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PRODUCTION OF A MANUAL FOR STATISTICS ON ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN HOUSEHOLDS
MESH PROJECT
FINAL MINUTES
WORKING MEETING 2
Chairman: Jesús P. García
Venue: IDAE offices; C/Madera 8, Madrid
Date: 4 May, 2012
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Production of a manual for statistics on energy consumption in households
Doc. PMSECH/ESSnet/2012/04
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Participants:
EUROSTAT / IDAEMr Roeland Mertens / Mr Fidel Pérez
ST AT / Mr Carlos López
Mr Wolfgang Bittermann / Mr Jesús P. García
CBS / Ms Pilar de Arriba
Mr Jens Nielsen / MINISTRYOF INDUSTRY, ENERGYAND TOURISM
Mr Johannes Hans Pouwelse / Ms Mayte Velasco
SORS / ACA
Ms Mojca Suvorov / Mr Sergio Tirado
DECC / Mr Luis Jiménez
Mr Millard Duncan
Mr Julian Prime
Item 1: Opening of the meeting
The IDAE’s General Director, Mr Fidel Pérez Montes, opened the second meeting of the MESH project at IDAE’s premises.He gave the welcome to all the participants and underlined the importance of the MESH project in the frame of the current energy efficiency policies at the European level. Mr Roeland Mertens thanked the General Director the IDAE’s coordination of the MESH project.
Mr Carlos López, Head of the Planning and Studies Department of IDAEcontinued highlighting the importance of this project in the field of the statistics in the household sector as continuation of the previous SECH project promoted by EUROSTAT, and gave thanks to Mr Roeland Mertens, in representation of EUROSTAT, for the support given through these projects.
In a similar way, Ms Mayte Velasco, in representation of the Ministry of Industry, Energy and Tourism (MINETUR), underlined the necessity of having good information on the energy demand of the different sectors in order to design correctly the correspondent action policies, and thanked EUROSTAT its contribution to a better energy knowledge of key sectors through different initiatives such as the SECH and ESSnet Programmes. In this context, Ms Mayte Velasco mentioned the benefits of the recently finalised SPAHOUSEC project, which is the Spanish version of the SECH project, in the contribution to a better knowledge of the energy demand of the Spanish household sector.
Item 2: Adoption of the Agenda
Mr Jesús P. García reviewed the main points considered in the agenda of the second meeting, and asked the MESH partners for their agreement on the items of the agenda. The proposed agenda was adopted by all participants.
Item 3: Approval of Minutes
Mr Jesús P. García asked the MESH partners for their agreement on the final approval of the minutes of the previous Kickoff Meeting in Luxembourg. The participants approved the minutes of the Kickoff meeting.
Item 4: EUROSTAT’s Report
Mr Roeland Mertens underlined the progress made in the MESH project and the necessity of starting to write the contents of the Manual. Likewise, he mentioned the existence of many overlaps in the preliminary structure of the Manual, and the fuel poverty issue to consider within the Manual.
With regard to the exchange of information, he insisted on the necessity of using the website of the MESH project, and strongly recommended its use to make easier the discussions arisen in the project.
In addition, he mentioned that the methodological questions would not be handled in the second meeting, and asked Mr Jesús P. García to propose an alternative procedure to treat the methodological issues outside the meeting. On the other hand, concerning the methodology to develop, he highlighted that beyond the regulations, this should be comparable among EU countries.
Another aspect mentioned was the acceptance of the Manual, which could be treated in the next working meeting of EUROSTAT in June 2012.
Item 5: Administrative and General Matters
Mr Jesús P. García presented the current status of different administrative and coordination aspects related to the MESH project such as: the newsletters; the technical assistance; the external contributions; the use of the Web site; and the timetable of the project.
Concerning the newsletters, he mentioned that according to the planning of the project, a brief report of one page was expected to be ready which will also be delivered by mail to all the European countries. A first draft of the newsletter will be sent to the MESH partners for comments along the next week, and a final version will be uploaded in the ESSnet portal in two weeks.
Mr Jesús P. García also mentioned that will be useful to introduce the ESSnet project atthe next meeting of Statistical Working Group of EUROSTAT
With regard to access to the portal ESSnet, Ms Mojca Suvorov said that she had not been able to create an account and work with the portal. Mr Roeland Mertens, in reply to this matter, will contact the person in charge of the ESSnet portal at Eurostat to solve this problem and, also, to integrate into the portal a system of automatic notification.
In relation to the deadlines of the tasks, Duncan Milliard underlined the necessity of having awardeda contract with the technical assistance to the end of May, in order to start with some of the tasks of the project. Mr Jesús Pedro replied that in absence of such assistance, IDAE itself would assume the corresponding tasks so that no delays are expected. On the other hand, Mr Jesús Pedro added that the development of some tasks do not require any technical assistance. This is the case of the theoretical chapters of the Manual related to the description of the survey techniques, the general description of the dwelling, etc. So, with independence of the technical assistance, it would be possible to start now the writing of some of the contents of the Manual.
Duncan Milliard remarked that the most important now was to reach an agreement on the final structure of the Manual.
Ms Mojca Suvorov, in answer to Mr Jesús Pedro García, added that theory and practice were not separate issues and agreed with Duncan Milliard on the necessity of having some material about the countries’ experiences in energy statistics in the household sector along these 6 first months.
Item 6: Tasks and Coordination
Ms Pilar de Arriba gave adetailed overview of the status of the current tasks and activities under development, mostly included in the WP2, such as: the geographical coverage, the list of definitions; the standardized methodology; the external contributions; and the technical assistance. Likewise, it was remarked the effort made by IDAE on coordination and communication in order to make possible the development of said tasks.
Ms Pilar de Arriba remarked the geographical scope of the project had been covered by IDAE, considering three main geographical areas where a different procedure of request for information has been applied. The reference considered in the area integrated by EU countries has been the TF 2008 questionnaire to be updated by the EU countries. Ms Pilar de Arriba indicated that as a whole, 38 contacts with countries and organisations had been made, with a response rate over 68%. However, it was remarked the necessity of insisting on the pending countries so that all the necessary information could be obtained.
Additionally, it was highlighted the relevance of the Communication Plan in all the contacts and exchange of information developed during the first months of the project.
With regard to the external contributors, it was mentioned the interest and possible modalities of participation of Greece, Poland and Germany in the project. All the partners agreed on the contribution of Poland and Germany, although no interest was shown about Greece given that its proposal was considered to be covered by all the partners. However, it was decided that the contribution of Greece could be considered later on, being subject to a different proposal and other necessities arisen in the project.
Concerning the standardised methodology, MrHans Pouwelsementioned the existence of different national particularities which could make necessary the application of different statistical approaches and methodologies. Mr. Wolfgang Bittermann replied that the standardization of course has to implydifferent possibilities according to the national circumstances.
Ms Mojca Suvorov mentioned that a minimum set of needs should be considered and taking this as a reference, a more ambitious objective could be considered as a next step, not being necessary to consider a great package of needs.
Duncan Milliard also agreed on the necessity of defining a minimum package of needs.
Ms Mojca Suvorov clarified a small confusion between task 2.4 –List of definitions and the Chapter 3 of the Manual.
Item 7: WP3: Chapters of Manual
Mr Jesús P. García opened the session dedicated to the proposed contents of the chapters led by the different MESH partners, giving the floor to each of them, who exposed the preliminary structures and contents of the chapters under their responsibility.
Mr Roeland Mertens reminded all the partners that this meeting was not addressed to methodological issues, which could be dealt with later.
Finally, Mr Sergio Tirado, from Association of Environmental Sciences, made an introduction to a study focused on the Spanish case of fuel poverty.
After the lunch break, Mr Jesús P. García put in evidence the existing overlaps among the chapters and offered an alternative revised structure of the Manual in order to simplify everything. Afterwards, a round table took place where all the partners together with Mr Roeland Mertens gave input looking for a consensus on the final structure of the Manual, which led to a new definition of the roles and responsibilities which are shown in the final summary of agreements include at the end of the present minutes.
Item 8: Conclusions and Agreements:
The participants adopted the following agreements:
Item 9: NextmeetingConcluding words:
The next working meeting will take place, as planned in the project, in Vienna (Austria) and the participants propose 3 and 4 October. As proposed by Mr. Wolfgang Bittermannthe first day will be reserved for methodological discussions and decisions (boundaries of the sector, activities included etc.) while the second day will focus on organizational items. ST AT will confirm the availability of room meeting for these dates next week.
(*) New structure/leaders and partners
Note: DECC can help on modelling if required.
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Production of a manual for statistics on energy consumption in households
Doc. PMSECH/ESSnet/2012/04