Complying with legislation

With the UK Governments target of meeting net-zero by 2050 and lowering our greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, many businesses are obliged to comply with specific legislation that highlights their energy consumption and usage.

This legislation usually comes with recommendations or improvements for energy reduction across the business and the two most common ones are the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) and Streamlined Energy & Carbon Reporting (SECR).

ESOS

ESOS has been around for a few years now and many businesses across the UK must comply with it. It is a mandatory assessment for business who meet the following criteria:

• Employed 250 people or more
• Had an annual turnover in excess of £44 million and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million

ESOS is currently in phase 3 and the compliance period runs from the 6^th of December 2019 until the 5^th of December 2023. Eligible businesses must review their total energy consumption to identify any energy savings opportunities. From buildings, industrial processes, and any transport a business uses.

This can be done via ESOS compliant energy surveys, which are the most common compliance methods, or through ISO50001 Energy Management or Display Energy Certificates (DECs).

Working with an expert energy consultant like Inspired, not only supports with meeting your compliance obligations, but also identify any areas of improvement and we can help your business to implement any recommendations, so you can reduce your consumption and recoup the financial benefit.

SECR

Introduced in April 2018, the Streamlined Carbon & Energy Reporting policy requires around 11,900 companies to disclose their energy and carbon emissions. This policy builds upon existing requirements business adhere to such as GHG reporting.

It is designed to encourage business to implement energy efficiency measures with both economic and environmental benefits, whilst also cutting costs for businesses and improving productivity. Those who are required to submit their SECR reports, but fail to do so or report inaccurately, may see financial penalties applied. Therefore, many businesses choose to work with a trusted and experienced partner who can ensure all reports are submitted on time and correctly.

Compliance and net-zero

Most of the time, businesses will conduct an audit of their energy consumption first, meeting the compliance element of the process for both ESOS and SECR. But both pieces of legislation can support businesses with their net-zero goals through working to reduce energy consumption via the recommendations from these reports. Many businesses will find that complying with these regulations will enable them to find their baseline and set more realistic targets for their energy reduction plans.