Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
Are you in search of an ESOS Lead Assessor? Our esteemed Lead Assessors stand ready to lend a helping on ESOS legislation and expertly crafting your reports for the Environment Agency.
What Is The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme?
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is UK legislation (based on article 8 of the EU Energy Directive) which mandates circa 10,000 organisations in the UK to audit their estates and establish opportunities for saving energy.
If your business employs more than 250 employees, OR has an annual turnover in excess of £44 million, and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million, then you must comply with ESOS. Organisations who fail to comply with the legislation are at risk of receiving a hefty fine of £50,000 from enforcers.
To comply, you will need to submit an ESOS audit that details:
Your organisational structure (who the submission covers)- Your total energy consumption across a 12-month period that crosses the qualification date
- Individual energy audits on your property portfolio, fleet & industrial processes
- An extensive and robust evidence pack that allows the environment agency to audit your submission
ESOS submissions run in 4-year cycles:
| Phase | Qualification Date | Four-Year Compliance Phase | Compliance Date |
| Phase 4 | 31st December 2026 | 31st December 2022 to 31st December 2026 | 5th December 2027 |
| Phase 5 | 31st December 2027 | 31st December 2026 to 31st December 2030 | 5th December 2028 |
Phase 4 Compliance Deadline
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We have compiled some free useful tools to help you with your ESOS compliance:
What is an ESOS Audit?
An ESOS audit involves an assessment of the energy used by a company’s buildings, industrial processes and transport. It will identify cost-effective energy saving measures. It also looks to see how an organisation is currently measuring and managing energy consumption along with any quality management systems or policies.
The government’s aim with the scheme is to cut carbon emissions and reduce energy consumption by requiring large businesses to identify energy reduction measures. It is projected that If audits led to an average 0.7% energy saving per enterprise then the potential net benefit of this policy for the UK is estimated at 1.9bn Net present Value between 2015 and 2030 through the implementation of energy efficient measures.
In Need of Our Expert Advice?
Compliance365 have a team of expert Energy Consultants and ESOS Lead Assessors, who are on hand to help your organisation achieve compliance. We work with some of the UK’s largest organisations with complex property estates ensuring they meet the tight ESOS deadlines.
What Can We Do For You?
There is an enormous amount of effort that goes into demonstrating compliance for ESOS. We can help to alleviate the stress associated with the submission by providing a number of solutions which are tailored to meet your organisations requirements.
Fleet Assessment
A Fleet assessment reports on the current state of an organisations fleet. It reviews any policies in place surrounding engine sizes of cars, CO2 bands and behavioural training. Recommendations are tailored to mirror your fleet taking into account current good and bad practices.
Property Audit
A property energy audit is an in-depth report which identifies areas energy can be saved within the property. It focuses on 4 key areas of energy and environmental efficiency including:
- Building infrastructure and property energy consumers
- Water reduction
- Behavioural training
- Waste
These reports detail the savings that can be achieved in £’s, kWh’s and CO2 emissions.
Evidence Packs
Our Lead Assessor evidence packs provide you with an extensive breakdown of the processes and calculations used to complete an organisations ESOS submission. It can be issued to the Environment Agency should you be called up for audit after registering your compliance.
ESOS Requirements
- Use 12 months of energy consumption data, from within a specific period;
- Begin no earlier than 12 months before the commencement of the compliance period;
- Begin no earlier than 24 months before the commencement of the first ESOS Energy Audit that the participant undertakes in the compliance period (e.g. for an ESOS Energy Audit undertaken on the 1 April 2015, data reported on must begin no earlier than 1 April 2013);
- Use data not used to support ESOS compliance in a previous compliance period;
- Produce cost-effective recommendations for the area being audited or confirm that there is no scope for cost-effective energy efficiency improvement;
- Be overseen, conducted or reviewed by an ESOS Lead Assessor.
Why Comply With ESOS?
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Penalties & Enforcements: Under ESOS, compliance bodies in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland & Wales will have the authority to apply civil penalties to non-compliant participants.
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For failure to undertake an ESOS Assessment there will be a discretionary penalty issued by the compliance body that requires the participant to take a number of steps toward compliance and pay a fixed monetary penalty. Failure to comply with any aspect of an ESOS Assessment (e.g. not using sufficient data, not using a Lead Assessor etc.) would be considered failure to comply. Where non-compliance is explained under the “comply or explain‟ provisions in an organisations submission, then the compliance body will consider whether the justification given is reasonable before determining whether to impose a penalty. The penalty is:
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A requirement to conduct an ESOS Assessment by a date specified by the compliance body; and/or,
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A penalty of up to £50,000; and/or an additional £500 per day penalty for each day starting on the day after the compliance date that the organisation remains non-compliant, subject to a maximum of 80 days; and/or,
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Publication of details of non-compliance
ESOS Participants Must
- Make an initial estimate of their total energy consumption (covering energy used in buildings, transport and industrial processes);
- Identify areas of significant energy consumption (which equate to at least 90% of their total consumption), and carry out a more detailed audit of those areas to establish where energy savings could be made, and;
- Submit a formal notification to the scheme administrator, the Environment Agency (EA)
