Energy saving schemes

If, like almost every company, you’re looking for ways to cut your energy usage, there’s a good chance you’re planning to invest in new equipment, either now or in the near future. Before you do, though, it’s worth making sure you’re aware of the various schemes that could affect your thinking.

Take the carbon Trust’s Big Business refit scheme, for example. This will be of real interest to you if you’re one of the 52% of British businesses that wants to upgrade old, inefficient equipment, but don’t have the cash. Under the scheme, interest-free and unsecured loans of between £3,000 and £400,000 are available, repayable over a period of up to four years. The loans are designed to pay for themselves through energy savings, so once the loan is paid off, savings go straight onto the bottom line. And they can be considerable – the Trust claims that a typical business saves around £16,000/year by replacing inefficient equipment.

Or take the next phase of the government’s carbon-reduction strategy – the carbon reduction commitment scheme, or CRC. Targeting around 5,000 mid-to-large sized consumers of electricity, it affects organisations that consumed more than 6GWh of electricity in 2008 and are on half-hourly metering tariffs. Coming into force next April, the CRC takes the form of a cap-and trade scheme in which participating organisations buy allowances equivalent to their annual carbon emissions. Top performers will be repaid their investment plus 10%, while poor performers will get back only 90%. Failure to comply could result in jail sentences of up to three years, and fines up to £50,000.

You’ll find more about these topics and others in the latest issue of ERIKS Innovation. You can request a copy at your local service centre or order one online at www.eriks.co.uk/update