Creating an audit plan

An audit plan ensures that all parties, including the Lead Assessor, the auditor(s) and the business being audited have a clear understanding and common expectation of the audits, including the format of the report and the information to be contained in it.

How to gather information

Gathering information on energy and fuel use is an important part of audit planning. You should allow sufficient time to collect the necessary information in advance of your audits as this could take up to several months if you don’t have detailed records in place.

Using the de minimis rule You can decide whether to exclude up to 10% of your identified total energy consumption under the de minimis rule. Consider the following in this decision:

Where specific energy use is not required to be included in your ESOS assessment (e.g. because of a change in ownership of an asset between the qualification and compliance date) it would be good practice to keep a note of the details in your evidence pack including why this energy consumption was excluded so it can be adequately explained to the scheme regulators if you are audited.

Determining Scope of Audits Decide which parts of your organisation need to be included under ESOS then look at which sites or activities to audit, as you may not have to audit them all.

Map out the energy consuming activities that are undertaken at each site and also transport activities. This will form the basis for focusing of audits on the areas where most benefit will be derived. Staff such as members of operations, property, maintenance and finance teams will be able to assist to ensure that nothing is missed.

Details to be included in an ESOS Evidence Pack

The final responsibility you have as an ESOS participant is to maintain an evidence pack that is available for audit by the EA. This demonstrates that your organisation has fully complied with ESOS.

Carrying Out ESOS Energy Assessments

The basic requirements are:

Other energy management standards and ESOS

If you have already had audits carried out that meet the requirements of ESOS then these can be used towards your compliance.