The number of firms compliant with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme has continued to rise seven months after a revised deadline, however more than 1,000 firms remain under investigation.
Statistics released by the Department for the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the the scheme’s administrator the Environment Agency yesterday showed that as of 25 August more than 6,500 UK firms had filed compliance data.
This figure includes a total of 81 businesses that had voluntarily decided to comply with the scheme despite not meeting its eligibility criteria.
As many as 1,200 firms are also expected to remain under investigation for non-compliance, significantly fewer than the 3,000 firms expected to be at risk of penalties in February this year.
The database released by Defra includes the identities of all compliant firms and answers to a series of questions which also provide some insight into the compliance procedure.
Of the 6,542 firms listed, just 177 have used internally appointed lead assessors, with the significant majority having outsourced these responsibilities to a third-party.
A total of 814 businesses had voluntarily set energy efficiency and reduction benchmarks and/or targets as a result of the scheme, which could be argued to be a disappointingly low figure considering its objective.
A further 711 firms did however state their intention to reduce their energy consumption on the back of their audits.
The scheme has also had more success in making senior management and directors aware of energy consumption. Of those ESOS compliant firms within the database, more than 1,500 had seen the results of their energy audits discussed at board level, while more than 2,100 had been discussed by senior management teams.
A total of 118 firms have made their ESOS audits publicly available.
