Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)
Stewart is an ESOS Lead Assessor
I am guessing that if you are viewing this page you will know about ESOS - or have been informed by Ofgem that you need to comply with ESOS - which is now well into Phase 3 having been through a consultation and seen some tweaks from the previous 2 Phases.
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In essence ESOS applies to all UK companies / organisations with >250 employees and/or turnover >£43M/year.
If that describes your business – you are eligible - barring a couple of exemptions outlined below.
Phase 2 finished in 2019 although somewhat unbelievably I assisted one firm who should have met the 2019 deadline with their late compliance submission earlier this year - May 2022 for a December 2019 deadline - not sure how they avoided a penalty but let's not complain!
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So, Phase 3 is underway - but the deadline for compliance has now been extended to June 2024 - which does not mean you can relax - although if you employ a Lead Assessor such as myself you will find the process stress-free!
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I took 19 organisations through Phase 1 and 23 organisations through Phase 2 including 1 within the Irish scheme - EACS - for which I am also fully accredited. Importantly none of my compliance submissions have failed audit or required remedial action. My client list for Phase 3 currently stands at 23 organisations and I have availability from October through to February 2024 at this point in time.
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ESOS requires eligible organisations to undertake 4 key steps to achieve compliance in each phase:
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measure their total energy consumption (TEC) and identify areas of significant energy consumption (SECs).
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conduct audits / site visits to identify cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities
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sign off on a compliant report at Director level
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report compliance to the scheme administrator.
There are pathways to exemption - for example certification to ISO 50001 - but despite my being a qualified 50001 Lead Auditor I am not finding much appetite for this approach at the moment because achieving certification just gets harder and harder – primarily due to the need for "continuous improvement" which can be prohibitively expensive - to say nothing of practically very difficult for many companies.
It is worth pointing out that the DEC (Display Energy Certificate) route to exemption from ESOS is NOT available in Scotland - DECs are very uncommon up here.
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If you have been through Phases 1 and/or 2 you'll know that you should collate robust energy data which must include Transport energy.
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The latest consultation has seen a couple of changes that you should bear in mind:
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the de minimis allowance (energy you do not need to audit) is now 5% - a move designed to improve the savings achievable within an organisation - a step forward I believe - well done Ofgem / BEIS
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in line with SECR an Intensity Metric must be included (eg kWh/sqm for Buildings, kWh/unit or kWh/£turnover for Process and kWh/miles for Transport) - not sure why this wasn't integral from day 1 of ESOS - it certainly is in any reports I provide!
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it is still not mandatory to have targets for improvement set and stated in the report - but we are assured this will be in Phase 4 and I include targets in all reports where they make sense for the client.
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finally - there is a standard reporting format and certain components are mandatory such as inclusion of SIC codes so if you don't know your code you should find out sharpish.
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If any of this affects your company / organisation and you would like to discuss ESOS with an impartial professional - I am always happy to talk to prospective new clients.
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You should know that as a one-man operation my fees are generally regarded as very competitive.
