4660.0 - Energy Use, Electricity Generation and Environmental Management, Australia, 2014-15 Quality Declaration 
ARCHIVED ISSUE Released at 11:30 AM (CANBERRA TIME) 12/07/2016   
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EXPLANATORY NOTES


INTRODUCTION

1 This publication presents estimates of energy consumption, electricity generation and environmental management practices by selected Australian industries in 2014–15. The estimates are produced using a combination of directly collected data from the Energy, Water and Environment Survey (EWES), conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) and partially funded by the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science, and data collected by the Clean Energy Regulator under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme.

Reference period

2 The period covered by the collection is, in general, the 12 months ended 30 June. Where businesses are unable to supply information on this basis, an accounting period for which data can be provided is used. As a result, the estimates can reflect trading conditions that prevailed in periods outside the twelve months ended June in the relevant year.

3 The data incorporates all business units in scope of the EWES that were in operation at any time during 2014–15. They also include any temporarily inactive units, i.e. those units which were in the development stage or were not in operation.

CLASSIFICATIONS

4 The businesses that contribute to the statistics in this publication are classified:

SCOPE

5 The scope of the collection consists of all business entities operating in the Australian economy during 2014–15, except for:
  • entities classified to ANZSIC Subdivisions 01 Agriculture, 62 Finance, 63 Insurance and superannuation funds, and 96 Private households employing staff .
  • micro non-employing units (MNEU).
    6 Government owned or controlled organisations are included.

    COVERAGE

    7 This section discusses frame, statistical units, coverage issues and improvements to coverage.

    Frame

    8 Businesses contributing to the estimates in this publication are sourced from the ABS Business Register (ABSBR), which is described below.

    Statistical units on the ABSBR

    9 The ABS uses an economic statistics units model on the ABSBR to describe the characteristics of businesses and the structural relationships between related businesses. Within large and diverse business groups, the units model is used to define reporting units that can provide data to the ABS at suitable levels of detail.

    10 In 2002, the ABS commenced sourcing its register information from the Australian Business Register adopting the two population model. The two populations comprise the Profiled Population and the Non-Profiled Population. The main distinction between businesses in the two populations relates to the complexity of the business structure and the degree of intervention required to convey the business structure for statistical purposes.

    Non-Profiled Population

    11 The majority of businesses included on the ABSBR are in the Non-Profiled Population. Most of these businesses are understood to have simple structures. For these businesses, the ABS is able to use the Australian Business Number (ABN) as the basis for a statistical unit, where one ABN equates to one statistical unit.

    Profiled Population

    12 For a small number of businesses, the ABN unit is not suitable for ABS economic statistics purposes. Instead, the ABS maintains its own units structure through direct contact with businesses. These businesses constitute the Profiled Population. This population consists typically of large or complex groups of businesses. The statistical units model described below caters for such businesses:

    § Enterprise group: This is a unit covering all the operations in Australia of one or more legal entities under common ownership and/or control. It covers all the operations in Australia of legal entities which are related in terms of the current Corporations Law (as amended by the Corporations Legislation Amendment Act 1991), including legal entities such as companies, trusts and partnerships. Majority ownership is not required for control to be exercised.

    § Enterprise: The enterprise is an institutional unit comprising:
          • a single legal entity or business entity, or
          • more than one legal entity or business entity within the same enterprise group and in the same institutional subsector (i.e. they are all classified to a single Standard Institutional Sector Classification of Australia (SISCA) subsector).

    § Type of activity unit (TAU): The TAU is comprised of one or more business entities, sub-entities or branches of a business entity within an enterprise group that can report production and employment data for similar economic activities. When a minimum set of data items is available, a TAU is created which covers all the operations within an industry subdivision (and the TAU is classified to the relevant subdivision of the ANZSIC). Where a business cannot supply adequate data for each industry, a TAU is formed which contains activity in more than one industry subdivision.

    Coverage issues

    13 Each ABN unit or TAU on the ABSBR has been classified (by the ATO and the ABS respectively) to its single predominant industry class, irrespective of any diversity of activities undertaken. As such, the estimates can vary to collections based on business activity.

    14 Some businesses engage, to a significant extent, in activities which are normally carried out by different industries. For example, a predominantly mining business may also undertake significant amounts of manufacturing. Similarly, a mining business may produce significant volumes of goods which are normally produced in different mining industries. Where a business makes a significant economic contribution to industries classified to different ANZSIC subdivisions, the ABS includes the business in the Profiled Population, and 'splits' the TAU's reported data between the industries involved. Significance is determined using total income.

    15
    The ABS attempts to maintain a current understanding of the structure of the large, complex and diverse business groups that form the Profiled Population on the ABSBR, through direct contact with those businesses. Resultant changes in their structures on the ABSBR can affect:

    § The availability of such businesses (or units within them) for inclusion, particularly for triennial series such as EWES.
    § The delineation of the units, within those groups, for which data are to be reported.

    16 The ABS attempts to obtain data for those businesses selected for direct collection and which ceased operation during the year, but it is not possible to obtain data for all such businesses.

    Improvements to coverage

    17 Data in this publication have been adjusted to allow for lags in processing new businesses to the ABSBR, and the omission of some businesses from the register. The majority of businesses affected, and to which the adjustments apply, are small in size. As an example, the effect of these adjustments is generally 4% or less for most ANZSIC industry divisions.

    18 Adjustments have been made to include new businesses in the estimates for the period in which they commenced operation, rather than when they were processed to the ABSBR.

    19 For more information on these adjustments, please refer to the ABS publication Information Paper: Improvements to ABS Economic Statistics, 1997 (cat. no. 1357.0).DEFINITION OF KEY TERMS

    20 Definitions for the data presented can also be found in the Glossary.

    SURVEY DESIGN

    21 The survey frame from which the sample was selected was stratified using information held on the ABSBR. Eligible businesses were then selected using stratified random sampling techniques.

    22 Businesses were eligible for selection in the sample if their turnover exceeded a defined threshold level, or if the business was identified from the ABSBR as being an employing business, as at the end of the reference period.

    23 Businesses which met neither of these criteria are referred to as 'micro non-employing businesses'. These businesses were not eligible for selection in the sample.

    24 A sample of 19,122 businesses was selected for collection in the 2014–15 EWES, where each business was asked to provide a range of key data via an online survey questionnaire.

    25 In order to minimise the load placed on providers, where available, energy consumption data collected by the Clean Energy Regulator under the National Greenhouse and Energy Reporting Scheme was used. There were 298 units in the sample that reported to the Clean Energy Regulator for 2014–15. In 2014–15 EWES, these units were only required to report energy expenditure and environmental management data.

    EFFECTS OF ROUNDING

    26 Where figures have been rounded, discrepancies may occur between totals and the sums of the component items. Proportions, ratios and other calculated figures shown in this publication have been calculated using unrounded estimates and may be different from, but more accurate than, calculations based on the rounded estimates.

    ENERGY CONVERSION FACTORS

    27 Where data is presented in gigajoules (GJ), the following energy conversion factors were applied to their reported unit of measurement. These conversion factors are in accordance with the National Greenhouse Accounts Factors.


    Energy typeEnergy content factor
    Electricity0.0036 GJ/kWh
    Natural gas0.001 GJ/MJ
    Diesel38.6 GJ/kL
    Petrol34.4 GJ/kL
    LPG0.0393 GJ/kL
    Fuel oil39.7 GJ/kL
    Aviation fuels (combined)33.62 GJ/kL
    Black coal27 GJ/t
    Coke27 GJ/t
    Coal briquettes22.1 GJ/t
    Brown coal10.2 GJ/t
    Coal by-products22.1 GJ/t
    Biofuel23.4GJ/kL
    Biogas0.0377 GJ/m3
    Wood and wood waste16.2 GJ/t
    Bagasse9.6 GJ/t
    CNG0.0393 GJ/m3
    Crude oil37 GJ/t


    DATA COMPARABILITY

    28 In some cases estimates given in this publication may differ slightly from those collected from other sources. These differences may be the result of sampling or non-sampling error, or may result from differences in scope, coverage, definitions or methodology.

    29 This release does not support accurate estimates of change, therefore extreme caution should be exercised when comparing 2014–15 results to those published in 2011–12. There are a number of reasons that make comparisons misleading, such as changes to the scope, form design and methodology of collection.

    FURTHER INFORMATION

    30 A range of further information is available, as described below.

    Related publications

    31 The following ABS publications present information on energy, water and the environment:
    32 In addition, the following publications present economy - wide industry data:
    Other information available

    33 The next EWES will be conducted in respect of the 2017-18 financial year. In the interim years the Environment Indicators Survey (EIS) will be conducted in respect of the 2015–16 and 2016–17 reference periods. Data from this survey will be published in Energy Account, Australia (cat. no. 4604.0) and Water Account, Australia (cat. no. 4610.0).

    34 The ABS issues a daily Release Advice on its web site which details products to be released in the week ahead.

    35 Inquiries about this or other ABS publications should be made to the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.

    Acknowledgement

    36 ABS publications draw extensively on information provided freely by individuals, businesses, governments and other organisations. Their continued cooperation is very much appreciated; without it, the wide range of statistics published by the ABS would not be available. Information received by the ABS is treated in strict confidence as required by the Census and Statistics Act 1905.

    Use of Australian Taxation Office (ATO) data in this publication

    37 The results of these statistics are based, in part, on tax data supplied by the ATO to the ABS under the Income Tax Assessment Act 1936, which requires that such data are only used for statistical purposes. No individual information collected under the Census and Statistics Act 1905 is provided back to the ATO for administrative or regulatory purposes. Any discussion of data limitations or weaknesses is in the context of using the data for statistical purposes, and is not related to the ability of the data to support the ATO's core operational requirements.

    Data confidentiality

    38 Legislative requirements to ensure privacy and secrecy of these data have been followed. Only people authorised under the Australian Bureau of Statistics Act 1975 have been permitted to view data about any particular organisation and/or person in conducting these analyses. No information about individual taxpayers (persons) has been released to the ABS. Aggregated personal income tax data are confidentialised by the ATO before release to the ABS. In accordance with the Census and Statistics Act 1905, results have been confidentialised to ensure that they are not likely to enable identification of a particular person or organisation.