We at New Paradigm Consulting appreciate that ESOS compliance may have crept up on a lot of organisations, and understandably, some organisations are still unsure how to achieve compliance by the 5th of December 2015 deadline.
So what is ESOS?
As detailed on the UK Government Wedsite (www.gov.uk); “Government established ESOS to implement Article 8 (4-6) of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (2012/27/EU). The ESOS Regulations 2014 give effect to the scheme.”
“ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. The Environment Agency is the UK scheme administrator”.
“Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out ESOS assessments every 4 years. These assessments are audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport to identify cost-effective energy saving measures”.
“Organisations must notify their local Environment Agency by the 5th of December 2015 deadline that they have complied with their ESOS obligations. Participants must then carry out an ESOS assessment in each subsequent 4-year compliance period, ending on 5 December 2019, 2023 and so on”.
ESOS compliance applies to your organisation if you meet any of the following qualification criteria as detailed on the www.gov.uk website:
Any UK company that either:
- employs 250 or more people
- has an annual turnover in excess of 50 million euro (£38,937,777), and an annual balance sheet total in excess of 43 million euro (£33,486,489)
- an overseas company with a UK registered establishment which has 250 or more UK employees (paying income tax in the UK)
Complicating matters further is the fact that there are various routes to compliance.
The two main routes are;
1. Undergo an energy audit from an Approved ESOS Lead Assessor by the deadline and every 4 years thereafter, or;
2. Achieve certification to ISO50001:2011 by the deadline
There are varying costs and benefits of each route depending on the nature of your business, so why not get in contact with us to discuss the most cost effective route for your business.
With our expertise in providing ISO management system consultancy across a number of industries and sectors, we are extremely well placed to ensure that you get the most added value from whichever route you decide to take, as the process for gaining compliance can be easily integrated into your existing ISO compliant management system.
Compliance to ESOS & achieving / maintaining certification to other ISO standards need not be costly. We continually keep our ‘ear to the ground’ for sources of funding and cost saving initiatives. In fact a number of our clients have managed to increase profit as a result of our involvement!
Even if you are a micro business or an SME and don’t fall under the scope of ESOS, why not take us up on our offer of a free consultation. We would be more than happy to discuss any ISO management system related ‘headaches’ that you are currently having. Especially as the changes to ISO9001 & ISO14001 are less than 6 months away!