ESOS Phase 3: Compliance for Energy Savings
Start identifying your energy-saving opportunities today
What is ESOS Phase 3?
ESOS Phase 3 is a program aimed at encouraging large organisations based in the UK to implement energy-saving measures. This scheme mandates companies to conduct audits every four years, assessing the energy usage of their buildings, processes, and transportation.
These audits must cover 95% of your organisational energy and require sign-off from a qualified ESOS Lead Assessor. Routes to compliance include ESOS audits, Display Energy Certificates (DECs), Green Deal energy assessments, and ISO 50001 certification.
We are currently in Phase 3 of the ESOS scheme, with a deadline for completing and reporting audits to the Environment Agency by 5 June 2024. The long-awaited outcome of the ESOS consultation was released in July 2022, introducing changes to Phase 3 that organisations need to comply with, including the announcement of a Phase 4.
Who needs to comply with ESOS?
Public bodies are not affected. Large organisations that must comply are classified as those with:
- More than 250 employees or
- An annual turnover in excess of £44 million, and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million
Why comply with ESOS?
Avoid penalties
Regulating bodies – such as the Environment Agency (EA) in England and Wales – have the authority to apply civil penalties against those mandated companies not participating in ESOS or found to be non-compliant with its requirements. Fines are administered on a case-by-case basis but can be:
- An immediate fine of between £5,000 to £50,000
- Plus up to £500 per day for up to 80 working days
- Plus you could be ‘named and shamed
You’re at a greater risk of fines if you ignore an Enforcement Notice. The Phase 1 ESOS compliance deadline was December 2015 – the EA were still issuing Enforcement Notices to bring companies into compliance long after that deadline.
Seize opportunities
ESOS is a real chance to improve the efficiency of your business and make significant cost savings. With the right partner, initial compliance activities can be effectively the very first investment on the path to energy savings and cost reduction. We can help you implement solutions identified in your ESOS recommendations report.
Start your compliance journey with EIC
If your business still needs to make a start with ESOS compliance, we’re here to help. Our dedicated team of ESOS Lead Assessors and highly-trained Carbon Consultants will work hard to help you comply as soon as possible, and support you in any conversations with the Environment Agency.
Get in touch today
At EIC, we:
Analyse your obligations and how ESOS compliance aligns with your broader energy and net-zero strategy.
Different compliance routes available for participants.
Transforming compliance requirements into tangible savings by taking action based on your insights prior to the reporting deadline.
Outcome of the ESOS Phase 3 Consultation
The UK Government released the outcome of the ESOS Phase 3 consultation in July 2022. Here are some of the key additions to Phase 3 that organisations should be aware of:
- Introduction of standardised reporting to enhance audit quality. Assessors will be required to use a new template developed in collaboration with stakeholders, which will be made available in a timely manner for participants to make the necessary adjustments to their reporting.
- Proposal for a standardised ESOS recommendations template structure and required data will also be implemented.
- Emphasis on energy data analysis in reporting, where available.
- ESOS reports must contain an overall energy intensity metric in the overview section of the report. This metric will be expressed as kWh/m2 for buildings, kWh/unit output for industries, and kWh/miles travelled for transportation.
- Requirement to set a target or action plan to be submitted after Phase 3, which organisations will need to report on during Phase 4.
COMBINE YOUR ESOS AND SECR COMPLIANCE WITH EIC
Savvy businesses can save time and hassle by using our exclusive compliance package. As well as saving you time and hassle we also offer you a 10% discount if you sign up for a joint 5 year ESOS and Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) package.
Contact us on 01527 511 757
to find out more
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Why choose EIC?
- A qualified in-house team including ESOS Lead Assessors, ISO 50001 Lead Auditors, members of the Chartered Institution of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE), the Register of Professional Energy Consultants (RPEC), and the Energy Institute (EI).
- Realise your savings potential. We can help you implement any recommended opportunities from your ESOS report, so you can benefit from identified energy savings.
- On average we found savings of three times the cost of compliance for our clients in ESOS Phase 1. In total, our team identified 2,829 individual energy efficiency opportunities, equivalent to 461GWh or £43.9m of annual savings across 1,148 individual audits.
- We have helped over 300 ESOS Phase 1 clients avoid combined penalties of over £48m.
- Economies of scale – we offer a 4 year agreement for Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting (SECR) at no additional cost with ESOS.
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We can assist you with a range of compliance schemes as well as solutions to help you realise the savings identified by ESOS compliance
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