The CRC generates widespread confusion

Online, April 6, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Each year, the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme will require participating organisations to purchase and submit sufficient allowances to meet their annual carbon emissions covered by the scheme. They will have to buy allowances at a fixed price of £12 per tonne to cover their carbon emissions.

Businesses that spend more than £500,000 per year on energy must conduct an audit of their carbon emissions and must register for the CRC scheme by September. Next year they will be ranked in a league according to how much energy they have saved or spent, with financial rewards and penalties dependent on their position.

Inquiries about consultancy work linked to the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme have risen five-fold in the last month alone

Business groups argue that the excessive complexity of the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will be extremely costly. A survey by RWE npower found around half those businesses affected do not understand how to buy allowances to cover their carbon emissions or how to forecast future targets. Another big complaint among companies was that those who have already spent money on reducing their carbon emissions in the past may not score well, because the CRC Scheme only looks at future efficiency savings.

The cost of meeting the legislation has been estimated to be about £25,000 per company and one big six retail supplier said the number of inquiries about consultancy work connected to the legislation of the CRC had risen five-fold in the last month alone.

However, the CRC scheme will benefit at least one section of the market. Environmental consultancies and the big energy companies have begun to offer advisory services to help smaller companies understand how to comply with the new legislation.

Russell Lerman, Managing Director at Envido, said "There is a degree of understandable confusion among many UK businesses about what the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme will mean for them. Frequently, there isn't one single individual within the business who is tasked with monitoring the CRC."