Under this directive, member states must achieve energy savings over the period from January 1, 2014 to December 31, 2020 by using Energy Efficiency Obligations Schemes and/or other targeted policy measures to drive energy efficiency improvements in households, industry and transport sectors.
Under the Energy Efficiency Obligations Schemes, companies have to take measures to ensure energy savings at final customer level, for example by giving advice on installing better insulation or offering grants for replacing old energy-wasting windows, the European Commission said in a statement.
The directive had to be transposed into national law by 5 June 2014.
If member states do not comply with this obligation to transpose the directive within two months, the Commission may decide to refer them to the Court of Justice of the EU and ask for financial penalties. In the course of the second semester of 2014, the Commission launched infringement procedures for non-transposition of the Energy Efficiency Directive against all EU member states except Malta).