By 5th December 2015, certain organisations are required to have carried out an energy audit under the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme. Is your organisation affected and are you ready to meet the requirements?
The UK Government established the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) to implement the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU). ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. The Environment Agency is the UK scheme administrator.
Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out assessments every four years. These assessments are audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify cost-effective energy saving measures.
You must take part in ESOS if your organisation qualifies as a ‘large undertaking’ on the qualification date for the first compliance period which was 31 December 2014.
An ‘undertaking’ is
- a body corporate or partnership, or
- an unincorporated association carrying on a trade or business, with or without a view to profit.
A ‘large undertaking’ is:
Any UK undertaking that meets either one or both of the conditions below:
- it employs 250 or more people
- it has an annual turnover in excess of 50 million euro (£38,937,777), and an annual balance sheet total in excess of 43 million euro (£33,486,489)
The definition of an undertaking includes an overseas company with a UK registered establishment which has 250 or more UK employees (paying income tax in the UK). You also must take part in ESOS if your undertaking is part of a corporate group which includes another UK undertaking that meets either of these conditions.
This is a complex piece of legislation and Wiser Environment has drafted a bite-sized ESOS Briefing Note to highlight the requirements of the scheme and how you can comply. One compliance route is to accredit your management system to the ISO50001:2011 standard.
Wiser Environment can help you achieving the certification to the ISO50001:2011 standard and incorporate its requirements within your existing management systems. Please contact one of our consultants on 01480 462232 or info@wisergroup.co.uk.