What is an Enterprise Energy Audit?
The Enterprise Energy Audit determines to what extent the enterprise consumes energy and the condition of the installations and energy carriers.
The obligation to conduct an Enterprise Energy Audit results from the Act on Energy Efficiency of May 20, 2016 (Journal of Laws of 2016, item 831). (Ustawa o Efektywności Energetycznej z dnia 20 maja 2016 roku, Dz. U. 2016r. poz. 831)
Each company with the status of a large enterprise, i.e. employing more than 250 people or with an annual net turnover of over 50 million Euro, is required to perform an energy audit every 4 years and notify the Energy Regulatory Office (Urząd Regulacji Energetyki) of this fact within 30 days.
Enterprise Energy Audit should be conducted on the basis of current, representative, measured and identifiable energy consumption data. It should provide a detailed overview of the energy consumption of buildings/building complexes, industrial installations and transport, and be based – where possible – on the life cycle cost analysis of the building / building complexes and industrial installations.
Enterprise Energy Audit must be carried out by an independent entity, in other words either external experts with knowledge and professional experience in conducting such an audit, or by experts of the audited company, provided that they are not directly involved in the audited activity.
Enterprise Energy Audit covers:
- all buildings and facilities in the enterprise
- industrial and technological installations
- heat supply sources
- transmission networks
- transport
The two main parts of the audit are the summary of energy consumption in the enterprise, and the list of opportunities to improve energy efficiency. The final decision on how to use this knowledge for the future rests with the company itself. However, if high energy consumption significantly burden the company’s budget, the audit will show how to effectively prevent it.
Waiver of obligation
Only companies with an implemented and certified energy management system specified in relevant standards (ISO 50001) or an environmental management system compliant with EMAS requirements will be exempted from the obligation to perform enterprise energy audits once every 4 years, if the enterprise’s energy audit has been carried out as part of these systems.
Penalty for failure to audit
The draft of the new Act on Energy Efficiency provides penalties for not carrying out an enterprise energy audit – the penalty may not exceed 5% of the fined company’s income in the financial year preceding the year in which the fine was imposed.