New Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard Requires Compliance and Action
Energy Performance Certificates (EPC) have been in place since 2008, however with no government requirement to act upon the assessment’s recommendations, landlords have had no impetus to change their building’s energy performance, says Peter Leggett, Carbon and Energy Consultant at IMServ, one of the UK’s largest independent energy data management providers.
That is until now, as Peter explains:
“The new Minimum Energy Efficiency Standard (MEES) which comes into place in 2018, requires rented property, or premises to have an Energy Performance rating of at least E, so buildings with an F or G rating will have to upgrade their energy system if they are to comply.
“A typical building rated F or G could be a 1950’s office block. These buildings usually have a boiler room in the basement, air-handling equipment on the roof and fluorescent tubes for lighting. In these cases, often the energy system hasn’t been upgraded since the building was built, however small changes, such as LED lighting or localised heating controls, could make significant improvements to the building’s EPC.”
While many of these improvements are simple, they do require time to implement.
Peter continues:
“Often building owners or managers leave it to the very last minute to comply with changes in legislation. The Energy Savings Opportunities Scheme (ESOS) is an example of this coming into place this year, and as activity has been low so far, pressure will build towards the compliance date of December 5th 2018. We hope that by raising awareness of MEES now, well ahead of 2018, property managers and landlords will approach their energy systems with a more long-term strategy. After all the sooner you start improving energy performance the sooner the energy bill cost reduces for landlords and their tenants. For property managers they must give consideration to the scale of penalties for non- compliance, which under MEES could rise to 20% of rateable value”.
“By thinking about the ‘bigger picture’ managing energy information and upgrading systems, landlords would be able to vastly improve the energy efficiency of their buildings. And so, as well as complying with the energy legislation for buildings, landlords will also have the opportunity to attract clients willing to pay for a better quality of working environment.”
Understanding your portfolio’s energy consumption is the first step to energy compliance, and through accurate data recording, efficiency measures can be converted into energy savings.
–ENDS–
Editor’s Notes
About Peter Leggett, Carbon and Energy Consultant
Peter has worked in the energy industry for over 35 years building a wide range of industry and customer facing experience and knowledge. Holding Energy Institute TEMOL qualification and previously Low Carbon Energy Assessor accreditation with CIBSE, Peter places emphasis on provision of energy management services from core meter and data, through to software and analysis for both energy suppliers and consumers alike.
With a keen interest on the impact of and reaction to energy related legislation Peter helped establish processes for ISO14001 and Carbon Trust Standard accreditations within IMServ, as well as providing information and client training for organisation wide compliance activities such as CRCEES.
About IMServ (www.imserv.com)
IMServ Europe Ltd is one of the UK’s largest independent energy data management providers. The company offers carbon and energy management solutions, helping organisations across all sectors to save energy, reduce costs and control carbon emissions.
IMServ offers an all-inclusive portfolio that covers data collection, analysis, reporting and carbon management. To date over 240,000 sites in England, Scotland and Wales are benefiting from its solutions.
Follow IMServ here on Twitter
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