBO).  This  means  that  the  CBS  performs  public  service  tasks,  but 
operates independently and not under the direct authority of a Dutch ministry. The Minister of Economic 
Affairs is politically responsible for relevant legislation, budget and conditions. The CBS is financed 
from the state budget. 

The mission of the CBS is to publish reliable and coherent statistical information which responds to 
the needs of Dutch society. The responsibility of the CBS is twofold: firstly, to compile (official) national 
statistics and secondly to compile European (community) statistics. 

Unit responsible for natural gas and electricity prices 

Business Statistics - Energy Statistics 

Product covered 

Natural gas for the household sector 

9.2.  Data sources and quality assurance 

There  are  two  main  types  of  companies  which  are  involved  in  supplying  natural  gas  to  household 
consumers in the Netherlands: gas suppliers and network companies. The Central Bureau of Statistics 
(CBS) contacts gas suppliers on a quarterly basis to get the price and volume for each consumption 
band. In the case of gas suppliers, the price is determined by a free supply-and-demand market.  

The consumer is free to choose the gas supplier in the region but not the network company, which has 
something of a monopoly in the regional market. Therefore the network price is set by the Dutch Energy 
Regulator and this regulated price is the maximum price that the network companies can charge their 
consumers in the region. The maximum price set by the regulator depends on the maximum capacity. 

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NETHERLANDS – Natural gas price for the household sector 

9 

An average household usually has a type G4 or G6 meter. The gas meter determines the flow and 
measures the consumption of gas in the house. The maximum capacity of these meters is 10 cubic 
meters per hour. For households this is more than adequate. 

These tariffs are updated on a yearly basis and are published on the network company’s website. The 
CBS retrieves the network prices for households directly from the company’s website.   

Survey coverage 

There are around 50 gas suppliers on the Dutch gas market. Of these companies, the three biggest 
companies, which have a significant market share, are surveyed as well as some smaller gas suppliers. 
The market share of these three big companies is just short of 70% of total sales in the  consumer’s 
gas market.  The three big gas suppliers are independent companies, after breaking  away from the 
three big network companies.  

Regarding network prices, the tariffs are retrieved from company websites. The coverage is about 90% 
of the gas market.   

Frequency of the survey 

The gas supply price survey is conducted on a quarterly basis. Energy suppliers return a completed 
questionnaire, which includes questions related to the various components in each band: number of 
consumers and/or connections, fixed costs, consumption in cubic metres, cost of purchase and cost 
of delivery. 

Quality assurance  

The plausibility of the input is measured in the following ways: 

 

 

 

 

 

prices from the correspondents are compared to their Y-1 prices; 

prices are compared to the prices from other correspondents in the same band; 

prices from different bands are compared with each other, to see if there is a pattern; 

average volumes are checked to see if data is placed in the right consumption band; 

prices for the energy source itself are compared to current prices on the traders’ markets 
and to the development of relevant producer price indices. 

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9 

An imputation method is developed whereby a consumption band with no response can still provide a 
price. For this, the last known price for the same period of the previous year is updated using the year-
to-year trend in prices from the left nearest category. 

Geographical coverage 

Data is collected across the whole of the Netherlands. 

Completeness of the data reported 

The  CBS  mentioned  two  potential  limitations  related  to  the  band  I6  (>4000000  GJ),  for  the  non-
household sector, which may result in information for this particular band not being reported. The first 
issue is related to the confidentiality of data, the second is related to the difficulty of obtaining reliable 
information for consumers who are included in this consumption band. These large consumers might 
have a direct gas line, and therefore network prices might be difficult to obtain. 

Method used to calculate the national average price  

The CBS should be considered as a particular case, as the network prices are calculated by using a 
modelling approach, presented below. 

The gas network price for households is comprised of various components, which are all fixed costs 
per year.  Some  are  independent  administrative  costs;  others  are dependent  on  the  capacity  of  the 
connection. For gas connections for household consumers, small connections (corresponding to the 
type  G4/G6  meter)  have  varying  tariffs  based  on  presumed  annual  consumption.  These  tariffs  are 
published by the regional network companies at the beginning of each year. 

The regional network companies also provide their microdata for households in the form of open data. 
This data is made anonymous and information is given by postal code. The most common connection 
is specified, together with the presumed average annual consumption (SJV). This information can be 
used to allocate the end-users to bands and to determine average annual consumption per bandwidth. 

With the costs and the consumption made available per band, an annual network price is calculated. 
The annual price is then edited with a seasonal pattern, to calculate quarterly (and bi-annual) prices. 
This seasonal pattern is derived from the input of gas suppliers. 

The actions above are done for all three big regional network companies in the Netherlands, covering 
>90% of the market.  

Gas  supply  companies  surveyed  are  asked  to  report  volumes  and  values  of  sales  in  each  of  the 
consumption  bands  specified.  They  are  asked  to  report  the  value  excluding  all  taxes.  CBS  then 
calculates the taxes based on the volumes. 

Consumption pattern 

The CBS provides data about relative consumption and prices for each consumption band. It agrees 
to publish the relative consumption volumes. 

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NETHERLANDS – Natural gas price for the household sector 

9 

9.3.  Price levels 

Three pricing levels are compiled by the CBS: 

 

 

 

prices excluding taxes and levies; 

prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes; 

prices including all taxes, levies and VAT. 

Prices  excluding  all  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  (level  1)  -  This  price 
level should include only the energy & supply component and the network 
component 

This price level includes only the energy & supply and network prices.  

Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (level 2) - This price level 
should include the energy and supply component, the network component 
and taxes, fees, levies and charges considered as non-recoverable for final 
non-household  consumers  For  household  consumers  this  price  level 
includes  energy  and  network  components  and  taxes,  fees,  levies  and 
charges, but excludes VAT 

The  following  non-recoverable  taxes  are added  to  the  level  1  price:  EB  (energy  efficiency  tax)  and 
ODE (durable energy promotion tax). 

Prices including all taxes (level 3) - This price level includes the energy and 
supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-
recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges, including VAT 

VAT (21%) is added to the level 2 price. 

9.4.  Sub-components of taxes, fees, levies and charges 

Value added tax (VAT) as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the 
common system of value added tax 

VAT is currently levied at 21% on all domestic consumers, without any exemptions.  

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to the promotion of renewable 
energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation 

For  the  non-household  sector,  there  are  two  types  of  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  which  are 
considered in the Netherlands: 

 

Energy tax (Energie Belasting – EB) aimed at increasing energy efficiency, and of which 
tariffs are set annually by the government; 

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9 

 

ODE  (Opslag  Duurzame  Energie)  levy,  which  is  a  tax,  aiming  for  the  promotion  of 
sustainable energy sources. Furthermore, the ODE tariff is set annually by the government 
and is a regressive tax scheme. This money goes towards big projects and not to individual 
houses. 

The data for EB and ODE is retrieved from the government website 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 
purposes, to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emissions taxes 

Not applicable 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  relating  to  the  nuclear  sector,  including 
nuclear  decommissioning,  inspections  and  fees  for  nuclear  installations. 
All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices) 

Not applicable 

9.5.  Other specific issues 

Recovery of taxes 

Not applicable in the case of households. 

Return of refundable taxes 

Not applicable in the case of households.   

Switching bonuses 

The  bonuses  are  applicable,  but  they  are  not  taken  into  account  in  the  CBS  estimation  for  energy 
prices. 

Fines that have to be paid by the household when they terminate a contract before the final deadline 
are excluded. This is supported by the new supplier.  

Unit price (natural gas only) - Gas prices are to be reported in the national 
currency per Gigajoule (Gross Calorific Value)  

The  data  supplied  is  sent  by  the  enterprises  to  the  CBS  in  cubic  metres  (m3).  The  CBS  uses  a 
conversion factor of 1m3 = 35.17GJ. 

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9 

End-users in largest consumption bands 

Not applicable for households. 

Derogations 

At the time of the interview,  CBS representatives indicated that the Netherlands will most likely not 
apply for derogation.   

Disaggregation of network prices 

Under discussion. The CBS is considering whether this data will be provided to them by the national 
regulator. 

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48 

 
 
 
 
 
10 UNITED KINGDOM 

Natural gas prices for        
the household sector 

UNITED KINGDOM - Natural gas prices for the household sector 

10.1. General  description  of 

reporting  authority 
responsible  for  the  reporting  of  natural  gas  and 
electricity price statistics in the United Kingdom 

the 

The Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) was created on 14th July 2016 from 
a merger between the Department for Energy and Climate Change and the Department for Business, 
Innovation and Skills.  The newly formed Department has responsibility for the production and supply 
of UK Government energy statistics. 

Unit responsible for natural gas and electricity prices 

Energy Balances, Prices and Publications is responsible for:  

1.  collecting data on both non-household and household energy prices, including petrol  and diesel 

prices 

2.  publishing monthly and quarterly tables 

3.  producing a quarterly publication around all energy prices with graphs and commentary regarding 

changes in these statistics 

Product covered 

Natural gas for the household sector 

10.2.  Data sources and quality assurance 

All domestic price data for the UK is collected directly from energy suppliers on a quarterly basis. There 
are  two  main  surveys  used  to  collect  data:  the  Domestic  Fuel  Inquiry  (DFI)  survey  and  the  Price 
Transparency (PT) survey. Both surveys are managed by BEIS statisticians. All data is collected on a 
confidential  basis  to  reflect  the  market-sensitive  nature  of  the  data.  Energy  suppliers  return  their 
completed surveys to a named member of the energy price statistics team either directly by e-mail or 
more normally via the Department’s secure data portal. 

The PT survey is used to collect data directly from energy suppliers relating to their total volume and 

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UNITED KINGDOM – Natural gas price for the household sector 

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value by consumption band. This data is used to infer average prices for gas and electricity in the UK, 
split by standardised annual consumption size bands set by (Commission) Eurostat. 

The DFI survey collects details of customer numbers by region, by payment method and by tariff, but 
does  not  collect  data  on  volumes  consumed.    This  survey  is  used  to  provide  detailed  market 
information, and to produce energy bills based on typical and average consumption levels. 

The PT survey is used to collect domestic energy pricing information for different consumption levels, 
and  as  such  differs  from  the  DFI  survey  which  does  not  collect  pricing  information  based  on 
consumption. 

Survey coverage 

The Office of Gas and Electricity Markets report on Retail Energy Markets in 20161 specified that, as 
of March 2016, there were 43 active licensed suppliers in the domestic retail markets, in most cases 
offering both gas and electricity. 86% of these are considered to be smaller suppliers and 6 of them, 
known as the “big 6”, are large suppliers.  The OFGEM website showed that 36 enterprises supply 
both gas and electricity price data, 5 supply only gas and 2 supply only electricity.  

The PT survey is sent to six domestic gas suppliers: “the big 6” (British Gas, EDF, E.on, Npower, SSE, 
and Scottish Power). These six domestic gas suppliers cover over 85% of the domestic natural gas 
market. However, one company has difficulty in producing the required data and their estimates are 
not robust enough for the Department and are therefore excluded. After the exclusion of this company, 
the  final  data  is  based  on  over  75%  of  the  domestic  market.    The  Department  is  working  with  this 
supplier to improve the data quality so that their data can be included. 

Frequency of the survey 

The Price Transparency survey is sent out to energy suppliers on a quarterly basis. Energy suppliers 
return  their  completed  PT  forms  which  include,  for  both  gas  and  electricity,  their  total  revenue  and 
volume consumed during the quarter by size band of consumers. 

1 https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/system/files/docs/2016/08/retail_energy_markets_in_2016.pdf 

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Quality assurance  

The initial checking of the volume sold, the values before and after taxes, the unit prices and VAT is 
carried out after the data is supplied by the companies. Volume checks verify whether the data received 
shows that most costumers are in the medium or large brackets. The value excluding taxes should be 
less than the value including taxes. The unit prices, derived as ratio of total value and total volume per 
each consumption band, are checked using the min-max approach a threshold of 3 and 8 pence per 
unit is applied. The VAT rate estimated from the data supplied should be 5% (the currently applicable 
rate in the UK2). 

Data received from suppliers are put into a spreadsheet and compared for consistency against returns 
from  the  4  previous  quarters.  The  spreadsheet  produces  comparisons  by  looking  at  the  change  in 
volumes, the change in values, and the change in price, for each size band and company.   

Once returns have been checked against previous quarters’ returns, the data from each company on 
prices, market share and volume is compared to other data sources:  

 

 

the average prices between quarters are compared to movements seen in the Consumer 
Price  Index  for  electricity  and  gas,  and  against  known  price  changes  published  by 
individual firms, 

the market share of each company is calculated and compared to market shares derived 
from  DFI  data,  and  the  volume  data  is  compared  to  domestic  electricity  and  gas 
consumption data collected by other teams within the department.  

Results of comparisons should be consistent and any anomalous results are discussed with energy 
suppliers.  

2 https://www.gov.uk/guidance/rates-of-vat-on-different-goods-and-services  

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Geographical coverage 

Data  is  generally  collected  across  the  UK  (England  and  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Northern  Ireland), 
although  gas  is  not  widely  available  in  Northern  Ireland  (NI).  Therefore,  at  national  level,  the  gas-
specific publication only uses GB statistics (England and Wales, and Scotland).  Different suppliers 
operate in the NI market to the GB market.  The NI market represents around 1 per cent of UK domestic 
gas consumption, with around 200,0003 customers compared to around 22 million in the rest of the 
UK.  The other domestic BEIS price returns for domestic electricity is based on UK data  

Completeness of the data reported 

The prices for all consumer bands are reported. In the UK, 95% of domestic gas is within the middle 
size band (between 20 and 200 GJ/y). 

Method used to calculate the national average price  

Gas  supplier  companies  surveyed  are  asked  to  report  volumes  and  values  of  sales  in  each  of  the 
consumption bands specified. Value excluding all taxes, value excluding VAT, and value including all 
taxes are reported. 

Average prices are calculated by summing up the volumes and values in each price band and using 
the amalgamated volume and value data to calculate prices for each size band excluding all taxes, 
excluding VAT, and including all taxes. 

The survey is conducted quarterly, with the data reported for quarters 1 and 2 aggregated to produce 
the S1 return, and the data for quarters 3 and 4 aggregated to produce the S2 return. 

As the price data is calculated using a volume component, weighting is not required. 

Consumption pattern  

The UK provides data regarding the relative consumption pattern price levels. 

Three pricing levels are provided by each supplier to BEIS by filling in an Excel questionnaire: 

1.  prices excluding taxes and levies; 

2.  prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes; 

3.  prices including all taxes, levies and VAT. 

Prices excluding all taxes, fees, levies and charges (level 1) - This price 
level should only include the energy & supply component and the network 
component 

OFGEM presents the component of the gas consumer's bill as follows: 

 

Wholesale costs are how much the supplier has to pay to purchase the gas and electricity 
to supply the consumer with energy. It may buy energy via an exchange, or have a contract 
with a gas producer. This component makes up the biggest part of gas bill, about 46.5% 
in 2015; 

3 https://www.uregni.gov.uk/sites/uregni/files/media-files/ATR%202015_0.pdf  

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UNITED KINGDOM – Natural gas price for the household sector 

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 

 

 

 

Network and balancing costs relate to the pipes that carry energy through the network and 
across  the  country  into  the  consumer's  home.  This  cost  constitutes  the  second  largest 
portion of the gas bill, about 22.9%. 

Operating  costs,  which  include  the  costs  faced  by  the  supplier  from  running  their  own 
business (such as costs relating to sales, metering and billing). This cost is about 16.2% 
of the total gas bill. 

Other direct costs include costs relating to market participation. This is about 0.6% of the 
gas bill; 

Profit, which is the supplier tax margin, represents 6.9% of the gas bill. 

The sum of all these components gives a total of 93% of the bill. 

10.3.  Price levels 

Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (level 2) - This price level 
should include the energy and supply component, the network component 
and  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  considered  non-recoverable  for  final 
non-household  customers.  For  household  customers  this  price  level 
includes the energy and network components and taxes, fees, levies and 
charges but excludes VAT 

The  level  2  price  is  the  same  as  level  1  prices  plus  the  cost  of  government  obligation  related  to 
government  programmes  to  save  energy,  reduce  emissions  and  encourage  take-up  of  renewable 
energy. This cost, known as the 'environmental and social obligation price', makes up 2% of the gas 
bill and is included in this price level. 

Prices including all taxes (level 3) - This price level includes the energy and 
supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-
recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges, including VAT 

The level 3 is equal to level 2 prices plus VAT, charged at 5%, that is paid on households’ energy bills. 

10.4.  Sub-components of the taxes, fees, levies and 

charges. 

Value added tax (VAT) as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the 
common system of value added tax 

VAT is currently levied at 5% on all domestic gas supplies, without any exemptions. 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to the promotion of renewable energy 
sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation 

Energy  company  obligation  (ECO)  is  a  scheme  to  ensure  energy  companies  help  install  energy-
efficiency measures. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/environmental-programmes/eco   
This cost is classified under the ‘environmental and social obligation costs’, which make up around 
2% of a gas bill. The ‘environmental and social obligation costs’ also include direct costs to suppliers 
of government programs to save energy, reduce emissions and encourage take-up of renewable 

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UNITED KINGDOM – Natural gas price for the household sector 

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energy. https://www.ofgem.gov.uk/information-consumers/domestic-
consumers/understanding-energy-billsfuels  

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 
purposes to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emission taxes 

The  Climate  Change  Levy  (CCL)  is  charged  only  to  industrial  customers,  thus  it  is  not  relevant  for 
household consumers. 

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices. 

Not applicable 

10.5.  Other specific issues 

Recovery of taxes 

Not applicable in the UK 

Return of refundable taxes 

Not applicable in the UK 

Switching bonuses 

Switching bonuses are offered in the UK, either offered from price comparison websites or offered from 
electricity/gas  enterprises  by  means  of  e.g.  vouchers,  event  ticket  offers  or entertainment  services. 
These are not taken into account in the calculation of average prices. The proportion of all domestic 
customers that switch suppliers each year is relatively high (at around 12% annually – this may though 
include some households that switch multiple times within a year).  

Exit  penalties  are not included  in  the  calculation  of  the final  prices.  Those  penalties are a  common 
issue; 38% of tariffs on switching sites in the London region had exit fees, typically of £30. 

Unit price (natural gas only) - Gas prices are to be reported in national 
currency per Gigajoule (Gross Calorific Value)   

The data supplied is sent in kWh. However, the option for firms to use gigajoules is available if they 
wish to do so. The conversion factor used is 5,557kWh = 20GJ. 

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Derogations 

At the time of the interview, the BEIS representatives indicated that the UK will most likely not apply 
for derogation 

Disaggregation of network prices 

This data will be provided to BEIS by the national regulator. 

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11 AUSTRIA 

Natural gas prices for        
the non-household sector 

AUSTRIA - Natural gas prices for the non-household sector 

11.1.  General  description  of 

reporting  authority 
responsible  for  the  reporting  of  natural  gas  and 
electricity price statistics in Austria  

the 

Since  2012,  data  for  natural  gas  and  electricity  prices  for  the  industrial  sector  is  collected  and 
calculated by Statistics Austria.   

At the beginning of 2000, the former Austrian Central Statistical Office was separated from Government 
Services by a new Federal Statistics Act. The Federal Statistics Act of 2000 defines federal statistics 
as  a  (non-personal)  information  system  of  the  government  providing  data  on  the  economic, 
demographic, social, ecological and cultural situation in Austria. 

Unit responsible for natural gas and electricity prices 

Directorate Spatial Statistics - Environmental and Energy Statistics 

Product covered 

Natural gas for the non-household sector 

11.2.  Data sources and quality assurance 

Energy  data  is  collected,  in  the  case  of  Statistics  Austria,  from  gas  supplying  companies  and  grid 
operators. The survey is conducted bi-annually starting with second semester of 2012, based on the 
following legislation: The price transparency act, “Preistransparenzgesetz”, BGBl. I Nr. 107/2011 and 
the price transparency regulation gas and electricity, „Preistransparenzverordnung – Gas und Strom 
2012“,  BGBl.  II  Nr.  140/2012.  Moreover,  Statistics  Austria  is  contracted  with  the  survey  by  the 
Association of Gas- and District Heating Supply Companies.  

For conducting the survey on gas prices charged to industrial end-users the “Austrian Association of 
Gas and District Heating Supply Companies” (FGW) provided a list of their member undertakings for 
this  survey.  It  was  considered  to  reach  the  targeted  representative  volume  with  contacting  these 
member  undertakings.  The  agreement  between  Statistics  Austria  and  the  Association  foresees  the 
possibility of contacting all suppliers/grid operators on list of members but there exists an agreement 
that small suppliers/grid operators with mostly household costumers are not reminded to report data if 

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11 

they don´t answer in the first round.  

Energy suppliers were asked to report for each consumption band 

1.  the revenue related to “energy and supply”: excluding taxes and levies; excluding VAT and other 
recoverable  taxes;  including  all  taxes,  levies  and  VAT  as  well  as  the  corresponding  volume  of 
natural gas sold; 

Grid operators were asked to report for each consumption band 

2.  the revenue related to “operating the grid”: excluding taxes and levies; excluding VAT and other 
recoverable  taxes;  including  all  taxes,  levies  and  VAT  as  well  as  the  corresponding  volume  of 
natural gas transported 

Survey coverage 

Statistics Austria provides electronic questionnaires for gas suppliers and gas grid operators. Once 
completed, the questionnaires are returned electronically by eQuest. The survey included all 62 gas 
suppliers  and  gas  grid  operators  that  supply  gas  to  industrial  end-users  through  the  “Austrian 
Association of Gas and District Heating Supply Companies”. Natural gas used by industrial consumers 
for electricity generation in power plants or in CHP plants and for non-energy uses (e.g. in the chemical 
industry) was not considered: 

 

 

41  gas  suppliers:  out  of  41  suppliers,  34  are  relevant  and  report  regularly,  7  submitted 
statements with a zero amount. 

21 grid operators: nearly all operators report; only one local grid operator is missing. 

The coverage of the survey is compiled by taking into account the data received from three different 
sources: grid operators, gas suppliers and the value of energy balances.  

 

 

For grid operators the coverage is 90.1% and is calculated based on consumption values 
coming from the grid operator values and energy balances for the year 2014 

The share of quantities supplied by gas suppliers compared to grid operators, is calculated 
as an average for the period 2nd semester 2012 until 1st semester 2016. As presented in 
the table below the coverage is about 80.9%, on average. Please note that in table 1 data 
for 2012 and 2016 only refer to half a year. 

In GJ 
Total 
network 
operator
s 
Total gas 
suppliers 
Share of 
gas 
suppliers 
in grid 
operator
s 

2012 

2013 

2014 

2015 

2016 

Average 

57130767.
5 
39595460.
0 

137757191.
9 
112563163.
9 

124405709.
4 
105743254.
4 

131287477.
5 
102641774.
7 

65951051.0 
57367235.8
2 

103306439.
5 
83582177.7
6 

69.3% 

81.7% 

85.0% 

78.2% 

87.0% 

80.9% 

Coverage of the survey 

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AUSTRIA – Natural gas price for the household sector 

11 

The most important reason for these differences is the different understanding of “customers”. 

Suppliers  report  the  number  of  customers  with  respect  to  billing  addresses,  grid  operators  report 
metering points. Differences in the definition of customers between suppliers and grid operators led to 
the fact that the quantities in GJ and the number of customers per band are different for suppliers and 
operators. A typical example are “chain customers“. Chain customers are customers that have different 
locations in potentially different regions that are not reported in the same bands by grid operators and 
gas suppliers. Therefore, quantities reported by gas suppliers and grid operators can´t be a perfect 
match. 

Frequency of the survey 

Data  is collected  twice  per year, at  the  beginning  of  each  six-month  period  (January  and  July)  and 
refers  to  the  total  amount  of  gas  and  the  corresponding revenue  per band.  Average  prices  paid  by 
industrial end-users for gas over the previous six months are calculated with the reported data.  

Quality assurance  

Data validation consists of the following steps: 

1.  Check coverage:  Missing values 

2.  Time series analysis: Check time series of quantities, revenues and prices on the respondent level.  

3.  Comparison with other data sources: Use info from Energy balances and Material input statistics. 

In the case of missing or implausible data, Statistics Austria contacts the companies that have to report 
the  information.  During  these  discussions,  companies  mentioned  the  following  difficulties  they 
encountered when filling in the questionnaire: 

1.  Gas suppliers/grid operators calculate in kWh not GJ: potential mistakes and confusion regarding 

definition of bands 

2.  In small bands: distinction between households and small businesses difficult (same grid tariffs) 

These issues are resolved by Statistics Austria case by case. 

Geographical coverage 

Data is collected across the whole of the Austrian territory. 

Completeness of the data reported 

The  prices  for  all  consumer  bands  are  reported,  except  those  related  to  band  I6  (>4000000  GJ). 
Statistics Austria mentioned the issue of confidentiality in the case of band I6 (>4000000 GJ) for the 
non-household sector.   

Method used to calculate the national average price  

Prices are calculated as weighted average prices by using the market shares (by volume in GJ) of the 
energy suppliers and net operators of gas as weighting factors. 

The price per consumption band is a sum of the weighted average prices, calculated separately for 
‘energy  and  supply’  and  ‘network’  components.  The  weighted  average  prices  for  each  component, 
‘energy and supply’ and ‘network’, are computed as a ratio of total revenue, the sum of the revenues 
provided by the gas suppliers and by network operators respectively, and the total quantity expressed 

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in GJ, the sum of the quantity provided by the gas suppliers and by network operators respectively per 
consumption band.  

, where 

  : Price per band i (€) 

 : gas quantity per company j and band i (GJ) 

 :  gas price/grid revenue per company j and band i (€/GJ) 

   : Total gas quantity per band i (GJ) 

Consumption pattern 

Statistics Austria provides the relative consumption and prices for each consumption bands, with the 
exception of band I6. 

11.3.  Price levels 

Three pricing levels are provided by each supplier and grid operator to Statistics Austria: 

1.  prices excluding taxes and levies; 

2.  prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes; 

3.  prices including all taxes, levies and VAT. 

Prices  excluding  all  taxes,  fees,  levies  and  charges  (level  1)  -  This  price 
level should include only the energy & supply component and the network 
component 

Statistics Austria excludes all taxes in the case of level 1 price. The price component of this level is 
included: Energy price excluding all taxes and levies for each consumer band as a volume-weighted 
average of all gas suppliers and the grid fee excluding all taxes and levies for each consumer band as 
a volume-weighted average of all gas grid operators.  

Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (level 2) - This price level 
should include the energy and supply component, the network component 
and taxes, fees, levies and charges considered as non-recoverable for final 
non-household  customers.  For  household  customers  this  price  level 
includes the energy and network components and taxes, fees, levies and 
charges but excludes VAT. 

This level includes the price excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes (do not exist at the moment) 
for  each  consumer  band  of  gas-supplying  companies  and  the  price  excluding  VAT  and  other 
recoverable taxes (do not exist at the moment) for each consumer band of gas grid operators. 

The gas tax is recoverable for natural gas quantities used for electricity generation and non-energy 
purposes that are excluded from this survey. Therefore, natural gas fee is completely attributed to non-

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iPijqijpiQijjiijiipqQP,1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
AUSTRIA – Natural gas price for the household sector 

11 

recoverable taxes in this reporting scheme. It has to be paid in any case and is refunded on request 
by the tax authority up to 5 years after its payment.  

Prices including all taxes (level 3) - This price level includes the energy and 
supply component, the network component, and all recoverable and non-
recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges, including VAT. 

The level 3 price includes price including all taxes for each consumer band of gas-supplying companies 
and price including all taxes for each consumer band of gas grid operators. 

11.4.  Sub-components of the taxes, fees, levies and charges 

Value added tax (VAT) as defined by Council Directive 2006/112/EC on the 
common system of value added tax 

VAT is currently levied at 20% on all companies, without any exemptions, but is refundable afterwards. 

Taxes, fees, levies or charges related to the promotion of renewable energy 
sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation 

Not applicable 

Taxes,  fees,  levies  or  charges  related  to  air  quality  and  environmental 
purposes, to CO2 or other greenhouse gas emissions taxes 

Not applicable 

All other taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous 
five  (gas:  four  categories:  support  for  district  heating;  local  or  regional 
fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences 
and  fees  for  the  occupation  of  land  and  public  or  private  property  by 
networks or other devices. 

A community levy (“use charge”) is charged by some local authorities for the use of public land, e.g. 
for gas pipelines. The rates are set by provincial (Bundeslaender) legislation, and are a maximum of 
6% of the revenue generated by liable companies through the use of gas pipelines on public land. 

However, some provincial legislation also includes regulations under which the level of the community 
levy is assessed according to the amount of public land utilised (e.g. €/metre of pipeline).” 

Gas  levy:  like  oil,  LP  gas  and  electricity,  natural  gas  is  subject  to  a  separate  tax.  Introduced  on  1 
January 2004, the natural gas levy in Austria is 6.60 cent per normal cubic metre.  

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11.5.  Other specific issues  

Recovery of taxes 

The gas tax is recoverable for natural gas quantities used for electricity generation and non-energy 
purposes that are excluded from this survey. Therefore natural gas fee is completely attributed to non-
recoverable taxes in this reporting scheme. It has to be paid in any case and is refunded on request 
by the tax authority up to 5 years after its payment.  

Return of refundable taxes 

Non-household consumers first have to pay VAT and settle it afterwards.  The gas tax is recoverable 
for natural gas quantities used for electricity generation and non-energy purposes that are excluded 
from this survey. Therefore natural gas fee is completely attributed to non-recoverable taxes in this 
reporting scheme. It has to be paid in any case and is refunded on request by the tax authority up to 5 
years after its payment. 

Switching bonuses 

The  source  data  that  is  used  to  calculate  the  price  is  based  partly  on  the  data  of  revenues  of  the 
electricity and gas companies. These revenues might include or exclude bonuses. Financial bonuses 
are always included in Austria. Bonuses in the form of goods are excluded. 

In the case of a contract for a fixed period, the consumer has to remain under contract. The only way 
to get out of the contract is when the supplier changes the tariff.  

Unit price (natural gas only) - Gas prices are to be reported in national 
currency per Gigajoule (Gross Calorific Value).   

The data supplied are sent in GJ 

End-users in largest consumption bands 

There are confidentiality issues in the largest consumption band  

Derogations 

At the time of the interview, Statistics Austria representatives indicated that Austria will most likely not 
apply for derogation. 

Disaggregation of network prices 

The calculation of the disaggregated distribution and transmission (network) costs will be based on 
estimations. 

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Annexes  

Annex 1 —  Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 

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Annex 2 — Four questionnaires                       

(draft versions) 

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Annexes 

Annex 3 — Frequently Asked Questions 

Frequently asked questions on natural gas and electricity 
price statistics 

1  SWITCHING BONUSES 

Question:  An  electricity  company  awards  a  switching  bonus  to  clients  that  terminate  their 
contract  with  their  current  provider and  switch  to  them.  Are  these  switching  bonuses  to  be 
taken into account in the calculation of the average national price? 

Answer:  Yes and No 

No: If the switching bonus is awarded to new clients in the form of a gift, e.g. theatre tickets, 
tablet computer etc., this should not be included in the calculation of the average price. 

No: If the switching bonus is not awarded by the electricity company but by an internet platform 
that is designed to encourage switching, this bonus is not included. 

Yes: If the switching bonus is in the form of money (either an amount that is deducted from 
the electricity bill or an amount that is paid either at the beginning or at the end of a contract) 
or in the form of a certain quantity of free electricity (e.g. free electricity for the first 6 weeks), 
this has to be included in the calculation of the average national price 

2  PENALTIES FOR TERMINATING A CONTRACT 

Question: Are fines or penalties that are applied by enterprises to their clients to be taken into 
account  when  calculating  the  average  national  natural  gas  or  electricity  prices?  These 
penalties  or fines  can  be  applied  by  enterprises  (not  in  every  country)  if  a  client  wishes  to 
switch to another supplier before the contract has expired. 

Answer: No, penalties or fines are not to be taken into account in the calculation of the national 
average natural gas and electricity prices. 

3 

TIME PERIOD FOR REPORTING THE BREAKDOWN OF NETWORK
PRICES, COMPONENTS AND SUB-COMPONENTS AND RELATIVE 
CONSUMPTION VOLUMES

Question: Reporting authorities are obliged to report once a year, along with the semester 2 
price data, a breakdown of the network prices into transmission and distribution costs and a 
composition  of  components  and  sub-components  and  relative  consumption  volumes.  Does 
this data need to cover the whole year or only one semester?

Answer: The breakdown of the network prices into transmission and distribution prices and the 
composition of the components and sub-components in table 2 as well as the relative 
consumption figures in table 4 have to cover the whole calendar year. So if the data is reported 
for e.g. 2017 semester 2, the reference period for the data in tables 2, 3 and 4 should be the 
whole calendar year 2017.

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Annexes 

4  USE OF EXCEL TEMPLATES 

Question: We have discovered a mistake in the submission of our 2015 electricity price data. 
Should we use the "old" excel templates for providing a correction? 

Answer: No. As of 1st July 2017, all data either for future reference periods of for corrections 
of previous semesters has to be done using the new templates that are available from the 
relevant section of the Eurostat website: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/methodology/prices 

5  LATE SUBMISSION OF DATA FROM A DATA PROVIDER 

Question:  We  collect  electricity  price  data  from  4  electricity  companies.  One  electricity 
company that has only a small market share (2%) is always late with providing their electricity 
price data to our NSI. Are we allowed to extend the deadline for submitting the data?  

Answer: No, the deadlines as defined in the Regulation on natural gas and electricity price 
statistics have to be respected without exemption. In this case, it is, however, advisable to 
exclude this rather small enterprise from the data survey  

6  FORMAT OF QUESTIONNAIRES 

Question: There are rumours that Eurostat will soon implement the SDMX format for the price 
data to be submitted. Is this true? 

Answer: For the time being, the price data will continue to be reported with excel spreadsheets 
that are modified to take into account the additional data on taxes and network costs and the 
explicit editing of confidentiality status. In addition there are modifications to allow a conversion 
of the Excel file to the SDMX-CSV format. The reporting authorities can simply send the Excel 
questionnaires and ignore the SDMX creation features. In the future (timing is to be decided 
in the Energy Statistics Working Group) the reporting authorities will have two options. The 
first one is to use the Excel questionnaires which they can transform into a SDMX-CSV file 
using  a  tool  of  Eurostat;  the  reporting  authority  sends  the  SDMX-CSV  file  to  Eurostat.  The 
second  option  is  that  the  reporting  authority  directly  creates  the  SDMX-CSV   file from  their 
national  information  system.  Within  the  ESS  the  long  term  goal  is  indeed  to  standardise 
transmission and share the validation using SDMX  

7  PROVISIONAL DATA 

Question: At the time of reporting the price data to Eurostat, one subcomponent on taxes and 
levies was not available. Should we add a "0" or leave the field empty? 

Answer: If the data for a sub-component is not available, this data field should be estimated. 

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81 

Annexes 

8  QUALITY REPORT 

Question:  When  will  the  details  for  the  quality  report  be  finalised,  and  when  should  it  be 
provided for the first time by the reporting authorities? 

Answer: The requirements that will be addressed in the quality report will be discussed by a 
task force in 2017. The reporting requirements will be adopted via an implementing act, most 
likely in 2018. The first submission of the quality report is expected to take place in 2019. 

9  THRESHOLD FOR GAS CONSUMPTION 

Question: The gas consumption in our country for the non-household sector is relatively low, 
about 1% of the total energy consumption in this sector. Do we need to report the data, as I 
see that there is a threshold of 1.5% where the data does not have to be reported? 

Answer: This threshold is only applicable to the household sector. If the energy consumption 
of natural gas in the household sector is below 1.5% of the total energy consumption in this 
sector, then this dataset does not have to be reported (but it can be reported on a voluntary 
basis). 

10  DOWNLOAD OF QUESTIONNAIRES 

Question: Where can we find the new questionnaires? 

Answer: The 4 questionnaires can be downloaded from the energy statistics section of the 
Eurostat website, from 1st July 2017 onwards: 
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/energy/methodology/prices 

11  CONSUMPTION FIGURES 

Question:  Do  we  need  to  report  the  consumption  figures  for  each  consumption  band  from 
table 4 of the questionnaire on a half-yearly or on a yearly basis? 

Answer: The consumption data for each consumption band has to be provided in percentages 
and should refer to the latest available data (usually this is on an annual basis). Eurostat will 
not  publish  this  data  explicitly,  but  this  data  will  be  used  to  calculate  single  price  data  by 
weighting  the  band  data  with  the  corresponding  consumption  figures  (in  this  case, 
percentages) 

12  OLD QUESTIONNAIRES 

Question:  Can  we  still  us  then  the  old  questionnaires  to  report  our price  data,  as  we  have 
requested to be derogated from the additional requirements on sub-components on taxes and 
levies and network costs? 

Answer: No. In any case, all questionnaires that will be forwarded to Eurostat from 1st July 
2017  onwards  need  to  be  the  new  version.  Questionnaires  in  the  old  format  will  not  be 
accepted anymore, as it cannot be read by the database input module. 

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Annexes 

13  ESTIMATION OF DATA 

Question: In our country there is no information available on separate prices for transmission 
and distribution costs. Can we simply ignore to declare this data? 

Answer: No. If this data is not available, it should be estimated. The appropriate flags have 
to be used to earmark the estimated data. Price data or components or sub-components that 
have been determined via modelling do not need to be earmarked. 

14 

IEA PRICE DATA COLLECTIONS 

Question:  How  does  the  Eurostat  prices  reporting  methodology  compare  with  that  of  the 
International Energy Agency? 

Answer: The International Energy Agency (IEA) collects natural gas and electricity prices and 
taxes data, along with other forms of energy. IEA member countries have the obligation to 
submit prices and taxes information on a quarterly basis in an MS Excel-based questionnaire, 
for both households, industries and the electricity generation sector (for natural gas). 

Reporting frequency: IEA member countries are required to report energy prices and taxes 
data  on  a  quarterly  basis.    Data  for  the  first  and  second  quarters  of  the  year  should  be 
consistent with those for first semester reported to the Commission, and data for the third and 
fourth quarters of the year should be consistent with those for second semester reported to 
the Commission. 

National average prices: The IEA collects national weighted-average prices, based on all 
relevant  consumption  bands  for  each  sector  in  the  country.  The  IEA  National  weighted-
average prices can be computed by the reporting agencies using the consumption volumes 
(in percentages) reported in Table 4 of the questionnaires, as weights. 

Sectoral coverage: For households, the IEA’s sectoral definitions are identical to those of 
the Commission (i.e., all consumption bands D1, D2, D3 for natural gas and DA, DB, DC, DD 
and  DE  for  electricity).  For  industry,  the  IEA  considers  that  using  all  non-household 
consumption  bands  provides  a  good  estimation  of  the  average  prices  paid  in  the industrial 
sector. The exclusion of natural gas used for non-energy uses and electricity generation is 
consistent  with  the  IEA’s  methodology.  Natural  gas  prices  for  electricity  generation  are 
collected separately by the IEA.  

Recoverable taxes, fees, levies and charges: The IEA collects effective end-use prices, net 
of refunds, premiums and recoverable expenses. As a consequence, tax expenditures that 
are fully or partially recoverable by consumers are to be excluded. For that reason, end-use 
natural gas and electricity prices for the industrial sector reported to the IEA correspond to 
Level 2 prices (VAT and other recoverable taxes excluded), as described in this guide.  

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83 

HOW TO OBTAIN EU PUBLICATIONS 

Free publications: 

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Compilers guide on European 
statistics on natural gas 
and electricity prices

This Compilers Guide provides conceptual issues and practical 
information and guidance for reporting authorities to compile and 
report natural gas and electricity price statistics to Eurostat based on 
the Regulation (EU) 2016/1952. The compilers guide includes examples 
of 5 reporting authorities that illustrate the practical application of this 
regulation, in particular the reporting of taxes, fees, levies and charges 
and network costs.

For more information
http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/

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Main title2016 edition