Guarantee your ESOS Action Plan and Progress Update Compliance with TEAM

As part of the changes brought in by the Environment Agency to the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) during Phase 3, it was also announced that organisations that comply with ESOS, will be required to submit Energy Action Plans and annual Progress Updates based on their energy saving initiatives.

What will the Action Plan and Progress Update mean for you?

Energy Action Plans outline how participants intend to improve energy efficiency and carbon emissions. The plans must include the estimated kWh savings achievable for all energy saving projects and a timeline on how and when organisations plan to implement these savings.

In addition to the Action Plan, businesses must submit an Annual Progress Update providing an effective way to communicate their sustainability achievements. The ESOS Progress Report must include a list of all the energy saving actions the organisation has implemented in the last year and a list of energy saving actions they did not successfully implement. The update must also include an estimate of total energy saving achieved and whether these savings and actions were implemented inline with the dates set out in their ESOS Action Plan.

It is important that these energy saving measures are cost effective and practical, while there may be upfront costs for implementation, the long-term savings can significantly outweigh these expenses. Businesses should clearly state the expected energy savings resulting from their Action Plan, by quantifying these savings, they can track progress and demonstrate the impact of their efforts.

Both the Action Plan and the Progress Update will be published publicly by the Environment Agency to keep businesses accountable for the projects they have set out to deliver. It is important to remember that details of the organisations that do not successfully achieve their energy saving goals or that do not submit their Action Plan or Progress Update will also be shared publicly.

What are the key elements of an ESOS Action Plan?

The Action Plan provides a roadmap to achieving specific energy saving actions, and ensuring sustainability goals can be implemented and achieved throughout a business. It can also be used to create targeted actions to improve energy efficiency in an organisation, this can include equipment upgrades, optimising processes, and encouraging behaviour change for employees.

With a focused implementation timeline, businesses can prioritise projects and set their path to meet their energy saving goals. Organisations will also need to set out the estimated savings for both cost and energy from their energy efficiency projects, enabling them to better plan their journey to carbon reduction. ?

Using annual monitoring and reporting, organisations must regularly track their progress and align their Action Plan with their broader business objectives, whether an organisation wants to set a goal of meeting net zero or make changes to their energy usage, they can celebrate their wins annually.

What are the business benefits of energy saving?

Not only is it important to be compliant with ESOS and avoid the impact of public disclosure or potential regulatory compliance penalties, implementing energy saving actions throughout your business can have numerous benefits:

• Reducing your energy bills and business energy overheads by making savings on your energy consumption and reducing your usage.
• Gain a better understanding of your business’s energy usage and how it can be improved.
• Use valuable insights on your energy consumption to make savings and enhance your reporting to stakeholders.
• Reduce your carbon emissions and the impact your business has on the planet.
• Set and meet carbon reduction strategy and net zero targets, elevating your business as a leader in sustainability.
• As the Action Plans and Progress Updates are published publicly, organisations can stand out amongst their competitors as a business committed to energy efficiency and sustainability.
• By integrating energy saving measures into their plans, businesses can drive positive change.

How TEAM can help with your Action Plan

We can support businesses across all aspects of planning and writing their ESOS Action Plan to ensure it can be submitted by the deadline of 5 December 2024. With less than six months to go until the deadline for the first Action Plan, are you ready?

Our team of energy efficiency experts can:

• Build an appropriate Action Plan, starting by producing an energy savings requirements specification.
• Compile appropriate energy saving recommendations from your ESOS Phase 3 submission to implement into your business.
• Determine a timeline for your action plan to implement energy saving recommendations projects and establish realistic deadlines for their completion.
• Perform detailed calculations of potential kWh savings.
• Estimate the total kWh savings achievable throughout the compliance period for all energy saving projects included in the ESOS Action Plan (December 2023 to December 2027).
• Create an Energy Action Plan document to include a timeline to complete your energy saving projects.

How TEAM can help with your Progress Update

After the Action Plan has been submitted, businesses will also be required to submit an annual Progress Report to update the Environment Agency on whether they have implemented the energy saving projects set out in the original Action Plan. Our experts can support you in ensuring all the information required for your Progress Update is ready for submission. We will:

• Review the progress of each energy saving project in the Action Plan over the last 12 months, including information on the projects that have been completed, in progress or not yet implemented as planned.
• Calculate the total kWh saving achieved throughout the compliance period for the relevant energy saving projects in the Action Plan over the last 12 months.
• Create a comprehensive Action Plan Annual Progress Update Report for your organisation that includes all details of energy saving projects progress, ensuring you comply with ESOS legislation.

Discover more about how we can help you successfully submit your Action Plan and Progress Update