Following the amendment of the Energy Efficiency Act last fall, the Cabinet resolution of May 2024 concerns the amendment of the Energy Services Act (EDL-G), with the federal government’s newly enacted Energy Efficiency Act (EnEfG) (Federal Government Bill) being amended immediately thereafter. The timeline for the parliamentary process is generous: The first reading in the Bundestag is scheduled for early July 2024, with hearings in the Bundestag committee to follow in early October.

New Regulations on Energy Audits

The amendment to the EDL-G primarily concerns the implementation of requirements from the EU Energy Efficiency Directive regarding mandatory energy audits for companies. Currently, this obligation is based on company size: All companies that are not small or medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) must conduct an audit. In the future, all companies with high energy consumption will be required to undergo an audit, regardless of their size. Furthermore, the new EDL-G aims to ensure that companies receive high-quality energy audits conducted by qualified and accredited experts. To this end, the law intends to establish minimum criteria for the experts’ professional competence

No Joke: Repeal of “Gold Plating”

The law also amends Section 9 of the EnEfG, which governs the so-called implementation plans. The 2023 law had stipulated that all companies with an average annual total energy consumption of more than 2.5 gigawatt-hours are required to draw up such plans. The revised version raises this threshold and now only requires companies that consume more than 2.77 gigawatt-hours to do so. This new value aligns exactly with the requirement set forth in the EU Energy Efficiency Directive. While lawmakers last year further increased the number of companies subject to the requirement by generously rounding down the EU standard, they have now reversed course by adopting the EU standard exactly. This is an approach that the BDI strongly welcomes and had already called for during the EnEfG legislative process. It is also welcome news that the requirement for companies to have the completeness and accuracy of their implementation plans verified by certifiers, environmental assessors, or energy auditors is to be eliminated.

Energy Efficiency Networks as a Better Alternative to Regulatory Framework?

The BDI has long advocated for transposing EU requirements into national law on a one-to-one basis—and thus as streamlined as possible. This would still be possible in other areas of the EnEfG, such as the additional requirements the law imposes on companies’ energy management systems. It would be conceivable to waive such requirements for all companies participating in an energy efficiency network—a joint initiative of the business community and the federal government that is also supported by the BDI. This initiative involves a collaboration among companies that set voluntary savings targets over a period of several years and have been very successful in reducing energy consumption and CO2 emissions (for more details, visit the initiative’s website: Energy Efficiency and Climate Protection Network Initiative. This would give companies the option to choose between regulatory compliance and participation in a multi-year voluntary network. The coming months will show whether policymakers are open to such an innovative approach. It would certainly represent a further reduction in bureaucracy.