EU Energy Efficiency Directive: what it really requires for metering in apartment buildings

Which directive, which articles?

The metering rules were introduced into Directive 2012/27/EU by the amending Directive (EU) 2018/2002 as Articles 9a, 9b, 9c, 10a and 11a and Annex VIIa. Member states had to transpose them by 25 October 2020.

The 2023 recast, Directive (EU) 2023/1791, repealed and replaced the 2012 directive. The metering rules carried over largely unchanged but were renumbered: Articles 14 (metering), 15 (sub-metering and cost allocation), 16 (remote reading), 18 (billing and consumption information) and 19 (cost of access), with the billing details in Annex IX. These articles apply from 12 October 2025.

What must be metered

Where a building is supplied from district heating or from a central source serving several buildings, a meter must be installed at the heat exchanger or point of delivery (Art. 14). That is a building-level meter.

In multi-apartment buildings with central heating or district heating, individual meters for heating, cooling or domestic hot water must be installed in each unit only where technically feasible and cost-effective in relation to the potential energy savings. Where individual heat meters are not feasible, heat cost allocators on radiators are the fallback, unless the member state shows they are not cost-efficient either. Each member state must publish its own criteria for feasibility and cost-effectiveness (Art. 15(1)). New multi-apartment buildings with central hot water must have individual hot-water meters (Art. 15(2)).

The directive covers energy: heating, cooling and domestic hot water. It sets no requirement for cold-water meters. Cold-water metering is a matter of national rules.

Remote reading: the 2027 date

Meters and heat cost allocators installed under these rules must be remotely readable, subject to the same feasibility and cost-effectiveness conditions (Art. 16(1); previously, devices installed after 25 October 2020 under Art. 9c).

Existing devices that are not remotely readable must be made remotely readable or replaced by 1 January 2027, unless the member state shows this is not cost-efficient (Art. 16(2)). This applies only to devices that are already required and installed. The directive does not require every apartment to receive new meters.

Billing and consumption information

Where meters or heat cost allocators are installed, billing must be based on actual consumption or allocator readings at least once a year (Art. 18, Annex IX point 1). Where devices are remotely readable, users must receive billing or consumption information at least monthly from 1 January 2022, and this can be provided online. Heating and cooling can be exempted outside the heating or cooling season (Annex IX point 2).

Bills must include, among other things, actual prices and consumption, the fuel mix and related greenhouse gas emissions, a weather-corrected comparison with the previous year, and a comparison with an average user (Annex IX point 3). Member states decide who is responsible for providing this information when residents have no direct contract with the energy supplier (Art. 18(3)). Billing information must be free of charge to final users, while reasonable costs of sub-metering services may be passed on (Art. 19).

National rules differ: Finland and Germany

Finland: only the building's district-heat meter must be remotely readable by 31 December 2026. Apartment-level heat metering is not mandatory, and existing apartment water meters do not have to be converted to remote reading.

Germany: the Heating Costs Ordinance (Heizkostenverordnung) requires newly installed heat meters, heat cost allocators and hot-water meters to be remotely readable since 1 December 2021. Existing devices must be retrofitted or replaced by 31 December 2026, unless that is technically impossible or would cause undue hardship. Where devices are remotely readable, residents must receive monthly consumption information. Tenants may reduce their share of heating costs by 3% if the landlord misses the remote-reading obligation, and by a further 3% if the information is missing.

Other member states have their own rules on scope, exemptions and deadlines. Before planning an investment, check your national legislation or ask the national energy authority.

How ClimaPri fits in

ClimaPri supplies remote-read water meters, energy meters and heating control for multi-apartment buildings, with data collected in ClimaPri Cloud. Whether or not your country requires it, apartment-level data makes consumption visible and helps spot leaks early.

Two Finnish examples: Avara cut water use by about 20% after moving to consumption-based water billing. Ikaalisten Kiinteistökonsultit, with 18 apartments, reduced district heat use by 10% at the same outdoor temperature using ClimaPri heating control.