By Victoria Joy, Consultant
The 2,100-odd participants in the CRC Energy Efficiency
Scheme have been waiting for the outcome of the simplification exercise
announced soon after the last General Election.
The rules of the scheme, which is mandatory for public and private
sector organisations that consume electricity above a threshold level, are
notoriously complex and the incoming government promised to do something about
them. The first major change was to turn
the CRC into a quasi-tax that cost participants £675 million in 2011/12 through
a £12 per tonne charge on their emissions of carbon dioxide, but the next set
of changes should be more welcome.
The government consulted
on CRC simplification last year and published its response
to the consultation exercise shortly before Christmas. Now, draftlegislation has been laid before Parliament and the devolved
administrations with the intention that it will come into force by June. Most of the revisions will not be made until
the next phase of the scheme which starts in April next year, but some changes
are planned to take effect immediately and will affect the reporting of 2012/13
data this summer - assuming the draft legislation reaches the statute book in
time and without significant amendment. Chief
amongst these early changes is a reduction in the number of fuels caught by the
scheme from 29 to just two: gas used for heating and electricity. But, thanks to the abolition of the 90% rule,
all non-core heating gas and electricity supplies will now have to be reported,
subject to a 2% de minimis for gas.
Many CRC participants already use Landmark's Carbon Counter
to help them manage and report on their organisation's energy consumption. Sign up for one of our webinars in which the
simplification changes and the role that Carbon Counter can play will be
explained.
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