Thousands of organisations risk ESOS penalties

The Environment Agency has warned that thousands of UK businesses are failing to take advantage of a new energy savings scheme and may face penalties as a result.
The Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory programme of self-assessment for all businesses that employ over 250 people or have a turnover of at least £38.9mn. Eligible organisations are required to calculate their energy consumption, identify their main sources of energy use and submit this information to the Environment Agency by 5 December or face fines of up to £50,000. But a Freedom of Information request, published by environmental services firm Veolia on 17 September, showed that only 150 of an estimated 10,000 eligible organisations were compliant.
The Environment Agency (EA), which administers the scheme, suggests that it could bring £250mn of savings to UK businesses, if they all reduced their energy use by 0.7%. The EA published updated guidance on 8 October, confirming that it would not take enforcement action if evidence of compliance was submitted before 29 January 2016.