The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme began in 2014 to help qualifying large UK enterprises assess their energy usage and identify cost-effective ways to save energy.
“ESOS is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for organisations in the UK that meet the qualification criteria. The Environment Agency is the UK scheme administrator.
Organisations that qualify for ESOS must carry out ESOS assessments every 4 years. These assessments are audits of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport.
The ESOS audit is designed to identify tailored and cost-effective measures to allow participating businesses to save energy and achieve carbon and cost savings. The audit costs are estimated to be significantly outweighed by the savings from implementing the recommendations.”
In reality, a swathe of poor-quality audits with reported energy savings opportunities at odds with business strategy or in conflict with manufacturers priorities means that for many the costs of compliance have outweighed the benefits through three phases of the scheme.
Our approach to ESOS is compliant, but consultancy led. We will work with you to understand your current business plans, conduct surveying to a higher than required standard so that the recommendations we make are truly robust and can be used to build into investment grade audits working with partner organisations following our report.
We will continue to work with you in the years following the compliance deadline, to create a realistic Action Plan and have regular meetings to discuss progress and create your Progress Reporting with you.
The compliance deadline for Phase 4 of the scheme is the 5th December 2027.
We are now well into the window for surveying sites and providing site level reporting for ESOS 4. Companies who sign up for our support before end December 2026 will be guaranteed surveying and site reporting completed by the end of June 2027.
You must take part in ESOS if your organisation, or any UK undertakings in your organisation’s group, qualifies as a large undertaking on the qualification date. The qualification date for the fourth compliance period is not yet set, but highly likely to be the 31st December 2026.
A large undertaking is any UK undertaking that meets either one or both of the following conditions:
Employs 250 or more people.
Has an annual turnover in excess of £44 million and an annual balance sheet total in excess of £38 million.
In February 2026 alone the Environment Agency issued fines for failure to comply with ESOS 3 to 29 companies, totalling over £655,000. Fine details are only published after they are no longer in dispute.
