An ESOS assessment will help you reduce your energy consumption and carbon footprint, and reduce energy costs which have increased significantly over the past 2 years. It will also help raise awareness within your organisation amongst staff about energy issues and, through implementation of improvement actions, demonstrate to external stakeholders that the organisation is committed to reducing its energy and carbon footprint.

Non-compliance with ESOS Phase 2 resulted in the Environment Agency issuing:

• 2751 Compliance Notices

• 33 Enforcement Notices

• 123 Civil Penalties amounting to £1,927,761.

For non-compliance, businesses could be served a civil penalty of up to £50,000, plus a penalty of £500 for each day the organisation is found to be non-compliant.

For Phase 3, organisations and corporate groups that qualify for ESOS must notify ‘Scheme Administrator’ before the compliance notification date to avoid possible enforcement actions. This date is a revised deadline of 5th June 2024 (previously 5th December 2023) for Phase 3.

Phase 2 review results 30% compliant, 63% compliant following remedial work, and 7% non-compliant. There were ESOS compliance issues noted with:

• Reporting of organisation structure incorrect

• Typical Energy Consumption / Specific Energy Consumption calculations

• Sampling approach and quality of audits

• Energy Saving Opportunities identified

Currently not, however this is likely to change. The Government has been consulting on 2 draft PAS standards.

The new PAS (PAS 51215-1 Energy and net zero assessment – Process – Specification, and PAS 51215-2 Energy and net zero assessment – Competencies) standards will be available for participants wanting to voluntarily include Net Zero as a part of ESOS Phase 3 assessment.

Net Zero requirements are not mandatory for Phase 3.

Discover more of our carbon management services, including achieving carbon neutrality and meeting net zero targets for your business.

The UK Government has consulted on making possible changes to ESOS compliance requirements, however it is now unlikely that they will be required for Phase 3 compliance:

• Increasing the Significant Energy Consumption threshold from 90% to 95%

• Inclusion of standardised template for compliance information within the report

• Implementing targets/ action plans

• More data for compliance monitoring/enforcement

• Requiring medium size businesses to adopt ESOS

• Ensuring companies act on their ESOS reports

• Including both energy efficiency and net zero for Phase 4

All UK holdings within a corporate group will need to be covered within the ESOS assessment if any part of the group meets the compliance thresholds in the UK.

Once the total energy has been determined, 90% of an organisation's energy consumption will need to be covered during the current ESOS phase 3. 

Oversees organisations with UK holdings have to undertake an ESOS assessment if their UK activities meet the ESOS compliance thresholds. 

No, a sampling approach is used where the findings for similar sites can be extrapolated onto each other. The sample sites visited by our ESOS Assessor will be determined in conjunction with your organisation to provide maximum improvement opportunities and to ensure industry guidance is met. 

Alongside ESOS, other mandatory energy assessments include Display Energy Certificates (DEC) for public buildings with a total floor area greater than 250 metres square and frequently visited by the public.

Although not a legal requirement, implementation of an Energy Management System (EnMS) such as ISO 50001 can also bring real energy and financial benefits.

Further benefits may include helping to reduce your carbon footprint and demonstrating your commitment to energy management to clients and stakeholders.

Assessments have found that savings of up to 20% in energy bills can be made by businesses implementing small changes in working practices with no or little financial outlay.

Discover more about our energy management and compliance services.