Design of Energy Efficiency Obligation scheme (EEO)
N/a It is not completely sure Estonia implement any EEO in the end.
For the full Report on the Estonia EEO scheme click here.
Proposed alternative measures
Energy savings in buildings is the main priority of the Estonian EE policy, since most of the country’s building stock was constructed before any energy performance requirements were introduced. However, building sector measures must address education & training for professionals to enable up-to date renovations and expertise.
The industrial and tertiary sectors are rather well balanced. They consider several aspects and provide a range of incentives and legislative acts to support EE in the production processes. There are also supporting measures for energy conservation by manufacturers and a financial instrument that includes energy audits and financing opportunities.
Type of measures: essentially alternative measures energy and CO2 taxes, and funding schemes) and a EEOs still to be decide.
Obligated parties: The obligated parties would be the energy distributors (electricity, natural gas and district heating). They would be allowed to contribute to an energy efficiency fund and/or to implement their own programs or in cooperation with third parties.
Target setting: an annual 1.5% percentage of energy savings from 2014 to 2020 is foreseen. The final energy saving target is 7.14 TWh.
Calculation method savings: This is done largely on the basis of the draft methodology for determining the energy efficiency indicators referred to in the Directive 2006/32/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council, which consists of three main documents: harmonized top-down and bottom-up indicators, preliminary list of harmonized average lifetimes of energy efficiency improvement measures and programmes for bottom-up calculations.
Additionality: currently there are no any special measures to deal with additionality.
Monitoring& Verification: The Competition Authority, that regulates the energy markets, would be in charge of supervising and monitoring the scheme.
Control and Compliance: About the evaluation of energy savings, the main stakes for Estonia will be to assess and integrate the impacts of the alternative measures (especially combining results from energy taxes and funding schemes). About the obligation scheme, the obligated parties would need to submit annual reports to the Competition Authority that would monitor the overall achievements and the performance of the scheme. These reports would need to be verified by an independent qualified expert.
Fines are the only system of penalties foreseen in case obligated parties don’t comply with the duties of paying energy and CO2 taxes, which are the main mode to achieve the energy saving targets. As far as EEOs are concerned, Estonia has not designed any mechanism of punishment in case obligated actors don´t comply them.
Administrator - Institutional set up: The public authority in charge of the EED implementation is the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communication that would also be the responsible authority for the obligation scheme.
The Ministry will also work with two institutions for the application and implementation of energy performance measures: Kredex, mainly involved in improving the energy performance of apartment and individual houses, and the Environmental Investment Centre (KIK) whose main functions include the improvement of the energy performance of public sector infrastructure, renovation of district heating distribution networks and reconditioning street lights.
Flexibility: The Estonian NEEAP foresees the combination of alternative policy measures; Energy and CO2 taxes and Financing schemes. To cover the part that falls short of the target the following options considered: Implementation of additional financing schemes, modification of energy and CO2 taxes or introduction of the energy efficiency obligation scheme in Estonia.
For the full Report on the Estonia alternative measures planned click here.
Country-Context profile
Estonia experienced strong growth of loan-financed domestic demand after EU accession in 2004, followed by the burst of the real estate bubble and the international financial crisis. The economy recovered quickly. Regulatory settings are generally favourable to sustain growth and the government is initiating further substantial structural reforms.
A large share of the funding for energy efficiency programs comes from the EU structural funds (and also carbon credits), operated by several state companies or foundations (such as the financial institution KredEx). One of the priorities is the refurbishment of the building stock.
Substantial progress in energy security has been achieved. Following the successful launch of the EstLink 2 power cable connection with Finland in March 2014, construction of the third electricity interconnection and related internal lines has been scheduled and is about to begin. The three Baltic states signed a roadmap agreement in December 2014, with a goal to synchronise their power grid systems with those of the other EU member states, in an effort to reduce dependence on Russia as a single source.
For the full Context Profile of Estonia please click here.
