The energy balance is the most complete statistical accounting of energy products and their flow in the economy. The energy balance allows users to see the total amount of energy extracted from the environment, traded, transformed and used by different types of end-users. It also allows seeing the relative contribution of each energy carrier (fuel, product). The energy balance allows studying the overall domestic energy market and monitoring impacts of energy policies. The energy balance offers a complete view on the energy situation of a country in a compact format, such as on energy consumption of the whole economy and of individual sectors. The energy balance presents all statistically significant energy products (fuels) of a country and their production, transformation and consumption by different type of economic actors (industry, transport, etc.). Therefore, an energy balance is the natural starting point to study the energy sector.

Annual data collection cover in principle the EU Member States, EFTA, EU candidate countries, and potential candidate countries. Time series starts mostly in year 1990.

All data in energy balances are presented in terajoules, kilotonnes of oil equivalent and gigawatt hours.

Energy statistics is an integral part of the European system of statistics. Therefore, they also rely on classifications and nomenclatures developed in other fields.