New EU Directive published, introducing new and interesting measures for energy saving and improving energy efficiency.
Directive 2018/2002 amends Directive 2012/27 on energy efficiency, through which the obligation to install heat meters in apartment buildings had already been introduced, in order to offer a more precise and complete picture on the subject and above all to introduce the important news on reading meters.
The European Parliament and the Council of the European Union, having taken note of the opinions of the European Commission, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Council of the Regions, have deliberated on a series of points concerning energy saving in line with the objectives and strategies of the world agenda on climate change.
In order to ensure that the European Union’s energy efficiency targets of 20% for 2020 and 32.5% for 2030 are met, the Directive addresses the following issues:
- energy saving obligation;
- mandatory energy efficiency schemes;
- alternative policy measures;
- measurement of gas and electricity;
- gas and electricity metering; electricity metering; heating, cooling and domestic hot water;
- allocation of costs by measurement and allocation of costs for heating, cooling and domestic hot water;
- remote reading obligation;
- billing information for gas and electricity;
- billing and consumption for heating, cooling and domestic hot water;ù
- costs of access to information on the measurement and billing of electricity and gas;
- costs of access to measurement, billing and consumption information for heating, cooling and domestic hot water.
As regards heat meters and meters, the new Articles 9bis, 9ter and 9 quater explain the new lines to be followed.
<Article 9 bis> Accounting for heating, cooling and hot water for domestic use,
states that Member States must ensure that users have access to meters that can accurately record energy consumption.
<Article 9 ter> Allocation of costs by measure and breakdown of costs for heating, cooling and domestic hot water,
regulates the adoption of individual meters arranged in each building unit or even in correspondence of each radiator, in the case of central heating systems, to ensure the transparency and accuracy of the calculation of individual consumption.
<Article 9 quater> Obligation to read remotely
provides that heat meters and meters installed after October 25, 2020 must be readable remotely. By 1 January 2027, even those already installed must be equipped with a remote reading system.