Firms face fines of up to £45k if they fail to comply with the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme, warns Gareth Henderson, managing director of Orchard Energy and a founder member of industry regulatory body, the Utility Intermediary Association.

 Launched this month, the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment) is the UK's mandatory climate change and energy saving scheme.  The scheme requires all non-transport UK organisations, from half hourly meter point users to firms using over 6GW of half hourly electricity per annum, to register and comply.  The government believes 5,000 of the UK’s largest organisations will be affected.

GarethHenderson comments:  “Although the CRC will be revenue neutral to government, it provides an incentive to reduce CO² emissions by distributing some of the revenue from the worst to the best performers.  The regulations are complex and there are significant penalties for non-compliance.

“The implications of CRC registration and compliance for organisations are numerous, including significant financial burdens such as up to a 30% increase in energy costs, by 2015, for those with poor, relative performance, and penalties for non-compliance.

“Some major organisations are oblivious to CRC and one area in particular which could be seriously overlooked, is where the obligation falls on parent organisations, not entities or sites, therefore private equity funds could be responsible for emissions from their portfolio.”

To aid organisations through the registration and compliance process, Orchard has drawn on its expertise dealing with complex issues with DEC, trade associations, The Environment Agency and Climate Change Levy for customers for over eight-years, and devised three simple options.  The flexible packages allow firms to choose the level of compliance management they require from Orchard.  Gareth says:  “It is our responsibility to guide our clients through the process and we are visiting each client to raise awareness of their obligations and options.  Many firms have jumped onto the CRC bandwagon, however, we have taken time to create a simple, transparent package which actually benefits our clients and adds value to Orchard’s service.”

For further information on CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme visit:
http://www.decc.gov.uk/en/content/cms/what_we_do/lc_uk/crc/crc.aspx