Archive:Electricity, gas and steam production and distribution statistics - NACE Rev. 1.1
This Statistics Explained article is outdated and has been archived - for recent articles on structural business statistics see here.
- Data from January 2009. Most recent data: Further Eurostat information, Main tables and Database.
This article introduces a set of statistical articles which analyse the structure, development and characteristics of the economic activities in the production and distribution of electricity, gas and steam in the European Union (EU). According to the statistical classification of economic activities in the EU (NACE Rev 1.1), this sector covers NACE Division 40, and its activities are subdivided into three groups:
_Final_energy_consumption-_share_of_selected_network_fuels,_EU-27_(%25).PNG)
_Structural_profile-_ranking_of_top_five_Member_States,_2006.PNG)
_MAP,_2006.PNG)
_Evolution_of_main_indicators,_EU-27_(2000%3D100).PNG)
_Share_of_value_added_and_persons_employed_by_enterprise_size_class,_EU-27,_2006_(%25).PNG)
_Share_of_employment_by_enterprise_size_class,_EU-27,_2006.PNG)
_Employment_characteristics,_2007.PNG)
_Investment_rate,_EU-27,_2006_(%25).PNG)
_Analysis_of_operating_expenditure,_EU-27,_2006_(%25).PNG)
_Labour_output_and_costs,_EU-27,_2006_(EUR_thousand_per_capita).PNG)
.PNG)
_(1).PNG)
_(1).PNG)
_for_industrial_consumers,_1_January_2007.PNG)
_Main_indicators,_2006_(1).PNG)
- The production and distribution of electricity (corresponding to NACE Group 40.1). This can be generated from fossil, nuclear or renewable fuels.
- The production and distribution of gas via mains (NACE Group 40.2). The manufacture of gas includes the manufacture of gas from the carbonisation of coal, from by-products of agriculture or from waste, but does not include the manufacture of refined petroleum products, or of industrial gases. The distribution of gas concerns only distribution through a mains network, and does not include the bulk sale and transport of gaseous fuels, or its distribution in canisters.
- The production and distribution of steam and hot water supply (NACE Group 40.3). This is normally for district heating, also known as city heating. District heating is the distribution of heat through a network to one or several buildings using hot water or steam produced centrally, often from co-generation plants, from waste heat from industry, or from dedicated heating systems. Large-scale district heating in Europe is commonly found in central and eastern Europe and in the Nordic countries.
Main statistical findings
Final energy consumption in the EU-27 was 1 176 million tonnes of oil equivalent in 2006, an overall increase of 5.5 % compared with the level in 1996. When comparing the situation in 2006 with ten years earlier, the two main network fuels, natural gas and electricity, both witnessed an increase in their share of final energy consumption, particularly electricity.
Structural profile
There were 22.2 thousand enterprises in the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector (NACE Division 40) across the EU-27 in 2006 which employed 1.2 million persons. Together these enterprises generated EUR 180.4 billion of value added. This sector clearly benefitted from a very high level of labour productivity, as it contributed far more to the non-financial business economy (NACE Sections C to I and K) in terms of value added (3.2 %) than in terms of employment (0.9 %).
An analysis of the subsectors is difficult due to generally weak data availability. Nevertheless, the production and distribution of electricity (NACE Group 40.1) was clearly the largest in value added terms, as it contributed approximately four fifths of the sector's value added. The manufacture of gas and distribution of gaseous fuels through mains (NACE Group 40.2) subsector was the next largest, certainly with more than one tenth of the sectoral value added, while the steam and hot water supply subsector (NACE Group 40.3) was the smallest subsector.
In a number of Member States this sector was particularly important in terms of its contribution to value added within the non-financial business economy. In Slovakia the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector contributed 13.7 % of non-financial business economy value added in 2006, making this the largest of all the structural business statistics sectors sectors presented in that country. Furthermore, this was the sector where both the Czech Republic and Slovakia recorded their highest levels of specialisation in value added terms. Several of the Member States that were particularly specialised in the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector were net exporters of electricity – while the least specialised Member State[1], Luxembourg, was also the biggest net importer (in relative terms).
For reasons of statistical confidentiality the exact regional specialisation data for this sector is rather limited. Nevertheless, the map shows several Hungarian, Polish, Slovak and Romanian regions, one Swedish region as well as Lithuania, Latvia and Bulgaria (which are each considered as a single region at the level of detail in the map) that are specialised in the supply of electricity, gas, steam and hot water in employment terms.
Over the ten years between 1997 and 2007, electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply output in the EU-27 increased more or less in line with that for total industry, but employment fell faster and output prices grew much faster. Over the same period, output from the production and distribution of electricity grew by 1.5 % per year on average, while for the manufacture of gas and its distribution through mains growth averaged 2.9 % per year: the latter was well above the industrial average of 2.1 % per year.
The decrease in employment averaged 3.0 % per year in the ten years to 2007 for electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply, a rate of decline that was approximately two and a half times as fast as the industrial average.
The most remarkable characteristic of the developments over time for these activities was however the change in prices. Between 2003 and 2006 electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply output prices rose every year, particularly in 2005 and 2006 when double-digit growth was recorded. In 2007 output prices for these activities fell very slightly (-0.4 %) while industrial prices as a whole continued to increase (2.8 %). Note that output prices are valued at basic prices, therefore excluding taxes on products.
The enterprise size class structure of the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector was very different from that of the non-financial business economy as a whole. The sector was dominated by large enterprises (with 250 or more persons employed) that employed more than four fifths of the sector's workforce in the EU-27, some 2.5 times as much as the non-financial business economy average: this was the highest employment share contributed by large enterprises among the structural business statistics sectors. The contribution of the other size classes, in particular micro and small enterprises with less than 50 persons employed, was extremely low.
Employment characteristics
The EU-27's workforce in the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector contained a particularly high proportion of men, 76.8 % in 2007, 6.8 percentage points above the industrial (NACE Sections C to E) average and 11.9 percentage points above the non-financial business economy average. The incidence of full-time employment was also above the industrial and non-financial business economy averages, at 94.5 %.
The age profile of the EU-27's electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector was also very different from that for the non-financial business economy. The proportion of the workforce aged less than 30 was particularly low, just 15.6 %, the fourth lowest among the industrial NACE divisions. Consequently the proportions of the workforce in the other two age classes were high: the 29.0 % of the workforce aged 50 or over was the third highest among all non-financial business economy NACE divisions in 2007.
Expenditure, productivity and profitability
An analysis of investment and operating expenditure indicates the capital-intensive nature of the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector. Gross tangible investment in the EU-27 was valued at EUR 62.1 billion in 2006, 6.0 % of the non-financial business economy total. This high level of investment was equivalent to 34.4 % of value added in this sector, the second highest investment rate among the industrial (NACE Sections C to E) NACE divisions. The relatively low labour input in this sector is underlined by the very low share of personnel costs in operating expenditure, just 7.4 % in the EU-27, less than half the non-financial business economy average and the third lowest among the EU-27's industrial NACE divisions.
Average personnel costs in the EU-27's electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector were EUR 46.7 thousand per employee in 2006, and the apparent labour productivity was EUR 147.0 thousand per person employed. Both of these were high in comparison with non-financial business economy averages, particularly the apparent labour productivity which was the fourth highest of all non-financial business economy NACE divisions in 2005 or 2006. The resulting wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio was 314.4 % indicating that value added per person employed was over three times as high as average personnel costs. In every Member State[2] the wage-adjusted labour productivity ratio in this sector was higher than the non-financial business economy average.
The EU-27 gross operating rate for the electricity, gas, steam and hot water supply sector, calculated as the ratio of the gross operating surplus to turnover, was 14.0 % in 2006, also above the non-financial business economy (10.8 %) average.
Focus on electricity
Gross electricity generation in the EU-27 in 2006 was 3 358 TWh. More than half (53.6 %) of this was generated in coal, natural gas, lignite, oil or derived gas-fired thermal power stations and just under three tenths (29.5 %) in nuclear power stations. The largest part of the remaining generation was in hydroelectric power plants (10.3 %), biomass-fired power stations (2.7 %) and wind turbines (2.4 %).
Within Europe there are some movements of electricity across borders and in fact some smaller Member States and candidate countries are particularly dependent on external sources for their electricity supply. For example, in Luxembourg and Latvia, as well as in Croatia, the level of net imports is very high relative to gross electricity generation. Among the Member States, the largest net exporters of electricity in 2006 (in relative terms) were Bulgaria, Denmark, the Czech Republic and France.
In 2001, a target of 21 % was set for the share of renewable energy sources (wind, solar, geothermal, wave, tidal, hydropower, biomass, landfill gas, sewage treatment plant gas and biogases) in electricity consumption by 2010. The contribution to electricity generation from renewables in 2006 in terms of gross national electricity consumption (gross national electricity generation from all fuels plus net electricity imports) for the EU-27 as a whole stood at 14.6 %. Several of the Member States recorded a large increase in the contribution of renewables in recent years: notably Denmark and Germany.
Concerns about safety and waste have been issues for nuclear energy for a long time, but the benefits of nuclear fuel have been boosted due to rising concerns about the security of other energy supplies, while at the same time the Member States have committed themselves to reduce emissions. According to the World Nuclear Association, as of February 2009, Bulgaria, France, Romania, Slovakia, Finland and Turkey had started construction or planned new nuclear reactors, as had Russia, Belarus and the Ukraine: outside of Europe most of the countries constructing or planning new nuclear reactors were in Asia or North America.
Prices
The price of two types of energy provided to consumers is shown, in this case to industrial consumers, in terms of the price per unit (GJ for gas or kWh for electricity) at the beginning of 2007 across the Member States. Bulgaria, Estonia and Latvia recorded the lowest prices for both products. Ireland, Cyprus and Italy had the most expensive electricity prices, and Germany, Sweden and the United Kingdom the highest gas prices.
Data sources and availability
The main part of the analysis in this article is derived from structural business statistics (SBS), including core, business statistics which are disseminated regularly, as well as information compiled on a multi-yearly basis, and the latest results from development projects.
Other data sources include short-term statistics (STS), the Labour force survey (LFS), energy statistics (ES) and structural indicators.
Context
The gas and electricity markets in the EU have been changing through the requirements of the second electricity and gas directives adopted in 2003. In September 2007 the European Commission adopted proposals for a third package of legislation (COM(2007) 530). This proposed the effective separation of production and transmission/distribution, harmonisation of the powers of national regulators, measures to facilitate and promote cross-border collaboration and trade, as well as investment.
Further Eurostat information
Publications
Main tables
Database
Dedicated section
Further information
- COM(2007) 530 final - Proposal for establishing an Agency for the Cooperation of Energy Regulators
See also
- Consumption of energy
- Electricity market indicators
- Electricity production, consumption and market overview
- Electricity production and supply statistics
- Energy price statistics
- Natural gas market indicators
- Renewable energy statistics