Any firm with more than 250 employees will have to carry out energy-saving assessments to explore how they could cut their consumption.
For any business that wonders what happened to the red tape initiative and why they are now being given more forms to fill in, the government says this one is firmly down to Brussels. The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is part of the UK’s implementation of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive, the government says.
However, the new requirements might be beneficial. DECC reckons that organisations will, on average, invest £15,000 a year in energy efficiency measures and make savings of £56,400 a year from fuel bills.
Climate change minister Greg Barker said: “Effective energy efficiency means cutting out waste and increasing profits. These new energy saving assessments will help our largest firms identify where money can be saved by installing energy efficiency measures. The potential benefits of cutting down on energy waste are significant – £56,400 savings per year on the energy bills of the average large business, and £1.9bn benefits to the UK as a whole.”
The consultation on ESOS proposals will run until 3 October 2013. The consultation document can be found online at gov.uk.
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