Don’t wait; embedding ESOS audit recommendations reduces costs

DECC has made it plain; an ESOS audit can identify potential cost savings more than 13.5 times the cost of the audit. Completed ESOS audits therefore represent a vast opportunity in solid financial terms.

Yet, for many, this win could go unrealised, unless concerted efforts are made now to deliver and embed the audit recommendations early in 2016, before the ESOS dust settles.

EDIE highlights the savings; ‘The Government estimates that the average cost to each business will be around £6,600 for the cost of an audit per four-year cycle, but a recent report on ESOS estimates that businesses will save around £35,400 from their initial audit,’ it writes.

Such a solid financial win must not be ignored by any forward looking firm.

Building additional benefits; ESOS has more to offer

Crucially, the savings from putting ESOS reports to work aren’t just financial: energy efficiency measures and technologies have a host of added benefits. For example, voltage optimisation can protect your firm from a volatile grid and increase the life expectancy of electrical equipment.

Delivering tangible proof that ESOS improvements are in place also improves your company’s sustainable reputation. The steps you take following ESOS audits will input valuably into your overall sustainability and CSR reporting.

There is also further financial advocacy for action. The Carbon Trust believes that ESOS benefits for business have been widely underestimated by many commentators: its own analysis suggests that implementing ESOS audit recommendations can help reduce energy bills for large enterprises by £300m in 2016.

Step up now, at the start of 2016

Often, even the most proactive firms can find energy efficiency measures swamped by day to day business priorities or firefighting.

At Efficient Power Solutions, assuming you already have your ESOS audit, we advise treating the Environment Agency’s January 29 compliance extension as an internal goalpost.
Use it to ensure audit implementation is at best underway, or at the very least planned in and budgeted for.

Of course, if you’re behind with ESOS, filing the audit by January 29 is the absolute priority. Following this, set aside time, ideally at Board level, to gain consensus and schedule in the work to get audit recommendations in place.
The biggest wins, and most successful businesses, will be those that see compliance with ESOS as only the starting point.

The true promised land will be opened for those who ensure 2016 is the year when efficiency, delivered through ESOS, cuts to the very core of their firm. Efficient Power Solutions will be delighted to advise on embedding voltage optimisation and other energy efficiency technologies within your suite of ESOS improvements.