During the last 18 months or so, a new focus has been brought to energy savings via the advent of ‘ESOS’ the ‘Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme’, which is the UK’s version of Article 8 of the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive 2012.

What’s it all about?

ESOS is all about bringing the potential value of energy saving measures into view for the Boards of Directors of relevant organisations. Whilst the scheme itself is mandatory for qualifying companies, implementation is not. The implementation piece relies on having forward-thinking Directors with the kind of financial and business acumen that will ensure these improvements in efficiency are driven through.

So how has it worked?

It’s all about understanding how you use the fuel (including road fuels), that you buy, whether it’s renewable, fossil, gas or liquid.

Some 10,000 private sector and not-for-profit organisations have needed to calculate their total energy consumption, from any buildings, industrial processes and transport which are under their control. Interestingly. this scheme includes such things as company car mileage for the 1st time.

The Company then need to evidence where at least 90% of it goes, so that usage can be analysed and relative efficiency computed. Usually this part means that audits have to be carried out, along with a physical visit by the auditor to assess activities involved.

From the resulting reports and analysis a list of “energy saving opportunities” is produced. This is then signed off by a Compliance Lead Assessor and the Company under scrutiny.

Energy Reduction Analysts have successfully achieved compliance for a range of clients with diverse operations and developed ongoing systems to help them maintain compliance in the future.

What’s the benefit?

Many of the saving opportunities have been significant, totting up to 50% and more of energy used in areas such as lighting. Often excess heating and hot water are produced by ageing plants with no controls in place. In our experience, the simple act of fitting suitable controls and setting them up properly usually means a saving of at least 20%!

Crucially, many organisations have done very little, or nothing, on energy efficiency over the years and it has low priority vs the core business. This ignores the fact that energy efficiency has a huge impact on overall efficiency and can, by reducing operating costs, contribute straight to the bottom line.

Returns on investment are often 30-50% p.a. and more – in other words, it’s a no-brainer!

Added to that, organisations that have not complied by the set dates (5th December 2015 extended, for penalty application, to 29th January 2016) have been penalized by the Environment Agency who police the scheme. Fines are up to £90,000 and businesses have been named & shamed to boot.

You might assume that most companies would volunteer and apply the savings now. But you’d be wrong – many organisations are doing the absolute minimum necessary to comply with the law and shelving the findings.

What next?

There are only three options for organisations;

Comply with the audit, then ditch the recommendations
Don’t comply at all and budget only to pay the fine
Complete the audit, implement the identified efficiency/savings opportunities and save money
Then wait for the next qualifying date which is looming on 31st December 2018. We think it’s obvious which of these routes organisations should go down and we’re happy to assist with both implementation and audit.

What has become clear during this process is the need for huge improvements in the visibility, use and understanding of energy data for most organisations. Without fully understanding what is being used, where and how, organisations cannot ever expect to reduce their energy expenditure.

Contact Us to find out more.