Statistics Austria

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1110 Vienna

Austria

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 reference area is Austria although the PEFA are based on the residence principle and therefore show the energy use of the residents of Austria, irrespective of the place where the use of energy takes place. 

The PEFA for Austria are available for years 2013 and later and are published on an annual basis.

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.

Regulation (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics as amended (recitals 23-27, 31-32 and Articles 20-26) as well as Regulation 20,16/679 on the protection of natural persons with regard to the processing of personal data and on the free movement of such data apply.

On national level, the Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000 (Federal Statistics Act 2000) as well as the Datenschutzgesetz (data protection act) are regulating the confidentiality applied to the data.

There are no confidential data entering the PEFA from the underlying statistics (energy balances, energy use analysis, energy accounts and energy consumption surveys).

A release calendar can be found on the website of Statistics Austria.

The release calendar provides a comprehensive preview of scheduled release dates of main results on the website of Statistics Austria (accessible via „MEDIA“)

Since release dates are planned sometimes far in advance, changes of dates might occur in both directions. Therefore, the release calendar is updated continually. Users are kindly asked to be aware of the latest update. 

The information indicated below refers to the Federal Statistics Act 2000 (Bundesstatistikgesetz 2000) - (Bundesgesetzblatt BGBL - Issue of 17 August 1999 - No.163)

Publication of statistics

Article 19. (1) Federal Statistics bodies are obliged to make statistics that are ordered by regulation (article 4 (1) hereabove) and all other statistics and their concepts, definitions and explanations accessible to the public without delay and in an appropriate form, unless a Federal Act or legal act within the meaning of article 4 (1) no.1 hereabove or an international agreement provides otherwise.

Special publication obligations

Article 30. (1) In addition to the publication according to article 19 (1) hereabove, Statistics Austria shall also grant public access to the main results of the statistics on the internet. These publications shall be free of charge.
(1a) (1) shall also apply – subject to article 19 (1) hereabove – to statistics pursuant to article 23 (2) hereabove, provided the client does not publish them himself within two months of completion of the statistics.
(2) Additionally, Statistics Austria shall provide public access to the detailed results of the statistics via an adequate electronic database in return for an appropriate fee to cover its costs.
(3) Statistics Austria shall immediately inform the competent federal minister on the results of the statistical surveys. Simultaneously, these results shall be made publicly available in an appropriate manner.
(4) Statistics Austria shall document the transmission of results of statistical surveys to international institutions pursuant to article 18. The results shall be made available to the public as soon as possible.
(5) Publications pursuant to (1) to (4) hereabove are subject to article 19 (2) and (3).

Use of statistical data for scientific purposes

Article 31. (1) Statistics Austria may provide access to non-personal data that has not been published pursuant to article 30 (2) hereabove to suitably qualified persons and scientific institutions for scientific purposes following approval of the use to which it will be put and payment of an appropriate fee to cover costs.
(2) In granting access pursuant to (1) hereabove, Statistics Austria shall implement data security measures in order to prevent the identification of personal data using means that may be reasonably applied, and to prevent the storage of personal statistical data on external media.
(3) The use of personal statistical data for scientific purposes is prohibited.

The PEFA are published annually at the end of September. On national level, the data are published on the homepage of Statistics Austria.

No press releases are published for the PEFA on national level.

Not applicable.

PEFA are published in the statistical database STATcube.

STATcube general access

STATcube PEFA access:

Table A

Table B

Table B.1

Table B.2

Table C

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Not applicable.

no other important data dissemination done

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

See 10.6.1.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Energy Balances

Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used)

 https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/shared/QM/Standarddokumentationen/RW/std_r_energiebilanzen.pdf

Energy consumptions of households

Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used)

https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/shared/QM/Standarddokumentationen/RW/engl_std_r_energieeinsatz_haushalte.pdf

Useful energy analysis in industries

Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used)

https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/shared/QM/Standarddokumentationen/RW/engl_std_r_nea.pdf

Short term statistics in industry and construction Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used) https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/pages/188/Standarddokumentation_Konjunkturstatistik_im_produzierenden_Bereich.pdf (available in German only)

International Trade in Goods Statistics Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used) https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/shared/QM/Standarddokumentationen/U/engl_std_u_itgs.pdf  

Material Input Statistics (including energetic input) Links to quality and methodology documentation (reference material on methods and questionnaires used) https://www.statistik.at/fileadmin/shared/QM/Standarddokumentationen/U/engl_std_u_guetereinsatzstatistik_ab_2014.pdf

Periodic feed-back talks with main users of energy and environmental statistics in collaboration with the quality management and methodological team within Statistics Austria. See also point 12.1.

An ESS peer review has taken place in spring 2022.

The results of the most recent ESS peer review undertaken in spring were published in May 2022.

Main unsers of energy and environmental statistics in general are ministries and other administrative bodies, research institutes, international organisations as well as the general public.

Regarding energy consumptions of households, energy consumptions in the service sector, energy consumption of small to medium sized industries, and useful energy analysis in industries we periodically conduct feedback talks with main users.

For international trade in goods statistics, we receive feedback e.g. via the yearly meeting of main stakeholders (Fachbeirat).

Regarding material input statistics (including energetic input), the survey is especially designed for NSI intern input to other statistics (I/O, energy statistics, environmental statistics, …).

User surveys are being conducted in regular intervals.

See 12.3.1.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Assessment for underlying data sources:

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.

t+21. National publication is also done at t+21, at the same time as reporting to Eurostat.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Data on PEFA are compiled according to international guidelines and are insofar comparable. 

Not applicable.

Please see the table in 15.2.1.1.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

Comparable time series available starting in 2013. Therefore, no breaks in time series are present.

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

See 15.3.1 to 15.3.8.

Not applicable; reported PEFA data are only annual.

National accounts data sometimes is based on models where PEFA data is based on energy consumption surveys from energy statistics. Collaboration with the national nccounts team is being built up and data from energy consumption surveys has been submitted to the national accounts team. Therefore, coherence between the two statistics is expected to increase in the future.

There is a close cooperation between the colleagues working on AEA and PEFA.

Questions regarding transport and adaptation to the residence principle are dealt with jointly (AEA and PEFA).

PEFA is based on energy statistics to a large extent and uses foreign trade data from energy statistics. Adaptations - where necessary - are made to adapt the foreign trade data to the residence principle (according to SEEA-CF guidelines) e.g. for fuel consumption of gasoline, diesel etc.

Data on air transport that enter table E(Bridging items) come directly from the OECD´s data on CO2-emissions database (and are converted to TJ).

The main data source for the PEFA are energy statistics. PEFA is compiled in the energy statistics team using the same data sources as energy balances. PEFA and energy statistics are therefore comparable (as far as possible due different definitions).

Data from the PEFA is provided to the colleagues responsible for EW-MFA and cross checks are done by them.

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

Reg. (EC) No 223/2009 on European statistics stipulates cost effectiveness as statistical principle; however, there is no legal obligation to provide cost and burden information in quality reports. Such an obligation is also not covered by sectoral legislation. Due to the fact that consistent standards and definitions for cost reporting are currently not available and are yet to be developed by the RDG-expert group, there is a high risk of misrepresentation and distortions when comparing costs of statistics production across countries. Statistics Austria will, hence, not provide any information until agreed harmonised reporting standards are in place.

The revisions policy of Statistics Austria is available online (see link).

Annexes:
Data revisions policy

For energy consumptions of households, energy consumptions in the service sector, energy consumption of small to medium sized industries, useful energy analysis in industries, and direct reporting by companies, revisions occur due to methodological changes or availability of more reliable data.

With regard to short-term statistics in industry and construction, preliminary results are available 90 days after the reference period, and final results in October of the following year.

For international trade in goods statistics, monthly revision is done until publication of final data.

Concerning material input statistics (including energetic input), as the cut off survey design allows to keep survey units quite constant, data for reference period t-1 is revised at the same time data processing for reference period t is done.

Will be calculated and provided by EUROSTAT.

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

Depending on the energy product, data is provided by the ministry (BMK - in the case of oil), the regulator E-Control (natural gas and electricty production - differentiated for hydro, solar, wind...) or calculated based on consumption side information from surveys in consideration of foreign trade and stock flows.

Same data sources as in 18.1.1.

Data on plant level from the regulator E-Control, material input statistics and short term statistics. Cross-checks with emission trading scheme data.

- Material input statistics for companies above a certain threshold in the industry sector,

- Survey on energy consumption in small and medium sized industries in the industry sector,

- Survey on energy consumption in the services sector,

- Survey in energy consumption of households,

- Modelling of agricultural end use,

- Useful enery anaylsis for differentiation of energy uses.

No distribution key is necessary as these data come directly from surveys (incl. households) - see 18.1.4.

No.

- Transport statistics (information on tkm abroad and in total for road transport and navigation),

- Tourism statistics (information on number of travels),

- Statistics on commuting (information in people working abroad),

- Household survey on energy consumption (total km travelled),

- OECD database CO2 emissions from flights.

Energy consumption surveys (small and medium sized enterprises in the industry sector, services sector, households) are conducted biennially.

Material input statistics, useful energy analysis, transport, tourism statistics, data on commuting are available on an annual basis.

Data from the ministry (BMK) and the regulator E-Control are available on a monthly to annual basis, depending on the data set.

- Online surveys: Energy consumption in small and medium sized enterprises in the industry sectors, services sector survey on energy consumption.

- CATI/CAWI: energy consumption in households. A detailed documentation and training for interviewers is provided.

- E-Mail: Useful energy analysis.

All of these are based on representative samples. These surveys are data sources for energy statistics as well as for PEFA (not only for energy statistics). More information can be found in the quality report on energy statistics (Energy statistics - quantities (nrg_quant)) - see extract below.

See Quality report on energy statistics (Energy statistics - quantities (nrg_quant)):

See Quality report on energy statistics (Energy statistics - quantities (nrg_quant)):

Not applicable.

Yes. Needs to be checked.

Information is coming from energy consumption surveys. These surveys collect data on transport per NACE industries and households. No allocation method necessary.

Information is coming from energy consumption survey in the services sector. This survey collects data on energy consumption in service industries on NACE 2-digit level. No other allocation method required.

Data from energy balances enters the PEFA directly.

Apart from that, data from the energy balances enter the national greenhouse gas inventory, which is then used in the AEA (and adapted to match the residence principle).

Consistency is thus given by using the same data source (directly or indirectly) and by adapating the two statistics (PEFA and AEA) consistently to the residence principle.

Not applicable.

Not applicable.