Not yet ESOS compliant? SDL can still help you!
By SDMember on February 4, 2016
With energy auditing experience across a range of sectors, Sustainable Direction Ltd has been helping a number of organisations meet the requirements of ESOS over the last 6-12 months.
The ESOS Regulations 2014 brought into force Article 8 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, and introduced mandatory energy audits for large organisations. It is estimated that around 10,000 UK companies fall under the regulations.
The initial deadline of the 5th December 2015 passed with only around 40% of qualifying organisations fully compliant. Though an extended deadline of 29th January 2016 was given, the Environment Agency has confirmed that less than 70% of qualifying businesses have sent their notifications of compliance, with the remaining 4,000 organisations open to enforcement.
Enforcement
Environment Agency ESOS project manager, Jo Scully, has recently confirmed that enforcement action could be taken on any organisation covered by the scheme not compliant by the deadline. The Agency’s document on enforcement and sanctions (Section E) states a maximum penalty of £50,000 for failing to undertake an energy audit, plus an additional £500 per working day up to a maximum of 80 days the organisation remains in breach of the scheme.
However, the document also states that for a first compliance period the Agency would normally allow up to three months to remedy the failure before issuing fines. That gives non-compliant organisations until the 29th April 2016 before fines are issued.
Opportunities
Although a mandatory scheme, ESOS should not be dismissed as another carbon tax. The scheme provides real opportunity to identify tangible financial savings through energy management and efficiency, and is expected to deliver £1.6 billion net benefit to the UK economy over the next 15 years.
SDL has been helping a wide range of organisations comply with the ESOS regulations by providing ESOS compliant energy audits, and also developing and implementing Energy Management Systems in line with ISO 50001. Being certified to ISO 50001 is an alternative route to compliance with ESOS, which many companies are using to embed energy saving benefits within their operations. Getting certified now means that in the next ESOS phase, in 2019, the organisation will be automatically compliant.
Whichever route you choose, with enforcement not expected until May there’s still time to comply before action is taken.
If you’d like more information on this, or other energy-saving and resource efficiency work we have delivered, please contact us:
Bruce Gordon - Commercial Director
b.gordon@sustainabledirection.com
T. +44 (0) 1452 382218
M. +44 (0) 7765 072900
John Henry Looney – Managing Director
jh.looney@sustainabledirection.com
T. +44 (0) 1452 382218
M. +44 (0) 7817 809018