The following are the key steps an undertaking should undertake to comply with ESOS.
1. Determine if it is within scope – as discussed in Newsletter No 2 – i.e. large undertaking or part of a corporate group.
2. Determine if existing energy management system is covered by an ISO500001 Energy Management System
- If an undertaking has an ISO500001 Energy Management System which covers all of its energy use, this shall be sufficient to constitute an ESOS Assessment provided that the system must has been certified during the compliance period, and the certification must remain valid at the compliance date.
- If it does not cover all energy use then additional top-up work will be required to demonstrate compliance.
3. Measure total energy consumption. The whole energy consumption must be measured across a 12 month period (reference period). ESOS includes energy consumed in:
- Buildings
- Transport
- Industrial processes
For this 1st scoping exercise, ESOS allows energy consumption to be measured in kWh or energy expenditure.
Up-to-date information should be used therefore the 12 month energy reference period must overlap with the phase qualification date for the phase (31 December 2014).
4. Determine areas of significant energy consumption.
Once the total energy consumption has been measured the `areas of significant energy consumption’ need to be identified. The areas of significant energy consumption must account for 90% of the total energy consumption.
Within a phase, all of the areas of significant energy consumption must be covered either by an ESOS Energy Audit or by an alternative route to compliance.
An audit of the remaining 10% of the total energy consumption is not required. This energy use is referred to as de minimis energy use.
An undertaking can choose not to identify specific areas of significant energy consumption – in which case an audit of all of the assets must be undertaken (i.e. total energy consumption).
