30 Jun 2014
Some of the largest companies in Britain face fines as high as £50,000 if they don’t follow a Government scheme designed to save energy.
The Department of Energy and Climate Change (DECC) reveals under the Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) big firms must hold audits of the amount of energy they use every four years to make sure they are as energy efficient as possible.
The rules apply to businesses with 250 members of staff or more, those that make £40 million in turnover or have more than £34.4 million on their balance sheet. They also apply to corporate groups that include at least one UK firm of that size.
Initial assessments must be completed and reported to the Environment Agency by December 5 next year and qualifying firms can be fined £50,000 for not doing an assessment in time and £5,000 for not reporting or keeping proper records.
Organisations covered by the ISO 50001 Energy Management System are not required to carry out ESOS audits but they must tell the Environment Agency about their situation.
Copyright Press Association 2014