UK’s businesses urged to start measuring and recording energy use

Over 7,000 UK businesses will be required to provide very detailed reports on their energy use, or face the potential of being fined under the Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC)’s new Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).

ESOS represents the UK’s response to a new energy efficiency directive from the European Union, which aims is to help the EU meet its target of reducing energy consumption by 20 per cent by 2020, a news report on the matter could reveal.

Under the provisions for this scheme, any company with more than 250 employees, a turnover of more than €50 million (£41.5 million) or an annual balance sheet total of more than €43 million (circa £35 million) will now be affected – 10 times more than before.

The full details for the scheme, including penalties for non-compliance, will be revealed by DECC in June, but at a minimum, UK businesses will be required to provide:

• A review of the total energy use and energy efficiency of the organisation

• The amount of energy use per employee, focusing on key buildings, industrial operations and transport activities

• Clear information on potential savings, which identify and quantify cost-effective energy-savings opportunities. Wherever practical these should be based on life cycle assessment (LCA) instead of simple payback periods (SPP)

• Identification of an approved ESOS assessor (either an in-house expert or an external consultant) to conduct the assessment.

Although they’re probably the least energy efficient, public sector organisations will be exempt because they will have to comply with separate government procurement rules that require them to ensure that at least 3 per cent of their floor areas are renovated each year to meet minimum energy performance requirements.

Building Energy Management Systems are capable of delivering extensive monitoring and control options, compared to basic controls. They typically employ data from a variety of sources (boiler flow and return sensors, internal and external temperature sensors, occupancy sensors, humidity sensors, etc.), and enable the perfect optimization of a building’s boiler-based central heating system.

If you’d like to find out more about the savings enabled by the HeatingSave Building Energy Management System, just contact our dedicated product team, they’ll be more than happy to answer all of your questions and queries.