On Wednesday 8 December, the Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the European Union tabled a first draft compromise on the revision of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2018/2002 - ‘EED’).
It suggests several changes to the European Commission’s proposal unveiled last 14 July as part of the ‘Fit for 55’ legislative package (see EUROPE 12762/8).
Public buildings
According to the original text, Member States should, inter alia, ensure that the total final energy consumption of all public bodies combined is reduced by at least 1.7% each year compared to the year X-2 (X being the year of entry into force of the revised Directive).
They would also be required to renovate at least 3% of the total floor area of buildings owned by all levels of government each year.
For the first obligation, Ljubljana proposes that Member States establish a baseline, which includes the final energy consumption of all public bodies for the year X-2. Two years after the date of transposition of the Directive, Member States would adjust this baseline and align the estimated final energy consumption of all public bodies with their actual final energy consumption.
With regard to the second obligation, the draft compromise does not remove the current derogation for certain public buildings.
This would allow Member States to continue to choose not to renovate up to at least 3% of the total floor area in the case of public buildings “officially protected as part of a designated environment, or because of their special architectural or historical merit, in so far as compliance with certain minimum energy performance requirements would unacceptably alter their character or appearance”.
This derogation would also apply to buildings owned by the armed forces or central governments and used for national defence purposes, excluding individual housing and office buildings for the armed forces and personnel employed by the national defence authorities, as well as buildings used as places of worship and for religious activities.
The Slovenian Presidency also wants to retain another provision of the current directive that the Commission proposes to delete. According to it, if a Member State renovates more than 3% of the total floor area of public buildings in a given year, it can count the excess in the annual renovation rate of one of the three preceding or following years.
Change of reference year for annual reductions
The initial text presented by the Commission would oblige Member States to reduce their final energy consumption by at least 1.5% per year between 2024 and 2030, compared to the current 0.8%, based on the average of the last three years before 1 January 2020.
Ljubljana suggests that the rate should be calculated on the basis of the average of the last three years before 1 January 2019.
Energy audit
The Slovenian document also makes some changes in the chapter on energy audit.
According to the Commission's proposal, Member States should ensure that companies with an average annual energy consumption of more than 10 TJ over the last three years (and which do not implement an energy management system) are subject to an independent energy audit by qualified or accredited experts.
The results of this audit should then be published in the company's annual report.
For the Slovenian Presidency, however, an exception to this publication obligation should be included for “information subject to national laws protecting trade and business secrets and confidentiality”.
See the draft compromise: https://bit.ly/3rVeAxA (Original version in French by Damien Genicot)