Glass Technology Services Ltd (GTS), an independent research and development, consultancy and testing facility, has launched a flexible ESOS assessment service.

This builds on the company’s comprehensive environmental experience, management of glass sector Climate Change Agreement, past energy projects and specialist knowledge in glass.

The Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme Regulations 2014 (ESOS), also referred to as ‘mandatory energy audits’, came into force on 17 July 2014.

It requires non-SME businesses to undertake audits of their energy consumption and notify the Environment Agency (EA) that the ESOS assessment has been conducted and the business is compliant with the scheme obligations by 5 December 2015.

The ESOS implements article 8 of the EU Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) 2012/27/EU into UK legislation.

“Every business will differ in terms of their ESOS-readiness depending on the amount of work they’ve already undertaken on energy auditing,” said Dr Nick Kirk, GTS’s Technical Director. “So we’re providing a free initial consultation for organisations and a flexible assessment service to help them to achieve compliance, without duplicating existing effort and expense.

Any company with more than 250 staff, or less than 250 staff but a turnover of over €50m and balance sheet exceeding €43m, must comply with ESOS.

It also applies to smaller companies who are part of a corporate group which includes a business which meets those non-SME criteria.

It is estimated that this legislation will cover approximately 7,300 enterprises, representing 170,000-200,000 buildings and consuming around one third of the total UK energy demand.

The deadline for compliance with Phase I of ESOS is 5 December 2015, by which time qualifying organisations must have carried out their ESOS assessment and have notified the Environment Agency (EA).

Each company that fits the above criteria must undertake an Initial Measurement of Total Energy Consumption; Identification of Areas of ‘Significant Energy Use’; and ESOS Energy Audits.

For further information please visit www.glass-ts.com/esos-assessment, or email [email protected].