Online ESOS Info Hub Provides Clarity for Social Landlords

Confused about ESOS as a Social Landlord? Don’t be. Our friends at the ESOS Hub Team explain all…

Q. How do I know if I am in ESOS as a Social Landlord? Are we excluded as a social or charitable enterprise?

A. Interesting question: as social landlords are not a definition within the ESOS guidance at present but as each organisation has to test itself against a number of specific requirements which will help it to understand if they need to comply with ESOS regulations. This test can be referred to as:

1. Are you a public body where you have to adhere to the UK public contract regulations, if so you’re not in the scope of ESOS
2. Do you employ more 250 employees if yes you are a large enterprise and in the scope of ESOS.
3. You have fewer than 250 employees but your annual turnover exceeding 50 million Euros and a balance sheet exceeding 43 million Euros, if so you are a large organisation and in the scope of ESOS.
4. If your part of a group of organisations or companies of which one of the group is a large enterprise, then you are in scope of ESOS.

The current ESOS guidance published in June 2014 by the department of energy and Climate Change will be replaced by further guidance issued by the Environment Agency and this will be focused on compliance guidance and will become the actual and relevant guidance, which will be published later in 2014.

So any organisation or body that is captured under the ESOS legislation will need to comply with the requirements to carry out a mandatory energy assessment and energy saving identification scheme. The good news is this will identify where the organisation can reduce energy, improve energy efficiency and make real long term investment programmes based on whole life costs. The benefit will be to move the organisation into managing its energy more effectively and more efficiently which will reduce cost and mitigate increasing energy prices in future years.

The benefit for social landlords and charities that are not public bodies and are a large organisation or part of a group under the ESOS legislation, is that improving the energy efficiency of the portfolio of its buildings will allow more of its funds to be utilise in support of its other activities.

Check out the rest of the ESOS Hub’s resources and FAQ pages for loads more information on all aspects of ESOS assessments and ESOS lead assessors.

Donald Lack NIFES Energy Consultant