In September, Member States transposing the new metering and billing provisions of the Energy Efficiency Directive into national law were formally recommended by the European Commission to follow certain guidelines on transposition, with empirica guidelines receiving first mention (EC Recommendation C(2019) 6631 final and annex). Guidelines on the application of sub-metering of thermal energy in multi-unit buildings were written by empirica based on available evidence from research and in consultation with industry and Member States representatives. The Commission has again confirmed the approach and recommendations made by empirica, pointing out that “heating and cooling is the most significant source of end-use energy consumption, representing about 50 % of the total energy demand in the European Union. 80 % of this is used in buildings.”

empirica Guidelines: ‘Guidelines on good practice in cost-effective cost allocation and billing of individual consumption of heating, cooling and domestic hot water in multi-apartment and multi-purpose buildings‘, empirica GmbH ” Communication and Technology Research, Simon Robinson, Georg Vogt, December 2016.