Thousands of UK firms have missed the final deadline for compliance with the government’s mandatory energy efficiency scheme ESOS despite a final surge in notifications.
According to the Environment Agency (EA) which regulates the initiative, 5,948 notifications of compliance and exactly 1,000 notifications of intent to comply were received prior to the 29 January cut off.
In the final two days before the deadline, 1,015 notifications of compliance were received as firms rushed to supply their energy audits and escape possible enforcement action by the EA.
The regulator estimates that approximately 70% of organisations that qualify for the energy assessment scheme were in time, leaving an estimated 3,000 firms at risk of penalties. The EA sent letters to around this many firms on 8 January to find out why they had yet to comply with the scheme. While some were able to show that, due to their size and turnover, they were not eligible under the scheme, a question mark remains over what action will be taken against those yet to comply.
A spokesperson for the EA said: “It will take some time to match all the notifications to the expected participant groups and verify whether the remaining organisations do in fact qualify.
“Our focus is on bringing organisations into compliance with ESOS and we will start contacting those organisations that have not yet complied this month. We will normally use enforcement notices to bring organisations into compliance and only issue civil penalties in the most serious cases.”