Wednesday 18 August 2010

CRC - A LAST MINUTE STAMPEDE?

It was mystifying to see a report last week from and energy broker that suggests that only about 1,200 of the estimated 5,000 or so businesses and public sector organisations expected to be caught by the new CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) have so far registered.

The deadline for registration with the Environment Agency is the end of September - only weeks away - although in practice registration details need to be in well before then to allow the Agency time to check details, so time really is running out. Are we about to see a last minute stampede?

This is more than a little worrying for those caught by the regime, as big fines are in prospect for late registrations - a one off £5,000, plus £500 for each working day late, up to a maximum of 80 days.

Registration is compulsory for any organisation that consumed at least 6,000 MWh of electricity wholly or partly through half hourly meters during 2008. Even organisations falling below this consumption threshold will have some obligations under CRC if they have at least one half hourly meter. Those caught will include many private businesses as well as local authorities, universities, hospital trusts and charities.

The CRC is in essence a green tax on energy usage by larger organisations, designed to help the government reach its self-imposed binding greenhouse gas (GHG) emission reduction targets.

Participation means having to record all energy consumption other than fuels used for transport - not just electricity, but gas and other fuels - and detail this in a 'footprint report'. The first year of the scheme is a reporting year only, and kicked off a few months back, in April. The first footprint reports must therefore cover the year April 2010 to March 2011.

http://blogs.birminghampost.net/business/2010/08/crc---a-last-minute-stampede.html

 

No comments:

Post a Comment