EI Group

Operating over 4,500 pubs across Britain, EI Group is currently the UK’s largest pub company with a growing estate of managed houses. Due to there being such a large and varied portfolio, the rising consumption of energy and the release of carbon emissions is high on EI Groups agenda along with a number of legislative energy compliances they are required to adhere to. The complexity of the task became apparent as EI Group grew their managed estate resulting in them now being responsible for the energy consumption within the properties. This affected the number of properties now needing to be reported on for compliance with
energy legislation such as the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and Green House Gas (GHG) submission.

With changes to the Energy Performance Building Directive legislation (EPBD), there was also a necessity to review the status of EI Group’s Energy Performance Certificate’s (EPC) within the leased and tenanted estate. They needed to identify any F or G rated properties that may fall foul of the Minimum Energy Performance Standard (MEPS) legislation. Where Pubs were found to achieve an F or G rated EPC certificate, there was a requirement to establish the most cost-effective way to improve the rating and ensure compliance going forward.

In order to meet the identified challenges, 5 years ago EI Group chose to partner with Compliance365. As ensuring compliance with current legislation and reducing their energy consumption and carbon footprint were EI Group’s primary concerns, Compliance365 have provided a number of solutions, to assist:

• Energy Performance Certificates with accurate ratings that could be produced within strict timescales outlined within the EPDB and where possible reduce the amount of F & G rated properties
• EPC Review Reports highlighting the most cost-effective way of achieving compliance with the upcoming MEPS legislation
• ESOS Lead Assessor consultation framework and board report submission which would be scalable to match the demands of the growing managed estate
• Greenhouse Gas data collection and reporting of annual emissions utilising the EI Group supply chain to access accurate consumption figures in alignment with the Greenhouse Gas Protocol standard
• Energy Reduction Technologies that could be installed throughout the managed estate and be included within a standard specification for new managed houses
• Behavioural Training Programmes tailored to match the usage of each site, engaging the pubs operators to assist with identifying ways in which they could
  reduce their energy consumption through a change in habit

Through their partnership with Compliance365, EI Group have been able to remove the risk of non-compliance with both ESOS and Greenhous Gas Legislation by reporting their consumption and emissions with confidence. They have identified any properties in jeopardy of not complying with MEPS legislation and are actively completing upgrades to reduce the energy consumption and increase their EPC ratings within the leased and tenanted estate. From the energy reduction technologies EI Group have been incorporating when upgrading their managed estate along with the behavioural training completed completed on site they have achieved, on average, a 21% reduction in consumption and CO2 emissions per property helping to exceed company targets set as part of their corporate social responsibility statement.