For weeks, the EU has been debating how to react to a possible gas supply freeze following Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

It's about security of supply and who can jump into the gap.

Another open question is how a delivery stop can affect the already high energy prices.

But if you want to know where Germany gets its gas from, you will only find one article on the website of the Federal Ministry of Economics that refers to data from 2016.

Henrik Kafsack

Business correspondent in Brussels.

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And if you are looking for figures on the development of energy prices, you have to laboriously look for them from ministry websites, government agencies, the Federal Statistical Office, network operators, research institutes, associations or the Energy Balances Working Group.

"Without reliable data, an informed discussion is not possible at all," warns Georg Zachmann from the Brussels think tank Bruegel.

In recent months, the economist has been working intensively on how Russia controls gas supplies to Europe.

In doing so, he experienced how difficult it is to get data.

"The data is there, but it took us two months just to process it," he says.

Things are no better in the other areas of energy policy.

“How much thermal energy is consumed in Germany?

Have energy-intensive corporations reduced gas consumption?

How much electricity do solar systems generate?

There is no easy answer to any of these questions,” he says.

Role model America?

A lot of data is available, but not comparable.

There are about a dozen energy units ranging from British thermal units to watt seconds.

It also makes a difference whether conversion losses are included or whether only systems connected to the public grid are considered.

In addition, a lot of data is only commercially available.

This applies to energy and emission prices, but also to figures on the demand of certain consumer groups or on regional production.

However, the data is a prerequisite for being able to discuss major social issues such as the conversion of the energy system in order to achieve climate goals.

"If we want to switch transport, heat and industry to emission-free energy sources within a very short time, the right mix of solutions is important," says Zachmann.

“Do you rely on expensive hydrogen imports, domestic renewables or energy efficiency that is difficult to control?

Do you bring electricity consumers to where the wind turbines are, the wind turbines to where consumption is, or do you transport the electricity?

How do you distribute the costs among the consumers?

All of these are not just technical and economic issues, but also political ones,” emphasizes the economist.

"It's not rocket science, it just has to be done by someone"

As long as there was no comparable, reliable data, everyone discussed wildly, Zachmann complains.

As a result, political decisions are poorly coordinated.

In the worst case, goals would be missed, regardless of whether it was about the energy transition or security of supply.

This also deters investors, whose planning is made more difficult.

And it's a waste of taxpayers' money.

"How am I supposed to judge whether an energy company should get state aid to avoid supply bottlenecks for having gas-fired power plants ready when I don't even know whether there are grid bottlenecks for the distribution of green electricity at all." But precisely this data is not accessible.

In the USA, the Energy Information Administration (EIA) prepares a wealth of energy data in a user-friendly way.

Zachmann demands that Germany also needs such an actor – who is as independent as possible from particular interests.

You could settle with the German Energy Agency (Dena).

You can achieve a lot there with thirty employees.

"It's not rocket science, someone just has to do it." However, Zachmann is not very optimistic that his suggestion will be well received.

His suspicion: institutions like the European Commission or the federal government are not at all unhappy about their knowledge of dominance.

After all, the knowledge advantage gives them an invaluable advantage in the debate.