Energy Agencies
The Danish Energy Agency was established in 1976, and is an agency under the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Building (ENS DKb). Its main functions are to conduct energy-related studies and to advise the Ministry for Climate and Energy and other departments or entities (McCormick and Neij 2009, p. 17). The agency works in all energy-related sectors and deals with various stakeholders (ENS DKb). With regard to energy efficiency it develops and implements related programmes, e.g. concerning labelling and certification, norms and standards, voluntary agreements, etc. (Ezban 2010). The Danish Energy Agency is commissioned to administer funds for campaigns to promote energy savings in buildings with an annual sum of DKK 20 million (about 2.7 million Euro) in the period 2008-2012. Around DKK 10 million are allocated to the “Knowledge Centre for Energy Savings in Buildings” (see below), the rest is given to a subsidy scheme for information and campaign activities further information: www.bigee.net/s/77rb2x).
Energy Efficiency Funds
The former Electricity Savings Trust (Elsparefonden) was established in 1996. One of its main tasks was the conversion of electrically heated homes and public buildings to district heating or natural gas (McCormick & Neij 2009, p. 17); in latter years, energy efficient appliances and their use have been the focus (Togeby et al. 2011). The trust was funded through a special levy of €0.06/kWh on electricity, yielding an annual budget of EUR 12 million. The original target for the Trust was to save 750 GWh/yr of electricity within ten years, equivalent to 5 % of the target groups’ electricity consumption. An evaluation found that the trust even exceeded this, saving around 1,000 GWh/yr instead by 2008 (Elsparefonden 2004).
Since March 2010 the Danish Electricity Savings Trust has been transformed into the Danish Energy Saving Trust with the aim of covering not only electricity savings but all forms of energy in all sectors except the transport sector (Further information available online: www.bigee.net/s/dxpigh). The new Danish Energy Saving Trust deals with energy savings in general including information on thermal and electrical energy consumption and water consumption (For further information: Lund & Bechmann 2011). For 2011 there was a plan to launch a nation-wide campaign on energy efficient ventilation and boilers (Aggerholm et al. 2010, p. 8). One of the information tools of the Trust is the ‘Boligtjek’ (Home Energy Check), a web-based tool to identify potential energy improvements based on the calculation model from the Danish Building Research Institute (Lüders & Laybourn 2011).
Energy Saving Obligations for Energy Companies
As a follow up to the earlier activities by the demand-side management of electricity companies from 1995, all Danish energy distribution network companies (electricity, gas, district heating) have been obliged to promote a more efficient use of energy since 2006 (McCormick & Neij 2009, p. 17; Togeby et al. 2009, p. 301). These are one of the most important elements of the Danish energy efficiency policy package, including buildings and appliances.
Following the success of the scheme, the targets have already been massively increased, as the figure shows. In 2010 for example, the target was first set at 5.4 PJ/year, then later revised to 6.1 PJ/year (1,694 GWh/year). From 2015, they will be 12.2 PJ/year (3,389 GWh/year), which will be an amount of energy saving equivalent to around 2.4% of energy consumption each year and will be one of the highest values worldwide for an energy savings target. To date, the targets have usually been met and the policy is cost-effective overall: the cost of saving a unit of energy is lower than the savings in avoided costs of energy supply (cf. detail given below).
Development of energy-saving targets of energy network or distribution companies from 2005 (electricity only) to 2020 (electricity, gas, district heat and heating oil)

Source: EA Energianalyse et al. 2012
Development of energy-saving targets of energy network or distribution companies from 2005 (electricity only) to 2020 (electricity, gas, district heat and heating oil)
The companies are relatively free in the implementation of this obligation. Possible activities are awareness raising campaigns, energy audits, subsidies etc (Togeby et al., 2009, p. 302). However since 2004, electricity companies have had to budget at €3.3m per year for their information campaigns (Togeby et al. 2009, p. 305). Company costs are recovered via the end-user prices. In 2010 the energy company costs amounted to more than 749 million DKK (100 million EUR), i.e. excluding customer investment costs, equivalent to 37 øre/(kWh/year) (5 EURcent/(kWh/year)) per kWh of registered annual (‚first-year’) savings. A note used in the negotiations suggests that for the next period (2013-2015) the obligation will cost 51 øre/(kWh/year) (7 EURcent/(kWh/year)) which amounts to 1,500 million DKK (200 million EUR) (Togeby et al. 2012, p. 14).
The targets were usually met, except by a few small district heating companies (up to 2008, e.g.,Togeby et al., 2009, p. 302). However, it should be noted that registered savings, to which the energy companies contributed through advice and grants are not the same as net (additional) savings that would not have occured without the support from energy companies. The latter were estimated to be around 40 % of registered saving for the year 2011 (Togeby et al. 2012). On the other hand, the cost to society also includes the part of the investment borne by the energy companies’ customers investing in energy efficiency. Calculating over 10 years with 5 % of interest rate, this resulted in average costs per net (additional) kWh saved of 0,33 DKK/kWh (4.4 EURcent/kWh) for business consumers but 2.34 DKK/kWh (31 EURcent/kWh) for households – in total 0.57 DKK /kWh (7.6 EURcent/kWh) (Togeby et al. 2012). This is cost-effective compared to a socio-economic cost of supply of ca. 0.73 DKK/kWh (9.7 EURcent/kWh).
An earlier evaluation estimated that the implemented projects were also cost-effective for both companies as well as their customers but that only about 50% of the energy savings were additional to autonomous market trends (Togeby et al. 2009, p. 304). This was one reason for the government to again increase the targets by 50 % from 2013 and 75% from 2015 (cf. the figure). As the total energy savings increase, the share of additional savings increases as well. In order to meet the increased targets, the energy companies have now shifted their programme portfolio towards financial incentives. In 2011, 85 % of the savings reported had already been achieved through financial incentive programmes (www.bigee.net/s/4f2jj9).