Get answers to the following questions: What is Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)? Is ESOS still required? How do you qualify for ESOS? What is the difference between ESOS and SECR?
Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for large organisations in the UK with 250 or more employees or have an annual turnover of more than €50 million and an annual balance sheet total of more than €43 million. Organisations under ESOS regulations have until the end of ESOS phase 3 to notify their compliance to the Environment Agency.
How to Carry Out an ESOS Assessment
ESOS compliance is not the same for all ESOS-qualified organisations, which can be classified into three categories: 1) those with ISO 50001 certification; 2) those with zero energy supplies; and 3) those without ISO 50001 certification and without zero energy supplies.
If the organisation’s Energy Management System (EnMS) covers the energy use under ESOS and has been ISO 50001 certified by an accredited certification body, then they need to do the following to comply with ESOS:
Ask a board level director to review the findings of the ISO 50001 certification and confirm that the organisation is indeed ISO 50001 compliant. The board level director should also state that the information to be included in the notification is correct.
Notify the Environment Agency that, since the organisation has an ISO 50001 certified EnMS that covers their energy use under ESOS, then they are already compliant with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme.
Zero energy supplies means that the organisation does not have any physical assets or employees using energy. For organisations that meet this requirement, they still need to comply with ESOS by doing the following:
Ask a board level director to confirm that the organisation has no energy responsibility.
Notify the Environment Agency that, since they have zero energy supplies, they are compliant with ESOS.
Organisations that do not have an EnMS, have an EnMS but it is not ISO 50001 certified, or have an ISO 50001 certified EnMS but it does not cover all of the energy use under ESOS, and have no zero energy supplies—they need to comply with ESOS by carrying out an ESOS assessment.
Follow the 5 steps below to carry out an ESOS assessment:
The lead assessor must be a member of an approved professional body register. If no employee within your organisation is a lead assessor or is willing to be the lead assessor, then you can find an external lead assessor using the online registers of the approved professional bodies.
If you appoint an external lead assessor, a board level director of your organisation has to check and sign the overall ESOS assessment and the recommendations of compliance routes. If you appoint an internal lead assessor, then two board level directors need to do the checking and signing off.
Though the primary responsibility of a lead assessor is to review the ESOS assessment, they can also carry out the ESOS assessment themselves.
To measure total energy consumption, you need to ensure that you have verifiable data on the organisation’s energy usage of fuels, heat, electricity, and renewable energy. Verifiable data can include invoices, inventory records, and meter readings. If you do not have verifiable data, you will need to estimate data by using direct comparison, pro-rata extrapolation, or benchmarking.
The reference period for both types of data should be a consecutive 12 months, including December 31, 2022 and ending before December 5, 2023. Once you have sufficient data, calculate total energy consumption in either an energy unit or energy spend in pound sterling. You can use online calculators to measure fuel, heat, and electricity consumption. For renewable energy, you can use the SHARES tool provided by Eurostat, the statistical office of the European Union.
Areas of significant energy consumption are assets and activities that amount to at least 90% of your total energy consumption. Though you may choose to not identify areas of significant energy consumption, the disadvantage of that choice is that your total energy consumption has to be included in your chosen ESOS compliance routes.
However, if you choose to identify those areas, you can exclude up to 10% of your total energy consumption (known as de minimis energy consumption) from your compliance routes. This up to 10% can be excluded on a group, site, asset/activity, or fuel basis.
There are four ways to show compliance with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme:
ISO 50001 Certification
Display Energy Certificates (DECs)
Green Deal Assessments (GDAs)
If a compliance route covers less than 90% of total energy consumption, then another must be applied to the remaining percentage. For example, if 50% is covered by ISO 5001 certification, you can conduct ESOS compliant energy audits on the 40% not covered by it.
DECs and GDAs can only be part of an ESOS assessment if they have been issued and carried out within the compliance period and are still valid on the compliance date. For ESOS phase 3, the compliance period is December 6, 2019 to December 5, 2023.
To be included in an ESOS assessment, data from an ESOS compliant energy audit must:
include 12 consecutive months of energy use for an asset or activity;
start on or after December 6, 2018 (1 year prior to the start of the compliance period);
start no earlier than 2 years before the audit start date; and
end on or before December 5, 2023 (the compliance date).
Present the findings of the ESOS assessment to a board level director (or two, if an internal lead assessor was appointed) and ask them to confirm the following in writing:
They have reviewed the recommendations of the ESOS assessment and those of the compliance routes;
They believe that the organisation is within the scope of ESOS and is compliant with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme; and
They believe that the information provided in the organisation’s notification to the Environment Agency is correct.
Complete your ESOS assessment by notifying the Environment Agency.
The reason why you should choose Mitti (by SafetyCulture), a digital operations efficiency platform for organisations of all sizes, is that it can help you implement various energy-saving opportunities. With Mitti (by SafetyCulture), you can do the following to increase your energy efficiency and comply with the ESOS UK Regulations:
Review and improve maintenance plans
Monitor HVAC systems using Sensors
Conduct energy audits using checklists
Track your performance based on data collected over time
Get started with Mitti (by SafetyCulture) for free, view pricing plans, or book a demo.
To prepare for the standardisation of ESOS reporting, use this digital template that includes all of the standardised details recommended by the UK Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS). Report on the following for ESOS compliance:
Organisational details, reason for qualification in ESOS, and route/s used for compliance
Total Energy Consumption, Significant Energy Consumption, and de minimis exclusions
Use of 12 months energy data, estimates, and energy profiling
Brief summary of energy assessment findings (such as total savings identified)
Details of the ESOS lead assessor and other personnel involved in the assessment
Assess the energy efficiency of an establishment with this digital checklist. ESOS lead assessors can identify opportunities for energy cost reduction and recommend solutions using the energy audit checklist. It is divided into the following sections:
Lighting
Building Envelope
Heating and Cooling
Motors and Equipment
Energy Behavior
Findings and Recommendations
For organisations that want to comply with ESOS by getting ISO 50001 certified or use ISO 50001 certification as a compliance route, they can audit their Energy Management System (EnMS) using this digital checklist. It can also help organisations successfully implement cost-effective energy efficiency opportunities with sections for the context of the organisation, leadership, planning, and support.
