Does your business have half-hourly meters? Avoid a fine from the Environment Agency

If your organisation had any half hourly electricity meters during 2008, you need to register with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme before the end of September – no matter how little electricity you used.

The consequence if you don’t? The Environment Agency has a database of half hourly meters which it will be checking against disclosures and registrations. Fines can be £500 per meter if you fail to complete an information disclosure by 30 September or £5,000 plus £500 per day (max £45,000) if you qualify and fail to complete registration by 30 September.

The first thing you need to do is identify the extent of your organisation on 31 December 2008. Then, identify and list all half-hourly meters that supplied electricity to the organisation during 2008. Then, calculate the total. If it’s 6,000 MWh or more, you need to register for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme. If it’s less than 6,000 MWh, you need to make an information disclosure, unless you had no half-hourly meters at that time.

These are the basics, but as you might expect, it’s more complicated than that, with some exemptions & some mandated participants – for full details, take a look at the Environment Agency website.

The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is an incentive to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by making it mandatory for some organisations to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances to emit CO₂. However, it makes good business sense for all organisations, whether or not you qualify for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme,  to reduce energy usage, as this will lead to cost reductions. If you would like an independent energy management review, with a focus on cost reduction, please get in touch.