Enforcement of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS)

The Environment Agency (EA) has been issuing legal enforcement notices and warnings of proposed penalties to organisations who they believe qualify for ESOS but have not notified their compliance.

The deadline for submitting a notification of compliance for phase 3 of ESOS was 5 June 2024.

Organisations qualifying for ESOS must achieve compliance or they could face a penalty of up to £50,000.

ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations that, on 31 December 2022:

• Employed 250 or more people, or
• Had an annual turnover in excess of £44 million, and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million.

If you’ve been served with an enforcement notice, or have received notice of a civil penalty, it's important to act quickly. If you make representations to the EA or appeal the EA’s penalty, it may be possible to have it reduced or cancelled. 

Any organisation that qualifies for ESOS may also be required to participate in other climate change regimes, including the UK Emissions Trading System (UK ETS), the Environmental Permitting regime, the Fluorinated Greenhouse Gases regime (F-gas regime) and voluntary schemes such as Climate Change Agreements (CCA) scheme. 

The EA is increasingly active in enforcing all of these regimes but there are steps that can be taken to reduce your exposure to legal action and potentially very large penalties, for example a fine in the region of £1 million has been imposed for F-gas regime non-compliance.

Paul Collins is an environmental lawyer. He worked for the EA for over a decade until 2024, acting as the lead lawyer for the EA enforcing the climate change regimes. He represented the EA in more than 150 appeals against civil penalties, in the First-tier Tribunal and the Upper Tribunal. Therefore he's uniquely well placed to advise clients in relation to regime compliance, steps to take in response to enforcement action, and prospects of success when making representations/bringing appeals. 

If you would like to discuss any aspect of compliance with these regimes please contact Paul Collins.