HIGHLIGHTS of the year 2014-2015 Introduction If I look back over the past year: I notice a slightly higher focus on internal activities than external ones this year, even if we had very positive actions politically. After last Council of Delegates in Portoroz in September 2014, we tackled the following issues and spent time on: - The assessment and discussions of contributions, versus the value added and the future budgets. - The creation and development of a new website: the structural template/software (html) is outsourced but the content structure, lay-out, images search, creation of content and input i.e. uploading docs, imaging and tagging documents etc. is very time-consuming. - Updating the AIE directory and matrix (integrating pictures double checking informationchange of staff or official mandates) - Sector statistics, in the framework of the AIE Directory - Activating, supporting and follow-up the task forces: the energy task force with a new chairman, the communication and social media task force, the platform for competition experts and of course the technical task force. But as said before the AIE has simultaneously also been very active on the following topics:
1) COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION ON THE EVALUATION OF NATIONAL REGULATIONS ON ACCESS TO PROFESSIONS Further to the discussion at the Strategic forum in 2014, the AIE secretariat invited the person at the European Commission in charge of the profession of electricians to the General Secretaries meeting of November. Mrs Barbara van Liedekerke explained that the idea of the Commission is to have an assessment of the Member States’ rules with regard to the access a profession in the country. In the current European database about 800 professions are regulated in the EU out of which 6.3% in the construction sector. The study aims to assess the justification and proportionality of the (potential) rules against the public interest. First ascertainment is that the profession ‘electrician’ has a lot of different definitions! Another question rises to understand what is a regulated profession? In the Commission’s understanding, a profession is regulated when a rule (a restriction) is imposed before being able to start a profession. In this context, the issue of requirements set for companies against requirements for workers is obviously of importance as situations in the countries are quite different. E.g. Italy is regulating companies not the workers, there where in Switzerland it is the opposite, they regulate the workers not the companies. In the UK they have no regulation to access the profession but a lot of rules regulating the services delivered to the customer as to ensure AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 1
quality and safety. In Finland, they are used that everything related to health and safety is regulated, so there should be no change for the electrician profession from that point of view.
How has the AIE been engaged? - After having invited the Commission official for an intense and fruitful debate, the AIE has introduced a position paper on this topic on the 19th of December focusing on the safety and health aspect as well as on the variety/complexity of activities/services within the profession. It has been introduced at the Commission just before Christmas. Since the qualification in the electrical contracting sector is a key factor for the maintenance of quality and safety, the AIE considers measures as dubious if they intervene - especially on the economical level of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) - in the existing systems ensuring qualification. - During the year 2015, the AIE General Secretary regularly contacted the person at the Commission in charge of the specific profession of the electricians, Mrs van Liedekerke, to know the latest state-of-play. The mutual evaluation exercise today still continues, although there will be no more further meetings with Member States so far to discuss specific professions.
AIE’s action plan 2015-2016: Main focus is on Member States and the analysis they have to make in order to present a report to the Commission and explain/ justify why a rule is imposed/ needed in their country and propose action plans, as foreseen by Directive 2005/36/EC, by 18 January 2016. The reports on specific professions are being updated or have been sent for a last check to Member States. The one on the electricians is expected to be published on the Commission’s website by the end of September 2015. As the exercise is being done between the Commission and the Member States directly, the AIE can hardly influence. It is extremely important though to have national experts (from the associations) at the meetings of the Members States as to deliver the messages (from AIE and national) through the national channels! Once introduced, the Commission will assess the national action plans and propose a whole picture. Theoretically the Commission could make a recommendation (or country specific recommendations), a regulation or edit guidelines.
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Disseminate and use the AIE recommendations at national/ European level where appropriate: - Acknowledge that member states must be free to determine if and how measures that have impact on their education, training and skills systems should be implemented i.e. countries who have an access to the profession should be entitled to keep it: each Member State should still be free regarding the choice of the required qualification level on national territory. - Resist bureaucracy and duplication by opposing the imposition of individual requirements for the installation of technical systems. The Member States must be free to ensure particularly for SMEs - a high degree of service quality by means of personal certification of a business owner with a minimum of bureaucracy. Otherwise the SMEs will face the risk to be forced to keep highly diverse company certificates.
2) AIE’S MEMBERSHIP AND CONTRIBUTION SYSTEM Further to the Strategic forum in September 2014 in Slovenia and several specific requests from Luxemburg, Hungary, Spain and Portugal, this issue has been on the agenda of the General Secretaries meeting and the PCC meeting several times during the year starting in November 2014 up to the summer 2015 with diverse conference calls amongst the PCC members. The PCC moreover dedicated an entire day only to this topic balancing all arguments, looking at it very cautiously and from different angles. There are 2 main issues: - Loss or fewer AIE members has a direct impact on the existing members increasing their contribution without increasing the budget; this questions the expectations and needs of the members towards the AIE and the level of value for money. - In any case, the AIE budget should rather be increased than decreased (no further squeezing of expenses is possible). At their meetings, the General Secretaries all agreed that: - The existing formula is good enough and is working well. - Reducing the AIE budget is not an option rather increasing it, should be considered. - The case of Luxemburg could be considered as a specific case because of the size of the country. - The real question associations need to ask themselves is whether and what the real benefit is of the AIE membership. If the membership is properly valued, the current small contribution to AIE should not be a problem. Based on these recommendations the PCC reached the conclusions on 9 April (see separate docs) and 14 August.
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AIE’s action plan 2015-2016: - The conclusions will be presented and need to be ratified by the Council of Delegates: 1. According to the Articles of the AIE, the AIE has 3 categories of membership: full, associate and corresponding membership. Over the years the AIE proposed a new category entitled ‘developing membership’ for new candidates as a step-in membership. 2. The fees and rights related to the categories of membership are explicitly described. 3.
The PCC decides to have no compromise or tailor-made solutions.
3) PRIMARY ENERGY CONVERSION FACTOR: STATE-OF PLAY The EU has established targets for the climate and energy policy followed up by a comprehensive regulatory framework. The problem is the use of conversion factors for electricity in several of these EU directives and regulations. The EU requires indeed that, when calculating total energy use at end-user level, the electricity consumption is multiplied by a conversion factor as to calculate the amount of primary energy used in power plants. In legislative acts such as the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD), the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) and both the eco-design and energy labelling Directive, the Conversion Coefficient factor (2,5) is used to define and express the energy efficiency of electric products.
How has the AIE been engaged? In AIE’s view the current use of PEF as a tool/instrument leads to:
Contradictions with current EU energy and climate objectives and their instruments e.g. RES and the EU ETS Inconsistencies with the realization of the internal market for electricity and gas Thanks to continuous pressure and actions over the past year, in 2014, the issue is now definitely on the table of the priorities of the Commission. DG Energy organized an ‘ad hoc’ special Consultation forum meeting on «the primary energy factor» on 11 December 2014 with as main question: should a review of PEF be undertaken? In view of this meeting the AIE has taken the initiative to organize prior to the meeting, a Conf call on 4 December with the Euro electrical stakeholders group (8 stakeholders), established on the initiative of the AIE in December 2013. The outcome of the ad hoc consultation forum composed of Member States was positive in AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 4
the sense that there was an acknowledgment that something should change about the factor. Surprisingly some representatives of MS present at the meeting didn’t always have the same opinion as the one known in the respective country. The minutes of the meeting have been shared with the Task Force Energy members. The Commission concluded the meeting as follows: - The flexibility available under the EED and the EPBD should not be affected by any modification of the default PEF value. - A study will therefore be launched in order to update the value of the PEF. The study will look into issues such as the use of average or marginal efficiencies and the current, future or desired PEF value. It will examine the extension of the use of primary energy factors to other energy carriers, taking into account the time when energy is consumed calculating the PEF. - Participants (Member States and stakeholders) of the meeting will be invited to take part on the study. The study will be outsourced to a consultant.
AIE’s action plan 2015 – 2016: - Together with the Euro electrical stakeholders group a leaflet will be edited in September explaining the problematic use of PEF and its adverse impact with the aim to distribute and use it to accurately inform officials at European and national level on this issue. - As the consultant of the study has been appointed by the EC during summer 2015, the study will start in autumn 2015 and last for one year. The AIE Task Force Energy will carefully prepare the response to the study. - The AIE Task Force Energy will mobilize contacts through European and national networks to enhance the understanding of this complex topic. - The AIE will constantly enhance its contacts and European alliances on this topic.
4) ECODESIGN DIRECTIVE: LOT 8 POWER CABLES In the framework of the eco-design and labelling Directive, the EC study: “losses in installed power cables in electric circuits in buildings after the meter” launched in 2014, concluded in February 2015. Some stakeholders are indeed convinced that changing the cross section of the cable in nonresidential in-door electrical installations would save a lot of energy and create employment in the installation sector. A stakeholders meeting was held on 13 November 2014, attended by the AIE. Since the beginning the AIE has however not been convinced of the real utility of the study stating at each meeting that energy efficiency of power cables is not the problem but rather the way power cables are used and the quality of the cables. AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 5
The conclusions of the November meeting were that the consultant had to review the policy options and that additional comments could be introduced before Christmas. How has the AIE been engaged? The AIE has repeatedly advocated it didn’t believe in the real benefit (energy savings versus price) of the study and the data provided, as not being reliable enough. The AIE technical experts have been regularly consulted and informed on the topic. During informal contacts with the Commission, the AIE General Secretary understood that the Commission was not inclined to regulate on this topic as requested by the AIE. The study started in June 2013 and was finalised in May 2015. It seems that AIE’s arguments have been heard as the Commission decided not to follow-up on the conclusions of the study.
AIE’s action plan 2015-2016 No further action is needed in this area for the time being.
5) OUTCOME OF THE EU 2030 CLIMATE AND ENERGY PACKAGE 2014 and 2015 have been important years regarding future EU energy and climate policy. - The proposal of the Commission of 22 January 2014 on the Energy and Climate package has been endorsed by the Heads of States on 23 October 2014. The Climate and Energy Package for 2030 concluded to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by at least 40%, and to increase energy efficiency and renewables by at least 27% . The AIE had called for a binding Energy Efficiency Target as this is the proven cost-effective potential for the EU. The AIE believes the EU's role is to create the overall framework of the EU energy market but the effective and concrete measures/ actions should be decided and carried out at national level with a sector-specific approach. - As part of the Energy Union strategy, the European Commission presented on 15 July 2015 Summer Energy Package with two Communications and proposals to deliver a new deal for energy consumers, to launch a redesign of the European electricity market, to update energy efficiency labelling and to revise the EU Emissions Trading System (ETS). According to the Commission, the package is seen as an important step towards implementing the Energy Union strategy with a forward looking climate change policy, launched as one of the political priorities of the Juncker Commission in February 2015.
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How has the AIE been engaged? - The AIE continued to closely monitor the EU Energy policy, participating regularly to conferences, a way to perceive the Commission’s intentions and focus and informing the AIE member associations regularly on the developments. - The AIE addressed with the EURO electrical stakeholders group the challenges regarding the use of a primary energy factor on electricity (PEF) in the context of EU energy and climate policy. The Council conclusions indicate that the Commission will propose ‘priority sectors in which significant energy efficiency gains can be reaped and ways to address them’. The building sector is one of these top priority sectors! Buildings should feature as the top priority sector to be addressed in upcoming legislation revision, namely with the review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy Efficiency Directive. Buildings play a major role in the EU’s energy dependence and high import costs Energy Performance Directive of Building - EPDB Directive Under the terms of the EPBD, the Commission is required to carry out an evaluation of the Directive by the end of 2016. Part of the evaluation is the launch of a consultation opened on 3 July 2015. Open until 31 October 2015, this consultation offers the chance to give feedback on EU rules designed to improve the energy efficiency of buildings. The consultation will also explore issues in relation to the Smart Finance for Smart Buildings initiative and the links of the directive with other energy policy areas. The public consultation launches the review into the directive, which is due by the end of 2016.
AIE’s action plan 2015-2016: - The AIE Task Force Energy will prepare its response to the public consultation by the end of October. - After the consultation the AIE will share its position with other stakeholders as to strengthen views and alliances on issues of common interest. - Promote the AIE recommendations with a particular focus on the importance of safe electrical installations in existing buildings, the smart meters, access to finance for SME’s (see AIE’s position paper of May 2012 on Financial Support for Energy Efficiency in Buildings) and the importance of a strong value chain.
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- Energy efficiency Directive (EED) The Climate and Energy Summer Package give prominence to the "energy efficiency first" principle and put households and business consumers at the heart of the European energy market. A review of the existing Energy efficiency Directive has been announced for 2016. AIE’s action plan 2015 - 2016 - The AIE Task Force Energy will prepare the upcoming review and consultation of the EED. - Energy Labelling Directive The Energy Labelling Directive 2010/30/EU and the Ecodesign Directive 2009/125/EC are considered to be pillars of the EU's energy efficiency policy. Both Directives also require the Commission to review and assess the effectiveness of the Directives and their application. Energy labels help consumers choose energy efficient products. On 15 July 2015 the Commission proposed a return to a single A to G label scale. Currently, several different energy label scales exist (from A to G, A+++ to D, etc), but over the years since 1995 when the label was introduced, energy efficiency has improved so much that most of the products now on the market are in the top energy efficiency class. The single A to G label would help consumers distinguish the most efficient products of today more easily. The Commission also proposed the creation of a new energy efficient product digital database to boost transparency and improve compliance with the rules. How has the AIE been engaged? In March 2015, the AIE with other stakeholders amongst which GCP Europe introduced a joint position paper in view of the upcoming Energy Labelling Directive review outlining two primary reservations about the concepts of labelling of professional equipment and the Dealer/Installer Label. - Empowering energy consumers As announced by the AIE, the Commission recognizes that citizens must be at the core of the Energy Union. In its Communication of 15 July 2015 on delivering a new deal for energy consumers, The Communication acknowledges that more and more consumers engage in collective self-generation and cooperative schemes to better manage their energy AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 8
consumption. This innovation by consumers is also resulting in innovation for consumers and opens up new business models. AIE’s action plan 2015-2016 - This approach from the Commission gives the AIE the opportunity to enhance the importance of the electrical contractors’ advising role towards the consumers to raise their awareness about their energy consumption and how to easily save or self-consume energy with current and available technology. 6) EUROSKILLS 2014 – LILLE: ‘Excellence is not a single act but a good habit!’ October 2014, 3 days of intensive cooperation, stress and exchange for the Euroskills competition integrating for the first time the AIE Competition, as a single trade competition (and no multi trade competition) but with a successful outcome. EuroSkills 2014 isn’t only about competing for the nearly 90.000 visitors it was about discovering and trying trades, getting information about training programs and meeting tomorrow’s highly qualified young European professionals. It is also the place where a lot of European leaders of industry, education and training come together at different organized seminars, conferences and meetings. Important decisions were made during these days of competition: - The AIE and the Euroskills’ experts agreed to have the AIE as a platform for the experts to communicate and share views and experiences before, during and after the competition! - The AIE as Worldskills Europe associate member stimulates the networking between members, experts and stakeholders of the installation sector. By daily blogging and posting on AIE’s digital communication channels, the electrical installation sector is put in the spotlight, whilst enhancing the visibility of the electrical branch. How has the AIE been engaged? - Before and during the competition, the AIE visibility and electrical contractors’ interests are represented by the Chief expert, Adrian Sommer from VSEI, the Swiss AIE member association. - During the competition, the AIE secretariat is present and communicates ‘live’ on the social media. The AIE uses daily the social media to promote the profession and publishes each day both on the aie-cye blog and on the facebook page, interviews, testimonials of experts and AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 9
candidates and demonstrates hereby what the profession looks like today, the highly skilled profile of electricians and what future apprentices can reach for! - The AIE General Secretary proposed to be THE platform at European level for the experts in-between the competitions to stimulate, increase and share ideas, discussions, misunderstandings, views. A first meeting took place in spring 2015 and has ben asked to be repeated. AIE’s action plan for 2015-2016: - Next Euroskills competition is in Goteborg, Sweden, in December 2016. The AIE will reorganise a next meeting between experts to exchange on potential issues of discussion. - The AIE will keep close contact with the organizers of Euroskills to ensure the best competition conditions for the competitors. - The AIE will use all possible means to enhance AIE’s visibility on one hand and to promote the profession of the electrical contractors on the other.
7) SUPPORT TO TASK FORCES - The Task Force Energy Services [ETF] The Task Force Energy was reorganized with a new chairman appointed at last Council of Delegates Mr Alexis Cintrat (SERCE). The Task Force agreed upon several actions in the near future on topics such as the Energy Union draft paper, the follow-up of the Primary Energy Conversion factor in the framework of the energy labelling Directive, the upcoming review of the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive and the Energy efficiency Directive review of this Directive and possible energy efficient measures and ideas of financing renovation from an electrical contracting viewpoint! The recently re-launched task force with new energy experts as members is most enthusiastic and creative. See report of the task force.
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- The Technical Task Force The Technical Task Force has equally been partially renewed with new members and held a meeting in November in Oslo and in June in Edinburgh. Safety being the backbone behind a lot of topics, members discuss and share views on ongoing standards, but equally share national best practices and the development of national technological trends. The Task Force decided to have standardization issues and regulations of the hosting association at each meeting on their agenda next to one more specific topic to be discussed in-depth: inspection of electrical installations, electric mobility, integration of RES into the grid, energy storage smart meters/ grid‌. One of these topics will certainly be the digitalization and integration of IT in buildings. The Internet of Things and the Internet of Services is (Industry 4.0) currently known in Europe as the Fourth industrial revolution. By 2020, 50 billion devices will be connected to the web. Integrated with sensors, products, tools, and machinery provides an opportunity for faster decision making and remote control. The dividing lines between the internet, the machines, the software, the tools and the work piece will start to disappear. Everything will become a piece of the other, like switching your lights on from your smartphone. This requires reflection on how should the electrical contracting company look like in 2020, 2030? A proposal coming from the manufacturers that will be tackled is the implementation in a standard of a new sign visible on electrical products requiring electrical professional expertise and competence for its installation.
- The Task Force Communication and Social Media The Task Force Communication and social media launched in 2014 held its second on 24 February 2015 and discussed best practices to attract young people to our branch with in-depth examples such as the website for vocational education E-Zubis and the Social Media activities of the German electrical contractor association within the E-Zubis channels on Facebook, Blog and You Tube. Evelyne Schellekens reported on a video competition in the construction industry organised by the EU. The group shared experiences about effective arguments in consumer business: what are the magic words that make people want to invest in modern electrical solutions? AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 11
Most interesting and highly motivating and creative discussions were held on new ideas and new marketing concept/project ‘blogger-co-operation’, on their experience with You Tube and the Facebook and on the successful social media campaign ‘De Techniek achter Nederland’, that won the local ‘Super Promoter’ Award in the Netherlands. The aim for future meetings remains to stimulate the interactive communication possibilities between AIE and its member associations and to search information or promote successful national activities/ campaigns.
8) ALLIANCE, PARTNERSHIPS AND NETWORK WITH SECTOR RELATED ASSOCIATIONS
- On 28 November 2013 the CEETB General Assembly decided on the voluntary liquidation of CEETB. The procedure of liquidation of CEETB has been finalised and published in August 2015. - The electrical value chain Alliance on a common position on the Primary energy conversion factor has been initiated by the AIE and gathers:
EUEW (European Union of electrical wholesalers) CECED (European committee of domestic equipment manufacturers) EURELECTRIC (Union of the Electricity Industry) ECI (European Copper Industry) EUHA (Electric underfloor heating Alliance) NHO (Norwegian industry Association)
Others: Cooperating partner of CENELEC – the European Committee for Electrotechnical standardization Member of the Sherpa group within Orgalime (European Engineering Industries Association) Contacts with Europacable on the sector related issues amongst which the study under the ecodesign legislation on power cables KNX Partnership: The proposal of a joint Energy Efficiency Award has been presented and discussed with the AIE members. Participation to Renovate Europe and the Construction Forum Build-UP Partner: well-established umbrella and network organisations committed to energy efficiency in buildings across Europe. Reactivation of FEEDS: AIE Annual Report 2014-2015 | CoD Edinburgh | 12
9) NEW AIE WEBSITE AND DATABASE The AIE website urgently needed a fresh and modern redesigned look. After consultation with the General Secretaries and PCC on the needs and expectations regarding the AIE website, the AIE started the laborious work to re-think and reshape the website. Tough the structure and backstage is outsourced, the content, uploading and tagging of documents have entirely being done by the AIE secretariat. New features is the ‘Search’ tab in the ‘Members only’ area that should help a user friendly use of the website when looking for documents, Directives, position papers and information. The ‘Members only’ area is actually also much more extensive than the visible public part. A demonstration is given during the Council of Delegates.
10) AIE MEMBERS’ DIRECTORY and PRESENTATION BROCHURE The Directory of the AIE is a live document as people come and go, and is therefore annually updated with new Presidents or staff members and their picture. This is a very helpful document for all members as to identify people visually but also with their data. In this brochure the AIE secretariat also inserts statistics from every country/ association on numbers of companies and workforce.
11) AIE representation at ZVEH, SELECT, EUEW, ECA, FENIE Information, communication with and participation to national AIE members’ events is a priority for the AIE. In 2015 the AIE has participated at the General Assemblies of ZVEH and SELECT, attended the annual ECA’s event and visited the CEO of FENIE.
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