The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2023

Explanatory Note

(This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations make changes in relation to the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) which was established under the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations 2014 (the 2014 regulations). ESOS is an energy assessment scheme which requires large organisations in the UK and their corporate group to carry out an audit of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport in relation to four-year compliance periods. These Regulations introduce a number of changes intended to enhance and standardise ESOS reporting and publication requirements in relation to the compliance period which began on 6 December 2019, and subsequent compliance periods, with the aim of encouraging participants to take action to make energy savings.

The Regulations make the following changes to the 2014 regulations (references to Parts and Chapters below refer to the 2014 regulations).

Part 2, Chapter 1 is amended to update the compliance date for the compliance period beginning on 6 December 2019 to 5 June 2024 for some purposes. Part 2, Chapter 2 is amended to extend the requirement that a scheme administrator must publish certain types of information held on the Notification System.

Part 4, Chapter 1 is amended to clarify that a lead assessor does not need to be appointed by undertakings that consume less than 40,000kWh over the annual reference period. New regulation 21A is inserted to provide for how details of estimates used under ESOS must be recorded and notified. Part 4, Chapter 2 is amended to clarify that all participants have a duty to calculate total energy consumption. It is also amended to update the definition of “areas of significant energy consumption” to be not less than 95% of the undertaking’s total energy consumption and insert a new definition of “significant energy consumption”. New regulation 25A is inserted to require that in some circumstances a participant’s total energy consumption, or significant energy consumption must be converted into kWh units. In a new Chapter 2A, new regulation 25B is inserted to require responsible undertakings to identify the proportion of energy consumption that relates to a organisational purpose of transport, industrial processes, buildings and other. New regulation 25C is inserted to require responsible undertakings to calculate an energy intensity ratio for applicable organisational purposes. In Part 4, Chapter 3, regulation 26 is amended to specify requirements as to site visits and additional record-keeping in relation to the energy audit. Regulation 27 is amended so that the requirement to identify energy saving opportunities is extended to require responsible undertakings to conduct further analysis and to identify considerations for implementation of energy saving opportunities and recommend a programme for implementation. In a new Chapter 3A, new regulation 27A is inserted to establish the requirement for a responsible undertaking to produce an ESOS report, that is the written record of the energy audit conducted by the undertaking which must include information specified in that regulation. New regulation 27B is inserted to require a responsible undertaking to estimate energy savings made by the participant since the preceding compliance date. New regulation 27C is inserted to require that responsible undertakings share relevant information with group undertakings. Regulation 28 is amended to extend the information that is required to be included in the evidence pack and in specified circumstances, extend the period that the evidence pack must be held for.

Part 5 is amended to extend the categories of information that a responsible undertaking is required to include in their notification of compliance. Regulation 30 is amended to clarify that where a lead assessor is not required to be appointed, two responsible officers must be nominated. Regulation 31 is amended to extend the categories of information that a responsible officer is required to confirm.

Part 6 is amended so as to apply the requirement to produce an ESOS report to participants relying wholly or partly on an alternative compliance route.

New Part 6A is inserted so as to require all participants to produce an ESOS action plan under new regulation 34A and ESOS progress update under new regulation 34B, and these are also applied to those participants relying wholly or partly on an alternative compliance route via amendments to Part 6.

Schedule 2 is amended to update the rules for disaggregation to clarify who is the responsible undertaking for when changes to participant groups occur between the relevant dates for the action plan and progress update.

Schedule 3 is replaced to insert tables A to I that provide detail of the information that is to be included in the ESOS report, notified to the scheme administrator and to be published by the scheme administrator. In Tables A to I, column 1 provides detail of administrative information required to be included in the ESOS report under regulation 27A(4). In some tables column 1 is intentionally left blank where the requirement to include that information is specified elsewhere in the Regulations. Column 2 details information that is required to be notified to the scheme administrator by regulation 29. Column 3 provides detail of the information that is required to be published by the scheme administrator under regulation 10.

Schedule 5 is amended to update the application of the ESOS scheme to trust assets.

A full impact assessment of the effect that this instrument will have on the costs of business, the voluntary sector and the public sector has been published alongside these Regulations and is available from legislation.gov.uk or from the Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, 3-8 Whitehall Place, London SW1A 2EG.