Effective ESOS Auditing and Compliance Reporting

Client: Arts Company
Location: UK

Summary

Acclaro Advisory delivered a full energy audit and ESOS compliance report, with recommendations, built on a thorough understanding of the working context.
These recommendations included cost-effective projects that would reduce the building energy consumption by 9% while applying technology advances tailored to the clients’ Arts and theatre industry environment.

Our data validation exercise also exposed a persistent billing error, all reinforcing our value to the client.

“The deliverables provided additional food for thought and put items on the horizon for example the transport audit has been passed on, with the hopes of it being integrated into the upgrade of the fleet.”

The challenge

This London based client is a large arts organisation utilising multiple sites. The company hosts partner organisations performing world-class art and also undertakes extensive and novel educational and promotional outreach activities. When it urgently needed to comply with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS ), it trusted Acclaro Advisory to do the project well, without interfering in its core activities.

The introduction of ESOS requirements was chaotic, and many companies struggled to complete the scheme before the first compliance deadline. The company engaged with us after facing pressure from the Environment Agency.
They hadn’t received the support they needed and were seeking the best route to compliance.

The solution

We aim to deliver the right result for our clients. That’s why we started our programme by finding out about the drivers and barriers to making energy interventions faced by this unique company. Understanding their concerns meant we could deliver recommendations that really fit the way they work.

Our client especially values its reputation. The way the company responds to its environmental responsibilities affects employees and creative teams, visitors, and sponsors. So, failing to meet high-profile obligations, such as ESOS, threaten its ability to deliver on its core goals.

Our task was complex, because the company is a complex organisation, occupying century old multi-use buildings for performances, rehearsals, set building and storage. Its innovative production means that there is constant activity throughout the week.

Our programme of work included the following activities to support ESOS compliance:

•  an initial scoping exercise;
•  analysis of electricity and gas usage;
•  analysis of energy used by transport ;
•  data validation;
• identifying opportunities to take advantage of energy and cost savings;
• providing financial cost-benefit analysis of these opportunities;
• a written report summarising all findings;
•  support to manage risk due to late compliance; and
•  support for completing the online ESOS 55-question compliance notification.

The results

ESOS can look expensive and unhelpful. So, we looked beyond the ESOS compliance as a tick box exercise to identify tangible opportunities to save energy and energy costs: we aimed to support this client’s core goals.

The organisation’s priority concern was to complete its ESOS submission within their expected time window, with no financial penalties. We achieved that. Our written report included an analysis that transformed the company’s existing records into a valuable assessment. We drew a clear connection between performance trends to our recommendations. Additionally, our data analysis and validation uncovered a persistent bill validation error by the contracted energy procurement provider. This reinforced the importance of good data collection and validation, which enabled action to correct the error and prevent it from re-occurring.

• As a result of our ESOS compliance audit, the company is now more aware of opportunities to improve their processes and save costs, in addition to creating more comfortable spaces for employees and patrons.
• A better understanding of how energy at each site is used; which varies site to site.
• Improved understanding of the importance of robust data collection and validation not only for compliance but to avoid unnecessary or inaccurate costs from suppliers/contractors.
• Identified cost-effective projects estimated to reduce the total consumption of the building up by to 9% per annum.
• Improved knowledge of technological advances which can be applied to theatre environments.

Acclaro Advisory continues to work with this company on their environmental sustainability journey, improving their impact and development as a leader in the industry.