Energy Cost Accounting: Conventional and Flow-oriented Approaches

Abstract

In more and more companies, energy efficiency and energy cost come to the fore. The scope ranges from energy consumption and energy delivery cost to energy losses and the infrastruc-ture facilitating the use of energy. Their increasing importance asks for more transparency of the cost of energy consumption, losses, and conservation potentials. However, despite of the identified relevance, no mature concepts exist to record energy-related cost in a way that con-sumption and losses become transparent. Consequently, based on the characteristics of the production factor energy, the paper presents options for a sophisticated energy cost accumula-tion and assignment in conventional cost accounting and flow cost accounting methodology.