Energy Institute publishes essential guide to new energy efficiency regulation

The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is the UK Government’s response to implementing Article 8 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, which mandates energy assessments for large organisations. ESOS will affect thousands of organisations and the Energy Institute (EI) has published a free guide to understanding and complying with this new regulation.

Implementing energy efficiency is a win-win combination for organisations – saving them both energy and money, while contributing to lowering carbon emissions. It is hoped that ESOS will promote the benefits of energy efficiency in the minds of senior management and kick-start a step change in the implementation of energy efficient measures in business.

Sarah Beacock FEI, Skills and Capability Director, Energy Institute, says, ‘As the leading professional membership body for the energy sector, the EI‘s role is to keep energy professionals up-to-date on new developments, particularly in energy policy. EI members have contributed to the development of ESOS both through the policy consultation process and directly via the DECC’s Expert Advisory panel’.

Ms Beacock adds, ‘The real value of an ESOS audit to UK business lies in the implementation of the identified energy saving measures. To do that they will need to call upon experts with a broad range of skills, knowledge and experience that focus on delivering savings to clients. Our role is to provide the opportunities to develop those skills, the knowledge and professionalism that go with it’.

ESOS will apply to undertakings operating in the UK with 250+ employees, or with an annual turnover and balance sheet of €50m and €43m respectively. Participants will identify and audit their significant energy consumption and submit a formal notification to the Environment Agency. A key aspect of the scheme is that assessments must be signed off by a board-level director. Penalties will be issued for non-compliance.

The EI’s briefing to ESOS is published by the EI’s Knowledge Service, in association with Ricardo-AEA, and outlines the main routes to compliance, and explains the data collection and reporting process. For more information and to download a copy of the guide, please visit efficiency.energyinst.org/esos