Statistics ministry expert panel seeks uniform energy data standards

The panel has recommended common end-use categories, conversion factors and product classifications to harmonise India's energy statistics and improve policy analysis

An expert committee constituted by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation (Mospi) has recommended that all energy ministries report fuel consumption data using a common set of end-use categories aligned with international standards, identifying it as the key reform needed to harmonise India's fragmented energy statistics.

 

The recommendation is part of the Expert Committee on Energy Statistics report released by Mospi on Monday.

 

"In order to ensure uniformity and harmonisation in the energy statistics database of India, all the line energy ministries should capture statistics on standard sectoral end-use consumption of energy commodities," the report said.

 

The committee also recommended that ministries adopt common conversion factors and develop a concordance between domestic classifications and the Standard International Energy Products Classification to improve consistency and international comparability.

 

The report attributed the need for standardisation to India's decentralised system of data compilation, under which individual ministries collect data on specific energy commodities while Mospi compiles national statistics. It said differing methodologies across ministries had resulted in inconsistencies and conflicting estimates.

 

Beyond harmonisation, the committee proposed interim methodologies to improve estimates of coal, diesel and industrial electricity consumption, drawing in several cases on the Annual Survey of Industries.

 

It also recommended systematic estimation of electricity consumed by electric vehicles (EVs) and off-grid renewable energy, saying such data would be critical as India advances its EV30@30 target. The committee suggested using an interim methodology for off-grid renewable energy until a more refined system is developed.

 

The report further recommended systematic collection of biofuel data, noting that no single institution is currently responsible for compiling comprehensive statistics on the sector.

 

It also called for reconciliation of conflicting energy statistics published by different government agencies. The committee recommended that agencies publishing different per-capita electricity consumption estimates disclose their methodologies, and supported Mospi's practice of measuring coal at the loading and dispatch point for estimating coal supplied to power stations.