Reference metadata describe statistical concepts and methodologies used for the collection and generation of data. They provide information on data quality and, since they are strongly content-oriented, assist users in interpreting the data. Reference metadata, unlike structural metadata, can be decoupled from the data.
Ministerio para la Transición Ecológica y el Reto Demográfico [Ministry for the Ecological Transition and the Demographic Challenge]
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Subdirección General de Hidrocarburos y Nuevos Combustibles [Deputy Directorate General for Hydrocarbons and New Fuels] - Directorate General for Energy Policy and Mines
1.3. Contact name
Subdirección General de Hidrocarburos y Nuevos Comsbutibles (Sub-Directorate for Hydrocarbons and New Fuels)
1.4. Contact person function
Technical staff under the Subdirectorate General for Hydrocarbons and New Fuels
The objective of this data collection is to disseminate with the maximum transparency possible the natural gas end-user prices in Spain, both for household and non-household consumers. The transparency of energy prices may contribute to the consumers's free of election between the different energy sources and suppliers. Data variables of this data collection are the average prices of natural gas paid by end consumers in semestral periods of 2017 and 2018 for different consumption bands.
This data collection is regulated in REGULATION (EU) 2016/1952 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 October 2016 on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC.
Internal Eurostat classification system based on annual natural gas consumption bands and tax levels.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Household customers and final non-household customers (industry, services, offices, agriculture, etc).
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
Data comprises average national prices for natural gas end-users for several consumption bands defined by Eurostat (see below):
For the households sector, these bands are:
D1: Customers consuming less than 20 GJ.
D2: Customers consuming 20 GJ or more but less than 200 GJ.
D3: Customers consuming 200 GJ or more.
For the final non-households sector, the bands are:
I1: Customers consuming less than 1000 GJ.
I2: Customers consuming 1000 GJ or more but less than 10000 GJ.
I3: Customers consuming 10000 GJ or more but less than 100000 GJ.
I4: Customers consuming 100000 GJ or more but less than 1000000 GJ.
I5: Customers consuming 1000000 GJ or more but less than 4000000 GJ.
I6: Customers consuming 4000000 GJ or more.
There exists one level of disagregation for semestrial prices. These prices are reported twice a year and are divided in 3 levels:
Level 1 prices: Prices excluding taxes and levies.
Level 2 prices: Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes and levies.
Level 3 prices: Prices including all taxes and levies.
Taxes and levies include:
Impuesto Especial de Hidrocarburos [Hydrocarbons Tax], regulated by Ley 38/1992 de Impuestos Especiales
Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido (IVA) [VAT], regulated by Ley 37/1992 del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido
All industrial uses of gas are considered. However, the system excludes consumers who use gas:
—
for electricity generation in power plants or in CHP plants,
—
in non-energy uses (e.g. in the chemical industry),
—
above 4 000 000 gigajoule (GJ) per year.
All natural gas retailers are included in the population of this data collection.
3.5. Statistical unit
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
3.6. Statistical population
The data include all household and final non-household customers of natural gas, but exclude customers who use natural gas only for:
—
electricity generation in power plants or in combined heat and power (CHP) plants; or
—
non-energy purposes (e.g. for use in the chemicals industry).
Natural gas include natural gas and other gaseous fuels blended with natural gas in the transmission and distribution network, such as biogas. Other gaseous fuels that are distributed through dedicated networks without being blended with natural gas (e.g. gas works gas, coke oven gas, blast furnace gas and biogas) are excluded.
There is not enough information to determine the exact target population of suppliers fullfilling the requisites above. An estimation is that in 2017 the number of natural gas suppliers were 46 for final industrial consumers and 60 for domestic and commercial final consumers (See document annexed).
Natural gas prices data for Spain are available since 1991.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable.
Prices are reported in national currency per GJ. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes the prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity) and do the conversion to kWh.
For semestrial prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2.
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
At EU level:
Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 26 October 2016 on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2017/2169 of 21 November 2017 concerning the format and arrangements for the transmission of European Statistics on natural gas and electricity prices pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Decision (EU) 2018/1734 of 14 November 2018 granting derogations to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the Republic of Cyprus as regards the provision of statistics pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (notified under document C(2018) 7465) (Text with EEA relevance).
Commission Implementing Regulation (EU) 2019/XXXX (in progress) concerning the content of quality reports on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council (Text with EEA relevance).
Eurostat does not share the data collected with other organisation appart from its usual dissemination chanel (Eurostat's database, statistic explained articles and press or news release) .
At national level:
Data is sent to eurostat.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
At EU level:
Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 of the European Parliament and of the Council, of 11 March 2009, on the transmission of data subject to statistical confidentiality to the Statistical Office of the European Communities.
Data confidentiality is treated according with Regulation (EC) No 223/2009.
Confidential data is obtained exclusively for the production of Eurostat statistics and exclusively transmitted to Eurostat.
Published data should not allow identification of single consumers. No individual data is asked directly from final consumers. Thus, there is no need to treat the data in order to avoiod undue identification of single customers.
8.1. Release calendar
Statistics are only released by Eurostat according to Eurostat calendar policy.
Additionally the Ministry makes available on its web page the following information:
Libro de la Energía en España (annual publication): Prices for the first semester of the previous years are published, both household and non-household
8.2. Release calendar access
Data is released by Eurostat in the Eurostat database following the Art.8 of Regulation (UE) 2016/1952: "The Commission (Eurostat) shall disseminate natural gas and electricity price statistics no later than five months after the end of each reference period"
Aditionally the data related to gas natural prices for any given year is published and made availabe the following year in the "Libro de la Energía" publication. The link to the Minsitry's web page where the yearly data and publications mentioned in ponit 8.1 Release calendar is:
Natural gas prices in Spain are published on a semestrial basis on Eurostat's website.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
There is no national press release related to the data.
10.2. Dissemination format - Publications
Data of prices for the first semester is shown in an annual publication called "Libro de la Energía en España" published by the Ministry for the Ecological Transition.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
Eurostat database
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable.
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
We don't give access to microdata.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
No other ways for disseminating the data.
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
No other ways for disseminating the data.
10.6. Documentation on methodology
No documentation on methdology apart from publicated by Eurostat.
10.6.1. Metadata completeness - rate
Not applicable.
10.7. Quality management - documentation
No document related to quality exist.
11.1. Quality assurance
Data quality assurance methodology is based in four procedures:
Data representativity: Prices submitted by companies should cover at least 80% of the market share for natural gas retail or 100% of big players (companies with a market share higher than 10%). If a big player has not sent the price the Ministry request to do it.
Price quality: Prices submitted by companies are compared to a benchmark for each consumption band (weighted average price of the band). If a price is significantly deviated from the benchmark (more than 100%) the Ministry ask the company to confirm the value. If no confirmation is received the price and volume are not considered for the national average price calculation.
Volume quality: Gas volumes submitted by companies for each band are compared to volumes submitted for previous reference periods in order to check for typing or magnitude errors. If a volume is significantly deviated from previous volumes submitted the Ministry ask the company to confirm the value. If no confirmation is received the price and volume are not considered for the national average price calculation.
Average price trend: Average prices for each band are compared with prices in previous periods in order to detect possible errors.
11.2. Quality management - assessment
Data quality can be considered sufficient since prices and volumes are sent by a representative share of the market and figures are checked following coherence criteria (see 11.1).
Possible defficiencies may occur since there is no way for the Ministry to check that the company has taken into consideration all the criteria stablished in the regulation to calculate the price for each band (i.e: not applying taxes, not including gas for generation, correct issuing of consumptions bands, etc...)
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
Potential Users clasification:
Students, academic and private users (consumers)
EU, international and political organisations
Business: Energy companies, Trade associations
Government: Public administration, National Statistical Institute
Others: Press or media, Redistributor of statistical information, Other
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
No satisfaction feedback is available.
12.3. Completeness
Data collection fulfills with Directive 2008/92/EC.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
100% of all the variables required by Directive 2008/92/EC are completed.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
The data collection system, the survey design and the quality controls are aligned to achieve a representative data with enough accuracy.
Main sources of random and systematic error are the following:
Sampling errors: Not applicable (survey is not based in sample, it covers all the target population)
Non-sampling errors:
Coverage error: Over-coverage may occur but it is not possible to estimate.
Measurement error: Reading, calculating or recording errors by the companies in the figures submitted to the survey
Non response error: Unit not-response error
Processing error: Calculating errors by the Ministry in the weighted average by consumption band and Typing errors by the Ministry in the Excel file sent to Eurostat.
13.2. Sampling error
Sampling error is not applicable since this data is not generated with a sample of the market, it considers the whole census.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
Not applicable.
13.3. Non-sampling error
Information is included in the sub-concepts S.13.3.1-S.13.3.5.
13.3.1. Coverage error
Over coverage may occur but is not possible to estimate.
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
Unknown.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
100% (no administrative sources)
13.3.2. Measurement error
The main sources of measurement error are reading, calculating or recording errors by the companies in the figures submitted to the survey.
13.3.3. Non response error
Non response error in this data collection is mostly Unit non-response error. This affects specially to the non-household suppliers population which is higher and diverse (more small and medium size companies). Efforts are focused in achieve the data for the companies with higher market shares in order to get a representative value for the price.
13.3.3.1. Unit non-response - rate
Household customers: Data coming from 40 suppliers out of 60 and representing 67% of the household customers. This represents around 80% of house-hold consumption (estimation).
Final non-household customers: Data coming from 30 suppliers out of 46 and representing 65% of the final non-household customers. This represents around 60% of non-house-hold consumption (estimation).
Note on the data: The representing percentages for both household and non-household suppliers are aproximate figures. There is not enough information to determine the exact target population of suppliers and consumption.
Annexes: Spain NRA Monitoring Report on Natural Gas Market (last available)
Around 95% of the information items were submitted by the suppliers who answered the survey.
13.3.4. Processing error
The following processing errors may occur:
- Calculating errors by the Ministry in the weighted average by consumption band
- Typing errors by the Ministry in the Excel file sent to Eurostat.
13.3.5. Model assumption error
Not applicable.
14.1. Timeliness
Natural gas providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the natural gas price data within one month after the reference period. After arrival, the statistical office checks the micro-data for correctness, consistency and completeness and national averages are calculated and reported to Eurostat during the third month after the reference period.
14.1.1. Time lag - first result
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2019 was sent 3 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2019 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2020 was sent -7 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2020 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2021 was sent 1 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2021 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2019 was sent 3 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2019 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2020 was sent -7 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2020 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2021 was sent 1 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2021 was sent 0 days after the reference period.
14.1.2. Time lag - final result
Version 2 of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2017 was sent 80 days after the reference period, 1 days after the first version and still within the deadline.
Version 2 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2017 was sent 80 days after the reference period, 1 days after the first version and still within the deadline.
Version 3 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 171 days after the reference period. Revision affected gas prices for I3, I4 and I6 bands due to new prices received and corrected after submission deadline.
14.2. Punctuality
The legal deadline for submitting the questionnaires is the third month after the reference period.
100% of the initial versions of questionnaires were delivered on time.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
Data is published by Eurostat.
The households and non-households questionnaire (second version) for reference period 2021, Semester 1 and 2020, Semester 1 were submitted 182 days after the deadline and for 2019, Semester 1 in 198 days.
The households and non-households questionnaire (second version) for reference period 2019, Semester 2 were submitted 15 days after the deadline.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
There is no geographical comparability limitations.
Prices for Spain could not be fully comparable to the rest of Member States, since Kingdom of Spain has been granted a derogation from producing statistical data for reference years 2017 and 2018 related with Point 6(a) and Point 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 and therefore the price statistic data submitted by Spain follows the former Directive 2008/92/EC.
(See: COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2018/1734 of 14 November 2018 granting derogations to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the Republic of Cyprus as regards the provision of statistics pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council)
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable.
15.2. Comparability - over time
There have not been changes in the underlying statistical process during 2017 and 2018.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
It is comparable since data available (1991).
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
Not applicable.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable.
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable.
15.4. Coherence - internal
Not applicable (no annual prices have been submitted).
Data is sent by companies in an excel file to the Ministry using a web platform. Data is submitted by a valid representative (with digital certificate). Excel template is available at the Ministry webpage.
Internal cost of data collection for companies is unknown.
As an estimation two man-days are needed for the Statistic Unit to compile and send the data.
17.1. Data revision - policy
Data is revised only if new relevant information is submitted by relevant retailers after the submission deadline with a sensible impact on average price.
17.2. Data revision - practice
Version 3 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 171 days after the reference period. Revision affected gas prices for I3, I4 and I6 bands due to new prices received and corrected after submission deadline.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Version 3 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 171 days after the reference period. Revision affected gas prices for I3, I4 and I6 bands due to new prices received and corrected after submission deadline.
Households gas prices collection: 0.014439638
Non-households gas prices collection: 0.013048544
18.1. Source data
Not available.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
Data collection is recopilated quarterly.
18.3. Data collection
Data is gathered in Excel files which are submitted in a quarterly basis by the natural gas retailers to the Ministry webpage. Each company submit a price in euro per MWh (excluding taxes and levies) and a volume in MWh according to different bands of consumption defined by Eurostat for each quarter.
After the submission period the Ministry recopilates all the files sent, monitorize the response for each band and performs the data quality controls (see point 11). If necessary dialogue with retailers is performed to correct values / ask for files unsent.
National price for each band is calculated using an average of all the valid prices submitted by companies for the consumption band in both quarters of the semester, weighted by volume.
Data is validated using the quality assurance methodology that is based in four procedures:
Data representativity: Prices submitted by companies should cover at least 80% of the market share for natural gas retail or 100% of big players (companies with a market share higher than 10%). If a big player has not sent the price the Ministry request to do it.
Price quality: Prices submitted by companies are compared to a benchmark for each consumption band (weighted average price of the band). If a price is significantly deviated from the benchmark (more than 100%) the Ministry ask the company to confirm the value. If no confirmation is received the price and volume are not considered for the national average price calculation.
Volume quality: Gas volumes submitted by companies for each band are compared to volumes submitted for previous reference periods in order to check for typing or magnitude errors. If a volume is significantly deviated from previous volumes submitted the Ministry ask the company to confirm the value. If no confirmation is received the price and volume are not considered for the national average price calculation.
Average price trend: Average prices for each band are compared with prices in previous periods in order to detect possible errors.
18.5. Data compilation
Compilation process comprises the following steps:
1. Individual data sent by companies (volume in MWh and average price in €/kWh) is gathered and grouped by consumption bands for the two quarters of the semester.
2. For each band and quarter data and is ordered by volume. Empty submissions (no sells) and outliers values are checked with the companies (see data validation). Coverage (numer of companies and total volume for each band) is also assesed.
3. Once data is validated and non-validated data is discarded, an average price weighted by consumption values is calulated for each band. Average prices for each band are compared with previous reference periods for validation.
4. Prices with taxes are calcualted adding hydrocarbons tax and VAT resulting in final prices. Unit conversion to GJ is performed.
5. Prices are submitted to Eurostat
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
Not available.
18.6. Adjustment
Not applicable.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Seasonable adjustments are not carried out.
The objective of this data collection is to disseminate with the maximum transparency possible the natural gas end-user prices in Spain, both for household and non-household consumers. The transparency of energy prices may contribute to the consumers's free of election between the different energy sources and suppliers. Data variables of this data collection are the average prices of natural gas paid by end consumers in semestral periods of 2017 and 2018 for different consumption bands.
This data collection is regulated in REGULATION (EU) 2016/1952 OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL of 26 October 2016 on European statistics on natural gas and electricity prices and repealing Directive 2008/92/EC.
Data comprises average national prices for natural gas end-users for several consumption bands defined by Eurostat (see below):
For the households sector, these bands are:
D1: Customers consuming less than 20 GJ.
D2: Customers consuming 20 GJ or more but less than 200 GJ.
D3: Customers consuming 200 GJ or more.
For the final non-households sector, the bands are:
I1: Customers consuming less than 1000 GJ.
I2: Customers consuming 1000 GJ or more but less than 10000 GJ.
I3: Customers consuming 10000 GJ or more but less than 100000 GJ.
I4: Customers consuming 100000 GJ or more but less than 1000000 GJ.
I5: Customers consuming 1000000 GJ or more but less than 4000000 GJ.
I6: Customers consuming 4000000 GJ or more.
There exists one level of disagregation for semestrial prices. These prices are reported twice a year and are divided in 3 levels:
Level 1 prices: Prices excluding taxes and levies.
Level 2 prices: Prices excluding VAT and other recoverable taxes and levies.
Level 3 prices: Prices including all taxes and levies.
Taxes and levies include:
Impuesto Especial de Hidrocarburos [Hydrocarbons Tax], regulated by Ley 38/1992 de Impuestos Especiales
Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido (IVA) [VAT], regulated by Ley 37/1992 del Impuesto sobre el Valor Añadido
All industrial uses of gas are considered. However, the system excludes consumers who use gas:
—
for electricity generation in power plants or in CHP plants,
—
in non-energy uses (e.g. in the chemical industry),
—
above 4 000 000 gigajoule (GJ) per year.
All natural gas retailers are included in the population of this data collection.
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
The data include all household and final non-household customers of natural gas, but exclude customers who use natural gas only for:
—
electricity generation in power plants or in combined heat and power (CHP) plants; or
—
non-energy purposes (e.g. for use in the chemicals industry).
Natural gas include natural gas and other gaseous fuels blended with natural gas in the transmission and distribution network, such as biogas. Other gaseous fuels that are distributed through dedicated networks without being blended with natural gas (e.g. gas works gas, coke oven gas, blast furnace gas and biogas) are excluded.
There is not enough information to determine the exact target population of suppliers fullfilling the requisites above. An estimation is that in 2017 the number of natural gas suppliers were 46 for final industrial consumers and 60 for domestic and commercial final consumers (See document annexed).
For semestrial prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2.
The data collection system, the survey design and the quality controls are aligned to achieve a representative data with enough accuracy.
Main sources of random and systematic error are the following:
Sampling errors: Not applicable (survey is not based in sample, it covers all the target population)
Non-sampling errors:
Coverage error: Over-coverage may occur but it is not possible to estimate.
Measurement error: Reading, calculating or recording errors by the companies in the figures submitted to the survey
Non response error: Unit not-response error
Processing error: Calculating errors by the Ministry in the weighted average by consumption band and Typing errors by the Ministry in the Excel file sent to Eurostat.
Prices are reported in national currency per GJ. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes the prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity) and do the conversion to kWh.
Compilation process comprises the following steps:
1. Individual data sent by companies (volume in MWh and average price in €/kWh) is gathered and grouped by consumption bands for the two quarters of the semester.
2. For each band and quarter data and is ordered by volume. Empty submissions (no sells) and outliers values are checked with the companies (see data validation). Coverage (numer of companies and total volume for each band) is also assesed.
3. Once data is validated and non-validated data is discarded, an average price weighted by consumption values is calulated for each band. Average prices for each band are compared with previous reference periods for validation.
4. Prices with taxes are calcualted adding hydrocarbons tax and VAT resulting in final prices. Unit conversion to GJ is performed.
5. Prices are submitted to Eurostat
Not available.
Natural gas prices in Spain are published on a semestrial basis on Eurostat's website.
Natural gas providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the natural gas price data within one month after the reference period. After arrival, the statistical office checks the micro-data for correctness, consistency and completeness and national averages are calculated and reported to Eurostat during the third month after the reference period.
There is no geographical comparability limitations.
Prices for Spain could not be fully comparable to the rest of Member States, since Kingdom of Spain has been granted a derogation from producing statistical data for reference years 2017 and 2018 related with Point 6(a) and Point 7 of Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 and therefore the price statistic data submitted by Spain follows the former Directive 2008/92/EC.
(See: COMMISSION IMPLEMENTING DECISION (EU) 2018/1734 of 14 November 2018 granting derogations to the Federal Republic of Germany, the Kingdom of Spain, the Italian Republic and the Republic of Cyprus as regards the provision of statistics pursuant to Regulation (EU) 2016/1952 of the European Parliament and of the Council)
There have not been changes in the underlying statistical process during 2017 and 2018.
