CRC details may have changed but the solution remains the same
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.”
www.carbonfootprintsoftware.com
