The coalition government's recent spending review has created
many front page headlines over the last couple of weeks but one
area within the review which has caused particular controversy are
the changes brought in to the CRC system. The governments mandatory
CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) has moved from a revenue-neutral
scheme with all CRC permit costs being recycled to participants to
a tax based system with revenues, expected to total £1bn a year by
2014, being used to support public finances.
While this will most probably mean that organisations will be
looking at ways of reducing their environmental impact to reduce
their level of taxation it does cause problems for organisations in
the current economic climate. Given that approximately 5000
organisations are liable to fall under the CRC scheme, this could
equate to approximately £200,000 each a year in additional tax by
2014.
Robert McKechnie, CEO of Green Oak Solutions, who have developed
carboncheck, a software solution designed for helping organisations
manage their CRC commitments said "These are issues that both
public and private organisations across the UK are going to have to
deal with. This is especially an issue for public sector bodies
who, in light of the governments spending review, are coming under
increasing pressure from the government to cut costs, protect the
quality of delivered services and on top of this make sure that
they are supporting the growing green agenda."
"Clearly organisations are going to have to drive efficiencies
through better use of resources and efficiencies in working
practises. The difficult part is to ensure that in doing this they
do not negatively impact the services they provide. So how will
organisations manage the requirements of the CRC in such a
challenging budgetary environment?"
"Much of the management of the CRC involves data gathering for
reporting and audit purposes (such as organisation structure, meter
verification, bills, meter reads etc) and this can be an extremely
onerous task. For an average sized organisation it could easily
involve several months of work in initial information gathering
including organisation structure, supplier and meter details and
historical data. Thereafter it can take as much as 3 - 5 days per
month to gather energy data from core and residual sources. On top
of this, additional tasks which need to be done at the least
annually include registration, carbon allowance purchase and
surrender and footprint reporting to name but a few. The time taken
to manage these will depend upon the organisation but could be
several months effort in addition to the time already
identified."
"It's clear that automation of data capture and reporting is
required. This should be done using carbon management software
integrated with sources of activity data and built around an
organisation's existing systems (including energy management
systems) and infrastructure. However, the current situation in many
organisations is that this data gathering and reporting is
managed using complex and unwieldy spreadsheets which have evolved
out of historical necessity rather than been designed for ease of
use and efficient purpose."
Since its launch carboncheck has received a great deal of
interest with two large local government customers already having
installed the solution as well as Scottish Enterprise, Scotland's
main economic, enterprise, innovation and investment agency
introducing it across all twelve of its regional offices.
When asked why this solution had created so much interest Robert
McKechnie said "Our solution has brought proven benefits to our
clients through reducing the level of administration allowing
resource to be used more efficiently elsewhere and reduce costs
associated with the management of this area. In addition the
solution is available as a shared service model so, for example,
public sector bodies can use a shared platform with individual
accounts to further reduce costs."
"Basically when it comes down to it our solution allows you to
manage your carbon, footprint, reduce your energy and
administrative costs and improve your organisation's brand - all
goals that any organisation wants to achieve."
Notes for Editors
- Carboncheck is one of a suite of solutions produced by Green
Oak Solutions Ltd.
- Under CRC, more than 5,000 organisations were required to
register as participants with the Environment Agency by the end of
September 2010. As well as the organisations that have to make a
full registration, a further 15,000 lower energy users have to make
an information disclosure.
- Green Oak Solutions is part of the Leading Software Group
(www.leadingsoftware.co.uk)