ESOS in 2024: What You Need to Know

No business owner or site manager wants to get caught out when it comes to compliance. ESOS is one of the schemes you’ll need to adhere to in 2024, if your business is eligible. In this post, we’ll outline which businesses need to complete ESOS in 2024 and what you need to do.

What is ESOS?

It might be your first time working for an organisation that’s eligible for ESOS, or maybe your business has grown since the last compliance period, and you now need to take part. Either way, for the uninitiated, ESOS stands for the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme.

It was launched in 2014 by the Environment Agency, aiming to help UK businesses reduce their carbon emissions and increase energy efficiency. Broadly speaking, ESOS requires businesses to audit and report on their energy consumption.

About the different ESOS phases

To know your obligations for ESOS in 2024, it’s important to understand the different ESOS phases. They are essentially segments of the scheme, each with their own qualification date and deadline. This ensures that the right businesses take part for each compliance period.

Initially, three phases were announced for ESOS, as follows:

• Phase 1 – Qualification date 31^st December 2014
• Phase 2 – Qualification date 31^st December 2018
• Phase 3 – Qualification date 31^st December 2022

The scheme has since been extended, with a fourth phase added. The qualification date for ESOS phase 4 is 31^st December 2026.

ESOS – 2024 dates and obligations

The relevant part of ESOS in 2024 is phase 3. Its compliance date falls on 5^th June 2024. This was originally in December 2023, but was pushed back by the government to allow extra time for the more stringent requirements.

These include:

• ESOS must now account for 95% of your Total Energy Consumption, raised from 90%.
• The compliance notification requires additional data, including energy intensity metrics.
• You must now include your next steps to implement recommendations within the ESOS report.
• ESOS reports must be distributed to any subsidiaries.

So, what do you need to do in 2024?

The first step is to check your eligibility if you haven’t already. You’ll need to identify whether your business met the definition of a large undertaking on the qualification date of 31^st December 2022:

• Your organisation employs 250+ people
• It has an annual turnover exceeding £44 million and an annual valance sheet exceeding £38 million

If either of these applies, you’ll need to meet ESOS obligations, including

• Appointing a lead assessor
• Calculating energy consumption
• Identifying areas of significant energy consumption
• Notifying the Environment Agency
• Maintaining accessible records to prove compliance

Take the hassle out of ESOS in 2024

If ESOS 2024 dates and obligations have your head in a spin, Volta Compliance can help. We’ll act as your lead assessor for ESOS, completing obligation on your behalf. Going beyond ticking boxes, we’ll make the most of the scheme to help your business minimise energy use and save money.

If you’d like to find out more, simply call us on 0113 436 0402 or email [email protected].