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.
Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy
1.2. Contact organisation unit
Energy Statistics
1.3. Contact name
Confidential because of GDPR
1.4. Contact person function
Confidential because of GDPR
1.5. Contact mail address
1 Victoria Street, Westminster, London, United Kingdom, SW1H 0ET
1.6. Contact email address
Confidential because of GDPR
1.7. Contact phone number
Confidential because of GDPR
1.8. Contact fax number
Confidential because of GDPR
2.1. Metadata last certified
18 October 2019
2.2. Metadata last posted
21 October 2019
2.3. Metadata last update
18 October 2019
3.1. Data description
UK statistics on natural gas prices for household (Domestic) and final non-household (Non-Domestic) customers recorded to European standards for comparability.
Data is provided on the volumes sold in the country, the value of these sales, amount of VAT on this value and amount of other taxes, levies & charges elements charged on this value all by consumer classification. Additionally, unit price equivalents are derived and recorded in the local currency per kilowatt hour.
3.2. Classification system
The collection uses an internal Eurostat classification system based on a range of bands of annual natural gas consumption. There are different sets of representative classifications for household natural gas consumption and for final non-household natural gas consumption to reflect the differing levels of use between the two sectors.
3.3. Coverage - sector
Covers consumption from both the Household sector and final non-household sector (which includes industry, services, offices and agriculture). Coverage does not include gas for the use of electricity generation.
3.4. Statistical concepts and definitions
The prices are collected reported in national currencies (in this case pound sterling [£]) per kWh and collected and presented based on different bands of consumption.
For the household sector, these bands are:
DA: customers consuming less than 1000 kWh.
DB: customers consuming 1000 kWh or more but less than 2500 kWh.
DC: customers consuming 2500 kWh or more but less than 5000 kWh.
DD: customers consuming 5000 kWh or more but less than 15000 kWh.
DE: customers consuming 15000 kWh or more.
For the final non-household sector, the bands are:
IA: customers consuming less than 20 MWh.
IB: customers consuming 20 MWh or more but less than 500 MWh.
IC: customers consuming 500 MWh or more but less than 2000 MWh.
ID: customers consuming 2000 MWh or more but less than 20000 MWh.
IE: customers consuming 20000 MWh or more but less than 70000 MWh.
IF: customers consuming 70000 MWh or more but less than 150000 MWh.
IG: customers consuming 150000 MWh or more.
There exist 2 different levels of disaggregation for ‘semestrial’ (representing a 6 month period) and annual prices:
1- 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.
2- Annual prices:
These prices are reported once a year together with the data for the second semester and are divided into the following components and taxes:
Energy and supply: generation, aggregation, balancing energy, supplied energy costs, customer services, after-sales management and other supply costs.
Network cost: transmission and distribution tariffs, transmission and distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and metering costs.
Value added taxes (VAT): as defined in Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Renewable taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation.
Capacity taxes: Taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to capacity payments, energy security and generation adequacy; taxes on coal industry restructuring; taxes on electricity distribution; stranded costs and levies on financing energy regulatory authorities or market and system operators.
Environmental taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to air quality and for other environmental purposes; taxes on emissions of CO2 or other greenhouse gases. This component includes the excise duties.
Nuclear taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the nuclear sector, including nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations.
All other taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous five categories: support for district heating; local or regional fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences and fees for the occupation of land and public or private property by networks or other devices.
In addition to these elements, the network cost is split into the respective shares of transmission and distribution. The relative share of consumption in the different consumption bands is reported by the countries and used to calculate the single national electricity prices (weighted averages for consumer bands IA-IF and DA-DE) but not published because it could potentially be used to re-calculate some commercially confidential values.
The taxes and levies (including Value Added Tax) data recorded and presented are non-refundable.
Examples of the taxes reported in "All other taxes" for natural gas include Smart Meters and charges for "Better Billing" policies.
3.5. Statistical unit
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
3.6. Statistical population
Household customers: Data coming from 6 suppliers out of approximately 73 suppliers and currently (based on Quarter 1 2019) representing approximately 60% of the market share for household customers.
Final non-household customers: Data coming from 8 natural gas suppliers out of around 90 suppliers and currently (based on Quarter 1 2019) representing approximately 65% of the market share final non-household customers market.
3.7. Reference area
Data is collected for Great Britain, which includes England, Wales and Scotland. But excludes Northern Ireland. Additionally it excludes overseas dependencies.
3.8. Coverage - Time
Natural gas prices data for United Kingdom are available since January 1998 for household and final non household natural gas consumption.
3.9. Base period
Not applicable as this is not an index measure
All prices data are reported in the national currency (in this case pound sterling [£]) per kWh. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes these prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity). Relative shares of sub-component of the network component and consumption volumes are reported in percentages.
Data are recorded on a ‘semester’ based approach which is period of 6 months within a given year. For these ‘semestrial’ prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2. For annual prices, the reference period is the whole calendar year (from January to December).
6.1. Institutional Mandate - legal acts and other agreements
At EU level the legal acts and agreements underpinning this are:
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) 2019/823 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).
At national level:
While not specifically invoked during the collection process. Companies are obliged to provide data for our collections under the Statistics of Trade Act 1947 and this can be invoked during non-response
Eurostat does not share the data collected with other organisation apart from its usual dissemination channels (Eurostat's database, statistic explained articles and press or news release).
At national level:
Data is sent to Eurostat
Aggregated data and other EU countries data are published as part of the Quarterly Electricity Prices series of releases. Key users of these statistics include industry, regulators like Office of Gas and Electricity Markets (OFGEM) and research and academia.
7.1. Confidentiality - policy
At EU level the 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 underpins this.
At national level all data are held and processed in accordance with the UK Statistics Authority Code of Practice for Statistics
7.2. Confidentiality - data treatment
The data captured are commercially sensitive and are therefore treated in line with the UK Code of Practice on data governance. While published data does not allow identification of single consumers.
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy has an agreement in place with energy suppliers to encourage energy suppliers to transmit their data via the secure UK Oil and Gas Authority portal. The portal also acts as a repository database for securely storing and retrieving the data. All data is processed by employees directly involved in the production of official statistics and stored on secure servers with permissions based access.
Suppliers are provided with assurances that the natural gas and electricity data they provide are aggregated to produce unit prices by band size. Given the data has been aggregated before transmission there is therefore no disclosure risk.
8.1. Release calendar
The data collected, aggregated and transmitted to Eurostat is also used in the Quarterly Energy Prices release. The publication is available here:
The information used in the Eurostat’s submission is reported as part of the International section of the release. Commentary is provided every quarter and data tables published biannually and incorporate data from European countries sourced from Eurostat’s release.
The release calendar within the statistical release itself also provides a more detailed breakdown on the publication of individual tables. The most recent Quarterly Energy Prices release is available here:
The release calendar is available online and the statistical release is also published online and in an accessible format. We e-mail out to key users of the statistics externally and internally. We additionally promote the statistical release via press release and put out an associated Twitter message through the Department’s Twitter page.
Electricity prices in United Kingdom are published on a semestrial / 6-monthly basis on Eurostat's website. The Department also releases a Quarterly Energy Prices statistical release and incorporates European data into the bi-annual International tables. Other similar statistics are released on a monthly and quarterly basis.
10.1. Dissemination format - News release
A statistical press notice is released here and occasionally includes the international statistics. The most recent issue is available here:
The underlying tables are released as aggregated international data along with other EU countries data are published.
10.3. Dissemination format - online database
There are no publicly available or publicly accessible online databases apart from Eurostat’s own data.
10.3.1. Data tables - consultations
Not applicable
10.4. Dissemination format - microdata access
Microdata is only shared internally with the economists in order to calculate the splits for various categories as part of the Eurostat submission. This data is not used for other purposes or available publicly. Potentially non-sensitive data may be accessible by Freedom of Information requests.
10.5. Dissemination format - other
Not applicable
10.5.1. Metadata - consultations
Not applicable
10.6. Documentation on methodology
Methodology notes are available covering each of the sections of the Quarterly Energy Prices. The International data methodology note is available online and available publicly here:
Quality management documentation is included as part of the methodology note, the quality elements are available within the International data methodology note and is also available online and available publicly here:
Data received is quality assured against previous company returns. Comparisons against similar companies that have submitted data are also measured. If data seems to be showing a trend that is unexpected the providers are contacted. Aggregated data are also compared against previous aggregations submitted to Eurostat.
Currently our processes are in line with the level of quality expected of National Statistics as outlined in the Code of Practice. We are however looking in to how best automate elements of our quality assurance process and build in key rules to the system.
12.1. Relevance - User Needs
The European statistics on natural gas in both the domestic and non-domestic sectors provide users with prices by consumer bands and allow comparisons with the other EU member states.
Enquiries and data requests show that users of the European statistics on natural gas include the economists and policy team in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) as well as academia, media, Local Authorities and Councils in the UK and energy companies. Users are particular keen in those prices data given the availability of the various component breakdowns such as the supply costs, network costs, environmental and social levies and taxes which allows analyses at more disaggregate levels.
Within BEIS the prices data are mainly used in economic modelling of price projections while outside the department the prices data are used as a benchmark in setting up contracts. For example, a UK City Council, in developing a Heat Networks to deliver heat to both commercial developers of offices and residential customers, was exploring the non-domestic natural gas data collected for Eurostat with the aim to produce local indices on heat prices for their targeted small, medium and large customers. In industry, the prices are used in cost escalation clauses as a measure of price inflation or in contract negotiations as an indication of current prices levels or as evidence in disputes over historic charges.
Users needs not met by the data that we are aware of, are related to specific 'sector' information within the non-domestic prices dataset (i.e. the services and transport sectors) which we don't collect data on. We currently do not have plans to extend the collection to include these given inclusion is currently not a requirement for compliance with Eurostat and the extra burden on businesses which would incur in collecting data. However assumptions on band sizes are used by users as proxies for estimation.
12.2. Relevance - User Satisfaction
BEIS is yet to conduct a user consultation survey on the European natural gas and electricity prices. However, BEIS do maintain a log of user requests for the EU statistics in order to understand the users’ needs better.
12.3. Completeness
Returns are complete in terms of coverage required for Eurostat submissions however some detailed elements of the taxes and levies are derived by economist colleagues. If data are missing we request a complete return and rarely impute missing data.
12.3.1. Data completeness - rate
Due to legal requirements, to date we have had 100% compliance from suppliers and therefore do not have missing returns. We schedule sufficient time before transmission to negotiate workable timescales for returns and chase non-response, in good time, with suppliers. In the instance data are missing we request a complete return and would at a last resort impute missing data. All data is transmitted to Eurostat so our completeness rate in this instance is 100%.
With the annual data, detailed elements such as the split of basic prices into supply and network costs are derived by the economists team in the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy.
13.1. Accuracy - overall
Errors can occur at various stages of the survey process. Supplier errors occur when they supply incorrect information. To assist in identifying errors at source, the questionnaires for both households and non-households contain built-in validation checks to prompt data suppliers where their data are incorrect. For example, data suppliers are warned if they are reporting values including levies and taxes as lower than values excluding levies and taxes, incorrect VAT rates etc.
13.2. Sampling error
Given that the true average prices of natural gas and electricity for both the domestic and non-domestic consumers are unknown, estimates of the average prices are calculated using samples of suppliers in both those sectors. The difference between the estimated average and the true average is the sampling error. The standard error gives an indication of the magnitude of the sampling error. We expect 95% of our estimates for a variable to be within two standard errors of the true unknown value for the population. The closer the standard error to zero, the more precise the estimate.
13.2.1. Sampling error - indicators
The coefficient of variation is the standard error of a variable divided by the survey estimate. It is used to compare the relative precision across surveys or variables. The closer the coefficient of variation is to zero, the more precise the estimate in percentage terms.
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
The sample provides a large proportion of the UK market.
Non-domestic Gas coverage has been estimated to be between around 60-80%
Estimated Market Share
Q1/2017 68%
Q2/2017 72%
Q3/2017 67%
Q4/2017 61%
Q1/2018 69%
Q2/2018 78%
Q3/2018 74%
Q4/2018 63%
Q1/2019 60%
Domestic Gas coverage has been estimated to be between around 65-80%
Estimated Market Share
Q1/2018 77%
Q2/2018 78%
Q3/2018 73%
Q4/2018 76%
Q1/2019 66%
13.3.1.1. Over-coverage - rate
There has not been an estimate made the proportion of data reported that do not belong to the target population. Given the data is requested at an aggregate level, we are unable estimate of the proportion of this data that do not belong to the target population.
13.3.1.2. Common units - proportion
100% of the data is covered by the survey
13.3.2. Measurement error
We currently don't make any estimation for measurement error for this collection. However, there is scope for this to happen during the collection process. We run validation checks during the processing of completed returns to see if certain companies returns report data that is an order of magnitude different (either x100 or x1000) when reporting information about pounds and pence or kWh or MWh. We also have standard checks that look into whether data are considerably different to figures submitted last time and/or compared to similar organiations which would also highlight these types of errors.
We currently don't make any specific estimation for processing error for this collection. However, there is scope for this to happen during the collection process. We run validation checks during the processing of completed returns to see if certain companies returns report data that looks considerably different to figures submitted last time and/or compared to similar organiations.
Natural gas providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the natural gas price data within 2-3 weeks after the reference period. After arrival, the team 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 2017 was sent 88 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2017 was sent 88 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2018 was sent 90 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 2nd semester of 2018 was sent 89 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 88 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2017 was sent 88 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2018 was sent 90 days after the reference period.
The first version of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2018 was sent 89 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 101 days after the reference period, 13 days after the first version and 11 day(s) after the mandatory deadline.
Version 3 of the natural gas price questionnaire for households for the 1st semester of 2018 was sent 90 days after the reference period, 0 days after the first version and still within the deadline.
Version 2 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 110 days after the reference period, 22 days after the first version and 18 day(s) after the mandatory deadline.
Version 2 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 2nd semester of 2017 was sent 101 days after the reference period, 13 days after the first version and 11 day(s) after the mandatory deadline.
Version 4 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2018 was sent 90 days after the reference period, 0 days after the first version and still within the deadline.
14.2. Punctuality
The deadline for submitting the questionnaires is the third month after the reference period.
We would chase around 1 or 2 returns each quarter between the deadline we gave companies and transmission to Eurostat. 100% of returns are received in good time for processing and transmission. Deadlines for companies are set two weeks before transmission and we have adequete procedures for chasing.
14.2.1. Punctuality - delivery and publication
We aim and have historically submitted before deadline. In our own publications it is the aim that the natural gas and electricity prices for both the non-domestic and domestic sectors are published by BEIS as soon as most of the EU country data become available on the Eurostat website at http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database.
BEIS publishes the Semester 1 EU country prices data in November with further revisions to account for more available data in December. Similarly, the semester 2 EU prices data are published in May with further revisions to account for more available data in June, including revisions to back series in all cases. There is a table of pre-announcement dates for future availability of the EU prices in the BEIS Quarterly Energy Prices publication.
15.1. Comparability - geographical
Data is collected to the same standard as other Eurostat submissions. The coverage is Great Britain as Gas data is not collected for Northern Ireland.
15.1.1. Asymmetry for mirror flow statistics - coefficient
Not applicable
15.2. Comparability - over time
The basis for collection has remained the same over time but there have been methodological changes in line with Eurostat and these had been designated as a break in series in the associated releases.
15.2.1. Length of comparable time series
The most recent fully comparable time series goes back to 2007.
15.3. Coherence - cross domain
There are other surveys of gas carried out in BEIS which collect both domestic and non-domestic volumes and values data covering most of the energy suppliers in Great Britain. Whilst those surveys do not capture data by band size of consumers, average prices for the UK are produced and the results used in the quality assurance process when calculating prices required by the EU.
15.3.1. Coherence - sub annual and annual statistics
Not applicable
15.3.2. Coherence - National Accounts
Not applicable
15.4. Coherence - internal
Annual prices are coherent with semestrial prices.
As part of the survey control procedure, BEIS promotes best practice when conducting government statistical surveys by ensuring that the burden placed on data providers is minimised and follows the procedures as laid down by the UK Statistics Authority Codes of Practice at https://www.statisticsauthority.gov.uk/code-of-practice/
The total burden to industry associated with the natural gas and electricity prices data collection is estimated to be approximately £6,400 in 2018, of which £3,000 is for the domestic survey.
For Natural Gas, the non-Domestic survey is estimated to cost £1,929 and the Domestic survey is estimated to cost £1,500.
No. of questionnaires
Estimated time (Hours)
Rate/hour
Costs
Total for the year 2018
Qtrly
Annual
Non-domestic
Electricity
7
7
35
3
14.29
1,500
Gas
9
9
45
3
14.29
1,929
Total
3,430
Domestic
Electricity
7
7
35
3
14.29
1,500
Gas
7
7
35
3
14.29
1,500
Total
3,001
Overall costs
6,431
The cost is calculated as the:
[(number of questionnaires dispatched quarterly x 4) x (total time taken to complete, quality assure and transmit the questionnaires to BEIS) x Rate per hour].
where the rate per hour corresponds to that of the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings (ASHE) payroll manager (code 4122).
17.1. Data revision - policy
In the questionnaires, during each collection, we allow companies to review the information they had submitted in previous quarters and query any large revisions with an aim to determine the factors driving these changes. We would then then transmit substantial revisions to Eurostat to ensure the most up to date and accurate data are received.
Additionally, in terms of publication of the data through our own release, the revisions policy we abide by is informed by UK Code of Practice standards for reporting revisions. We also publish revisions as soon as feasible following the identification of the error. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy's statistical revisions policy is avaliable here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/beis-standards-for-official-statistics/statistical-revisions-policy
17.2. Data revision - practice
Revisions can occur for many reasons, for example when new data become available and suppliers review past data provided, new suppliers added to the sample etc. Suppliers provide the domestic and non-domestic natural gas and electricity volume and value data, both quarterly and annually. To ensure that the annual data are consistent with the combined quarters, BEIS is adamant that the suppliers review all of their previously provided quarterly data.
In some instances semestrial data is revised when there are inconsistencies with annual figures.
Revisions to the semester 1 2018 prices which comprise of quarter 1 and 2 of that year, for households and non-households. There were no revisions to the household gas prices for that semester.
Following contact with one company in 2019 we found that there was a misclassification between non-domestic and domestic data that prompted a revision to both the semester 1, 2 and annual files.
17.2.1. Data revision - average size
Version 5 of the natural gas price questionnaire for non-households for the 1st semester of 2017 was sent 285 days after the reference period.
18.1. Source data
Data are collected direct from energy suppliers. Energy suppliers record the price and volumes on their own data management systems.
18.2. Frequency of data collection
We collect data from companies on a quarterly basis.
18.3. Data collection
We use Excel forms which we send to suppliers who return these either via e-mail or through the secure UK Oil & Gas Authority portal.
The validation we carry out other than monitoring response rates is comparisons against previously submitted returns and comparisons against other companies. We also compare the aggregated data against previous years.
18.5. Data compilation
The UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy aggregate the returns on submission and compile them in the format for submission to Eurostat.
18.5.1. Imputation - rate
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not perform imputation for this dataset.
18.6. Adjustment
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy does not perform adjustment for this dataset.
18.6.1. Seasonal adjustment
Seasonable adjustments are not carried out.
UK statistics on natural gas prices for household (Domestic) and final non-household (Non-Domestic) customers recorded to European standards for comparability.
Data is provided on the volumes sold in the country, the value of these sales, amount of VAT on this value and amount of other taxes, levies & charges elements charged on this value all by consumer classification. Additionally, unit price equivalents are derived and recorded in the local currency per kilowatt hour.
18 October 2019
The prices are collected reported in national currencies (in this case pound sterling [£]) per kWh and collected and presented based on different bands of consumption.
For the household sector, these bands are:
DA: customers consuming less than 1000 kWh.
DB: customers consuming 1000 kWh or more but less than 2500 kWh.
DC: customers consuming 2500 kWh or more but less than 5000 kWh.
DD: customers consuming 5000 kWh or more but less than 15000 kWh.
DE: customers consuming 15000 kWh or more.
For the final non-household sector, the bands are:
IA: customers consuming less than 20 MWh.
IB: customers consuming 20 MWh or more but less than 500 MWh.
IC: customers consuming 500 MWh or more but less than 2000 MWh.
ID: customers consuming 2000 MWh or more but less than 20000 MWh.
IE: customers consuming 20000 MWh or more but less than 70000 MWh.
IF: customers consuming 70000 MWh or more but less than 150000 MWh.
IG: customers consuming 150000 MWh or more.
There exist 2 different levels of disaggregation for ‘semestrial’ (representing a 6 month period) and annual prices:
1- 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.
2- Annual prices:
These prices are reported once a year together with the data for the second semester and are divided into the following components and taxes:
Energy and supply: generation, aggregation, balancing energy, supplied energy costs, customer services, after-sales management and other supply costs.
Network cost: transmission and distribution tariffs, transmission and distribution losses, network costs, after-sale service costs, system service costs, and meter rental and metering costs.
Value added taxes (VAT): as defined in Council Directive 2006/112/EC.
Renewable taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the promotion of renewable energy sources, energy efficiency and CHP generation.
Capacity taxes: Taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to capacity payments, energy security and generation adequacy; taxes on coal industry restructuring; taxes on electricity distribution; stranded costs and levies on financing energy regulatory authorities or market and system operators.
Environmental taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to air quality and for other environmental purposes; taxes on emissions of CO2 or other greenhouse gases. This component includes the excise duties.
Nuclear taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges relating to the nuclear sector, including nuclear decommissioning, inspections and fees for nuclear installations.
All other taxes: taxes, fees, levies or charges not covered by any of the previous five categories: support for district heating; local or regional fiscal charges; island compensation; concession fees relating to licences and fees for the occupation of land and public or private property by networks or other devices.
In addition to these elements, the network cost is split into the respective shares of transmission and distribution. The relative share of consumption in the different consumption bands is reported by the countries and used to calculate the single national electricity prices (weighted averages for consumer bands IA-IF and DA-DE) but not published because it could potentially be used to re-calculate some commercially confidential values.
The taxes and levies (including Value Added Tax) data recorded and presented are non-refundable.
Examples of the taxes reported in "All other taxes" for natural gas include Smart Meters and charges for "Better Billing" policies.
Household and final non-household consumers divided into consumption bands.
Household customers: Data coming from 6 suppliers out of approximately 73 suppliers and currently (based on Quarter 1 2019) representing approximately 60% of the market share for household customers.
Final non-household customers: Data coming from 8 natural gas suppliers out of around 90 suppliers and currently (based on Quarter 1 2019) representing approximately 65% of the market share final non-household customers market.
Data is collected for Great Britain, which includes England, Wales and Scotland. But excludes Northern Ireland. Additionally it excludes overseas dependencies.
Data are recorded on a ‘semester’ based approach which is period of 6 months within a given year. For these ‘semestrial’ prices, the reference periods are from January to June for semester 1 and from July to December for semester 2. For annual prices, the reference period is the whole calendar year (from January to December).
Errors can occur at various stages of the survey process. Supplier errors occur when they supply incorrect information. To assist in identifying errors at source, the questionnaires for both households and non-households contain built-in validation checks to prompt data suppliers where their data are incorrect. For example, data suppliers are warned if they are reporting values including levies and taxes as lower than values excluding levies and taxes, incorrect VAT rates etc.
All prices data are reported in the national currency (in this case pound sterling [£]) per kWh. However, Eurostat also calculates and publishes these prices in EURO and PPS (purchasing power parity). Relative shares of sub-component of the network component and consumption volumes are reported in percentages.
The UK's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy aggregate the returns on submission and compile them in the format for submission to Eurostat.
Data are collected direct from energy suppliers. Energy suppliers record the price and volumes on their own data management systems.
Electricity prices in United Kingdom are published on a semestrial / 6-monthly basis on Eurostat's website. The Department also releases a Quarterly Energy Prices statistical release and incorporates European data into the bi-annual International tables. Other similar statistics are released on a monthly and quarterly basis.
Natural gas providers that participate in the national data collection are requested to provide the natural gas price data within 2-3 weeks after the reference period. After arrival, the team 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.
Data is collected to the same standard as other Eurostat submissions. The coverage is Great Britain as Gas data is not collected for Northern Ireland.
The basis for collection has remained the same over time but there have been methodological changes in line with Eurostat and these had been designated as a break in series in the associated releases.
