Speaking at the Institute of Directors recently, Energy Secretary Ed Davey urged businesses with more than 250 employees to work closely with the Government to
realise the £2.8 billion a year of energy cost-savings available through the new Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).

Representing the Government’s response to Article Eight of the EU’s Energy Efficiency Directive, which requires a range of measures to encourage companies to improve their energy efficiency, ESOS was formally launched earlier this year.

It builds on the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which imposes reporting requirements and a carbon levy on around 1,000 of the UK’s largest businesses, but it also requires around 10,000 firms to carry out a formal energy-efficiency audit every four years. The first audit has to be completed by 5 December next year; DECC officials have warned that companies failing to comply could face £10,000 fines.

Mr Davey said: “While the take-up of recommendations under ESOS is voluntary, this process will become a burden if the savings identified are not realised. Having paid for an audit, we believe that you will want to use it. Think of it as ‘a menu of things you can do to save money’. Of course, if you see ESOS as a compliance burden, it will become one.”