(i) The energy balance is the most complete statistical accounting of energy products and their flow in the economy. The energy balance allows users to see the total amount of energy extracted from the environment, traded, transformed and used by different types of end-users. It also allows seeing the relative contribution of each energy carrier (fuel, product). (ii) Basic data on energy quantities are given in fuel specific units e.g. solid and liquid fuels in thousand tonnes, electricity in Gigawatt-hours, heat and gases in terajoules (TJ). The basic energy quantities data are converted to energy units, i.e. in Terajoules and Tonnes of oil equivalent to allow comparison of different fuel types. (iii) Annual data collection cover in principle the EU Member States, EFTA, EU candidate countries, and potential candidate countries. (iv) Data are obtained from the National Administrations competent for energy statistics. Questionnaires in standardized electronic format are collected from the national authorities via data transmission over the Internet.
