Following yesterday’s announcement, The Environment Agency have now confirmed that a waiver has been introduced relating to the enforcement of ESOS.
As the compliance deadline of the 5th of December looms, it emerged last month that just over 150 organisations have notified the Environment Agency (EA) out of an estimated 10,000 that fall under the new scheme.
ESOS, the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme came into force last year, which is aimed at encouraging organisations to improve their carbon footprint by saving Energy and reducing the operating costs of large undertakings. Under the scheme, which is a product of the European Union’s Energy Efficiency Directive – all UK businesses with more than 250 employees, £40m in annual turnover or a balance sheet of more than £34m are required to complete an energy efficiency audit every four years. The first of these audits is due this December.
Any organisations that fail to comply before the 5th December deadline will face a basic fine of £50,000 plus up to £800 a day for non-compliance, which is capped at 80 days. Following the new waiver that has been introduced on the 8th October, companies now have until the end of January 2016 to register as ESOS compliance. The rules stipulate all companies should notify them by the 5th of December that the process is underway.
Daniel Relton, industry auditor & ESOS lead assessor at Wallis Cutts Group has seen an influx of companies commission Wallis Cutts Group to complete their ESOS Audit but still feels there is more work to do. “The deadline for ESOS is fast approaching and many organisations do not realise the timescales of completing an audit. Companies need to act now in order to be compliant in time for the deadline otherwise they could face a number of fines.” He said.
“Many of the clients we are working with told us the greatest barrier to making a decision was the lack of clarity over cost as ESOS Assessors were looking to just charge an hourly rate. We designed a 3 stage model that allowed us to quickly review each clients size and diversity and arrive at a fixed cost. That approach has worked very well and secured orders from retail, medical, heavy industry, universities, car parking & wholesalers right across the UK” Daniel continued.
For further information about ESOS, please download our data sheet.