Statistics Norway

Departement for business and environmental statistics; Division for energy, environmental and transport statistics. 

Statistics Norway

Pb 1400 Rasta

2225 Kongsvinger

Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA) is one module of the European environmental-economic accounts - Regulation (EU) 691/2011 Annex VI. PEFA record the flows of energy (in terajoules) from the environment to the economy (natural inputs), within the economy (products), and from the economy back to the environment (residuals), using the accounting framework of physical supply and use tables.

PEFA provide information on energy flows arranged in a way fully compatible with concepts, principles, and classifications of national accounts – thus enabling integrated analyses of environmental, energy and economic issues e.g. through environmental-economic modelling. PEFA complement the traditional energy statistics, balances and derived indicators which are the main reference data source for EU energy policies.

This national metadata refers to the PEFA questionnaire delivered to Eurostat: data on supply (table A), use (table B), transformation use (table B1), end use (table B2) and emission-relevant use (table C), key indicators of physical energy flow accounts by NACE Rev. 2 activity (table D), and physical energy flow accounts totals bridging to energy balances totals (table E).

The PEFA questionnaire is available on Eurostat's website: https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/web/environment/methodology

Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA) datasets have the following dimensions:

1. Supply and use tables (STK_FLOW): the elements of this dimension are the five tables detailing energy supply (questionnaire table A) and use; the total energy use (table B) is the sum of transformation use (table B1) and end use (table B2), and a certain part of it is emission relevant (table C).
2. Energy product (PROD_NRG): (not relevant for questionnaire table D and E) The flows of energy recorded in PEFA are broadly grouped into natural energy inputs (flows from environment to economy), energy products (flows within economy), and energy residuals (flows from economy to environment mainly). Each of these generic groups is further broken down. In total this dimension distinguishes 31 items which are regulated in Commission Delegated Regulation (EU) 2016/172.
3. Classification of economic activities - NACE Rev.2 (NACE_R2): (not relevant for questionnaire table E) The supply and use of energy flows is broken down by NACE classification of economic activities. The aggregation level used is A*64 (i.e. 64 branches), fully compatible with ESA supply and use tables. Furthermore, this dimension includes private households, accumulation (e.g. product inventories), the rest of the world economy for imports and exports, and the environment.
4. Indicators (INDIC_PEFA): (only relevant for questionnaire tables D and E): Various key indicators that can be derived from the physical supply and use tables and so-called 'bridging-items' which present the various elements explaining the differences between the national totals as reported by PEFA vis-a-vis the national totals as reported by Eurostat's energy balances.
5. Geopolitical entity (GEO): EU Member States, EFTA countries, candidate countries, and potential candidates. 
6. Period of time (TIME): Energy flow data are annual.
7. Unit (UNIT): Energy flows are reported in Terajoules.

The data set covers the entire national economy as defined in national accounts (ESA 2010, paragraph 2.04), as well as its physical relation to economies in the rest of the world and the environment.

Physical energy flow accounts (PEFA) are conceptually rooted in the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting (SEEA) which is an international statistical standard. The SEEA central framework provides standard concepts, definitions, classifications, accounting rules and tables for the provision of statistics on the environment and its relationship with the economy.
PEFA constitute satellite accounts to the National Accounts (NA). Hence, the statistical concepts and definitions of PEFA are derived from those of NA.
As far as applicable PEFA is also compliant with the statistical concepts and definitions internationally established for energy statistics: the International Recommendations for Energy Statistics (IRES).
Three concepts are essential to PEFA:
1) The concept of three generic types of energy flows as established in SEEA, namely:
a) natural energy inputs: flows from the natural environment into the economy such as fossil energy carriers in solid, liquid and gaseous form, biomass, solar radiation, kinetic energy in form of hydro and wind, geothermal heat etc.;
b) energy products: output flows from production processes as defined in national accounts (ESA); typically products produced by extractive industries, refineries, power plants etc.;
c) energy residuals: mainly energy in form of dissipative heat arising from the end use of energy products, flowing from the economy into the natural environment.
2) The accounting framework of (physical) supply and use tables as established in NA and SEEA;
3) The residence principle as established in NA and SEEA, i.e. PEFA records energy flows related to resident unit's activities, regardless where those occur geographically.

Data refer to activities of resident economic units in the sense of SEEA CF 2012 and national accounts (ESA), including households.

The national economy is as defined in SEEA CF 2012 and national accounts (ESA); i.e. all economic activities undertaken by resident units (see ESA 2010, paragraph 2.04). A unit is said to be a resident unit of a country when it has a centre of economic interest in the economic territory of that country, that is, when it engages for an extended period (1 year or more) in economic activities in that territory.

The country

1990-2021

Not applicable.

The unit of measure is terajoule (TJ).

The data refer to the calendar year.

PEFA are legally covered by Regulation (EC) No. 691/2011 on European environmental economic accounts as amended by Regulation (EU) No. 538/2014. EEEA currently include six modules (air emissions accounts, environmentally related taxes by economic activity, economy-wide material flow accounts, environmental protection expenditure accounts, environmental goods and services sector accounts, and physical energy flow accounts).

Not applicable.

About confidentiality in Statistics Norway: Methods in official statistics (ssb.no)

About confidentiality in data treatment in Statistics Norway: Methods in official statistics (ssb.no)

Statistics Norway have a release calender with planned dissemination three months ahead.  https://www.ssb.no/en/kommende-publiseringer

Statistics Norway have a release calender with planned dissemination three months ahead.  https://www.ssb.no/en/kommende-publiseringer

The energy accounts is published in June each year.

Release calendar available at SSB.no:  https://www.ssb.no/en/kommende-publiseringer

The statistics is available for all users at the same time, at 8:00 am on the day of dissemination.

Annually

Not applicable. 

Not applicable. 

StatBank Norway (ssb.no)

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Not applicable.

See 10.5.1

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

See 10.6.1

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

About quality in Statistics Norway: Quality in official statistics (ssb.no)

From the statistical program in Statistics Norway: Requirements for official statistics (ssb.no)

About quality in official statistics (ssb.no)

The data is used by other divisions in Statistics Norway and in international reporting to Eurostat and IEA. 

We collaborate with several organizations which is interested in energydata:

• The Norwegian Water Resources and Energy Directorate
• The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
• The Norwegian Environment Agency
• Oil companies
• ENOVA SF (owned by Ministry of Climate and Environment)  
• and other relevant institutions and organisations. 

All the energydata applies that we have annually meeting with advisory committee of main users and collaboration with relevant institutions and organisations. 

See 12.1

See 12.3.1

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

• Measurement errors
• Processing errors
• Classification errors

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

Not applicable to statistical accounts.

The energy accounts are published 6 months after the end of the reference period.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Data on PEFA are compiled according to international guidelines and  insofar comparable. Application of the PEFA Builder tool ensures comparability to a certain extent.

Not applicable.

Please see the table in 15.2.1.1.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Please use below table for explaining b)-flags (breaks in time series):

Not applicable

Not applicable; reported PEFA data are only annual.

PEFA follows the so-called residence principle for Norway and are coherent with ESA tables.

Yes, we cooperate with national colleagues who is responsible for compiling AEA.

We have the same datasources as AEA.

Yes, to some point.

No, we haven't done that.

Yes, we do. Many sources for PEFA and energy statistics are the same and we have a common database for the sources.

No, we haven't dont that.

Eurostat's validation procedures should ensure full internal consistency, at least for the mandatory data points.

The annual operational cost in 2021: 9 510 700 NOK. The sum stated shall cover an approximate total cost for creating figures for publication and reporting.We can not breakdown any further.

Recent and current efforts to improve efficiency: We work to reduce manual operations, more machine controls of the data material. We work continuously to improve questionnaires to respondents and streamline the production system with available tools.

Burden: The total number of hours spent by respondents was approximate 3000 hours.  

Efforts to reduce respondent burden: We work continuously to improve questionnaires to respondents and we replaces figures or questionnaires with administrative register if possible. 

 The working time needed for the production of PEFA is about 2 months. 

Principles for revisions in Statistics Norway

This document describes the overarching principles and guidelines for the revision of published statistics in Statistics Norway. The practice followed for the individual statistics is documented on the relevant statistics’ home page under the tabs “About the statistics” and, where applicable, “About seasonal adjustment” on ssb.no

The principles follow the recommendations in the European guidelines on statistics (European Code of Practice − CoP) along with the accompanying Quality Assurance Framework – QAF and the European statistical system’s guidelines on revision policy for Principal European Economic Indicators – PEEIs. This means that the revisions follow common procedures and principles and are documented and made public.

Published figures may be revised due to errors, but revisions can also be planned. The overarching revision policy described in this document relates solely to the handling of planned revisions. Principles for handling errors are described in Principles for correcting errors in publications in Statistics Norway.

Revisions are planned when new and improved data sources become available (often data in administrative data systems that has arrived late), when adjustments are made to figures in short-term statistics after comparison with the corresponding annual statistics, or when methodologies, classifications or definitions have been changed, for example with a new base year or new weights.

It is useful to distinguish between regular and non-regular revisions. Regular revisions comprise the publishing of final figures that are published after preliminary figures and, for example, revisions as a result of seasonal adjustment. Non-regular revisions cover the main revisions, such as the national accounts, but can also be undertaken for individual statistics.

Principles

The following main principles apply to revisions:

• The users should know why a revision is being performed.
• When publishing preliminary figures, details shall be given of when these will be revised.
• The size of the revisions shall be specified when revised figures are published. When particularly large or unusual adjustments are made, the reason shall be explained.
• Major changes to methodology shall be notified to the users in advance.
• Consideration shall be given to whether back calculations/changes shall be made to previously published figures, and if so, what these changes will be.
• Regular revision analyses shall be carried out to support the continuous improvement of the statistics.
• Revisions shall be discussed regularly with users.

More details are given below for some of the principles.

Criteria for revisions – why and how

Timeliness and accuracy are two key quality dimensions in statistics. These must be balanced against each other as the accuracy normally increases with a longer production period. This particularly applies to statistics based on registers, where updates may be subject to delays. In sample surveys, it may also be necessary to choose between concluding the data collection early where there is a low response rate and sending several reminders to respondents in order to get as high a response rate, and thus accuracy, as possible. In order to safeguard both the timeliness and accuracy of statistics, regular preliminary figures are published for many of the statistics, and these can be revised once or several times to improve the accuracy. Revision analyses provide a basis for such considerations.

In addition, seasonal adjustment in itself will lead to changes in previously published figures - even though there are no changes in the historical non-seasonally-adjusted figures.

Non-regular revisions/main revisions take place mainly in macroeconomic statistics that are based on a range of statistics. These revisions follow international guidelines, such as those for the national accounts. An important characteristic of such statistics is that they describe the development of the economy over many years. New data sources and methods (which are also reflected in new guidelines) may be incorporated into the statistics every few years in main revisions, which will ensure consistency between different statistical systems and comparability between countries. Such revisions are undertaken in line with a common plan that the users will be informed about in advance, and as early as possible.

Non-regular revisions of other statistics may also be carried out as a result of new data sources and methods. Users shall be informed of all revisions as early as possible.

Preliminary figures

When publishing figures that are preliminary, this should be stipulated in the text and tables. This also applies to the StatBank. When the preliminary figures are replaced by final figures or a later version of preliminary figures, the original figures are normally overwritten in the StatBank. However, the original figures can be stored in separate tables at the request of the user.

For some statistics, preliminary figures are revised several times (e.g. monthly figures for foreign trade of goods, which are updated in each release within a year), while some statistics are not revised even though corrections are made to the data on which the statistics are based (e.g. the population statistics, which are based on the last register status and not revised retrospectively). It is important to consider whether statistics should be revised, and if so, how many times and for what period of time. Revision analyses and discussion with users provide a basis for such considerations.

Revision for each survey

When preliminary figures are published for surveys, this should be stated in “About the statistics” for the relevant statistics. A description shall be given of regular revisions and planned major revisions. The procedure for the revision of seasonally-adjusted series should also be described in “About seasonal adjustment.” “About the statistics”/”About seasonal adjustment” should also include a description of regular revision analyses.

Discussions with users

Methods for the revision of published figures shall be discussed regularly with the users of the relevant statistics. For statistics with an advisory committee, this should be a natural point on the agenda.

See 17.1

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Data sources used to produce physical energy flow accounts are described in the following sub-concepts.

• Figures for production of oil and natural gas from the The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
• A survey for the metal industry
• Calculations for natural gas used in power and heat production.
• Figures for offshore activity in the extraction of crude oil and natural gas, and associated services industry are retrieved from EEH which is a national database for reporting for the businesses in the petroleum sector.
• A wood survey
• Electricity statistics, annually

• Electricity statistics, annually
• Production of oil and natural gas from the The Norwegian Petroleum Directorate
• External trade statistics, annual
• Refinery statistics, annually
• Statistics for the energy use in the industry sector, annually
• District heating statistic, annually
• Biogas statistics for domestic use, annually

• District heating statistic, annually
• Refinery statistics, annually
• Electricity statistics, annually

• Electricity statistics, annually
• Statistics for the energy use in the industry sector, annually
• District heating statistic, annually
• Biogas statistics for domestic use, annually
• Natural gas, domestic use, annually
• Sales of petroleum products and biofuels, annually
• Statistics for the energy use in the industry sector, annually
• Consumption figures for offshore activity in the extraction of crude oil and natural gas, and associated services industry are retrieved from EEH which is a national database for reporting for the businesses in the petroleum sector.

• The statistics over business activities
• Data from the Norwegian tax administration
• Electricity statistics, annually
• Transport statistics
• Statistics for the energy use in the industry sector, annually

No. We have tried several times but it stopped because of the figures in the different questionnaires for the energy balances.

• Sales of petroleum products and biofuels, annually
• Aviation statistics
• Calculations for consumption in the foreign shipping abroad
• Several other adjustments are made, for example: Consumption of steam and waste heat, waste, gas faded on oil fields, terminals and landfills, as well as deaeration/leakage of natural gas and crude oil on oil fields.

Annually

The data sources are checked against other relevant data, the statistics are compared with previous periods. There is a constant work to check for inconsistencies in the statistics.

The main datasources:

• District heating statistic, annually
• Biogas statistics for domestic use, annually
• Natural gas, domestic use, annually
• Sales of petroleum products and biofuels, annually
• Electricity statistics, annually

Not applicable.

We have also some figures in E37-39, CHP plants that produce electricity as a secondary activity. The figures are correct, even though our monetary supply tables only show supply of electricity in NACE D.

Consumption of natural gas and biogas for road transport is collected through annual form-based surveys of businesses that sell natural gas and biogas for use in Norway. Consumption of petroleum products and biofuels is covered by the annual statistics on sales of petroleum products and biofuels. In our system for the energy accounts and the energy balance, it is assumed that road diesel, motor gasoline and LPG sold to these industries are used for road transport and that off-road diesel, light heating oil and heating kerosene are used for stationary purposes in the industries. For electricity used in road transport, calculations are made based on driving distances.

The main datasources:

• District heating statistic, annually
• Biogas statistics for domestic use, annually
• Natural gas, domestic use, annually
• Sales of petroleum products and biofuels, annually
• Electricity statistics, annually

We use the same datasources and calculations and we collaborate with the team that works with the AEA.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.