The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme is a mandatory regulatory incentive to improve energy efficiency in large public and private organisations. The scheme will affect around 20,000 organisations in order to achieve overall targets of reducing greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 by at least 80% compared to the 1990 baseline.

Who does the CRC apply to?

• If you had at least one Half Hourly Meter (HHM) settled on the half hourly market in 2008 and your annual electricity supply was at least 6,000MWh (equivalent of spending around £500,000 a year) then you will have to participate in the scheme. If your annual electricity supply is below 6,000MWh but above 3,000MWh then you will be required to make an information disclosure.

• If you had at least one Half Hourly Meter (HHM) settled on the half hourly market in 2008 and your annual electricity supply was at least 6,000MWh (equivalent of spending around £500,000 a year) then you will have to participate in the scheme. If your annual electricity supply is below 6,000MWh but above 3,000MWh then you will be required to make an information disclosure. However, if your UK HHM electricity supply was less than 3,000MWh then you must make an information disclosure but you will not be required to report any consumption data.

• The scheme will affect a broad range of Public and Private companies including:

- Education (Public Schools and Universities)
- Manufacturing
 -Local Authorities
- Private Accommodation
- Joint Ventures & PFI schemes
- All Government Departments
- Food and Drink
- Hotels
- Hospitals
- Nursing Homes

• Notable Exclusions include:

- Domestic Accommodation
- Transport Emissions
- Emissions covered by the Climate Change Agreement and the European         
- Emissions Trading System

What should you have done by now?

• You should have determined the total amount of electricity used through all of your organisations HHM’s in 2008 and assessed whether it exceeds the qualification threshold.
• If you have a HHM settled on the half hourly market then you should have received an information pack in autumn 2009 from your scheme administrator. Your scheme administrator could be the Environment Agency (England & Wales), the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (Scotland) or the Northern Ireland Environment Agency (Northern Ireland).
• You should have nominated someone within your organisation that will be able to familiarise and then manage the scheme on behalf of the organisation.
• If you qualify as a participant for the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme then you should have already registered for phase 1 of the scheme. Phase 1 registration period was from April and September 2010.

What will happen next?

• From 2010 you will have to produce a report on the CO2 emissions you have emitted for that year. The reporting year is from 1st April to 31st March and the report will be submitted in July (the last working day) every year. The first annual report will be submitted on the 29th July.
• A Footprint Report will be produced during each phase which will be a summary of the energy supplied for 1st April 2010 to 31st March 2011. The report will demonstrate that 90% of the energy supplied to your organisation is covered by the following 3 measures:
• The EU Emissions Trading System (EUETS)
• Climate Change Agreement (CCA)
• CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

Phase 1 Footprint Report will be submitted on the 29th July.

• In April 2012 you will have one month to purchase allowances for every tonne of CO2 you emitted in the 2011/2012 year. You will have to pay £12 per allowance and they must cover your emissions generated for the previous year (April 2011 – March 2012), however in future years you will need to purchase allowances based on your forecasted CO2 emissions for that year which will occur in April of every year.
• All organisations will then be positioned in a league table based on their performance in reducing their CO2 emissions. 

• At the end of the introductory phase (ends 31st March 2013) allowances will not be sold at a fixed price and will be bought through a secondary market which will contain CRC participants and third party account holders at an agreed price.
• The registration period for Phase 2 will be between the 1st April and the 30th September 2013 based on the 2012-2013 qualification year. Details of this are still to be finalised.

What if I don’t do what the scheme requires?

The following are fines/penalties that you will incur if you do not comply with the scheme:

• If you meet the qualification criteria but do not register by the deadline (30th September 2010) you will have to pay £5,000 immediately and a further £500 per working day for each subsequent working day of delay up to a maximum of 80 days.
• Failure to make an information disclosure will result in a £500 fine which will be issued for each HHM that that your organisation is responsible for.
• Failure to register all parts of the organisation will result in a £500 fine for each HHM that was not included in the registration.
• Failure or a late submission of a footprint /annual report (submitted in July every year) will result in an immediate £5,000 fine and a further £500 per working day for each subsequent day of delay up to a maximum of 40 days. The total accumulated daily rate fine will then be doubled after 40 days.
• 20% of organisations in the CRC will be audited each year and if any information has been reported incorrectly to the administrator then there will be a £40 penalty for each tonne of CO2 incorrectly reported.
• Failure to keep adequate records in your evidence pack (contains information on energy used and other documents supporting your reports) will result in a penalty of £40 for each tonne of CO2 of the total emissions reported on your most recent CRC annual report.