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.
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!
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!
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
You should know that as a one-man operation my fees are generally regarded as very competitive.
