MEPs’ energy efficiency drive sparks clash with EU ministers

By Anna McLauchlin

Date: 10/03/05

Members of the European Parliament will vote on more flexible targets for member states to save energy next week (16 March), but national governments are unlikely to accept the proposal.

German Socialist Mechtild Rothe has amended the draft law - known as the directive on end-use energy efficiency and energy services - to give member states more time to reach energy saving targets, but has toughened up the targets.

She has suggested that governments should meet mandatory targets over a nine-year period rather than the six-year period that the European Commission proposed in its initial draft at the end of 2003. But instead of saving 1% annually, member states would have to save 1% a year for the first three years, followed by 1.3% and then 1.5% until 2015.

The Council of Ministers is likely to protest. At a debate held in November, a majority of member states voiced opposition to mandatory targets, calling instead for non-binding targets that could be increased as necessary and for member states to set their own objectives.

"Our message was clearly given during the Dutch presidency," said one EU diplomat. "At this stage a more flexible approach is needed, which means indicative targets. It would then be the duty of the Commission to check progress."

The electricity industry supports the Council's position, as it has already warned that the proposal, which focuses primarily on the sector, would force electricity companies to implement energy-saving programmes for their customers that they might not want.

But green groups argue that the proposal does not go far enough and that indicative targets will simply allow member states to ignore the requirements.

"Reducing energy consumption by 2% annually is a target that can be reached immediately and at low cost," says Mariangiola Fabbri of the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The Parliament's Green group has asked for a 2.5% annual cut.

If adopted, the Parliament is also likely to clash with national governments over the issue of how they measure energy savings. Rothe has ignored government calls for a 'top-down' model to be used, which would allow them to use more general indicators to assess potential savings, rather than the 'bottom up' model. This requires the calculation of savings through specific measures. Rothe's draft would force member states to set up funds to provide incentives and financial support for energy-cutting programmes.

Other amendments include scrapping the requirement for companies to offer free energy audits to customers as well as the possibility for firms to recover their investment via increased energy prices.

Article reports that Members of the European Parliament were to vote on more flexible targets for Member States to save energy on 16 March 2005, but that national governments were unlikely to accept the proposal.