New CRC tool will identify organisations that need to register

Organisations will be required to comply with the CRC – the 'cap and trade' mechanism that starts in April – if they have at least one half-hourly electricity meter (HHM) settled on the half-hourly market, or their total half-hourly electricity consumption exceeded 6,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) during 2008.

But there have been repeated warnings from business organisations, such as the CBI, that many of the 5,000 or so large organisations expected to be covered by the CRC are still unaware of their obligations and could be hit with fines of up to £5,000 for failing to register.

Environmental data specialists Landmark Information Group and consultancy firm Enviros suggest their new service – known as Carbon Counter – can be used by organisations that as yet have made no preparations for CRC, to ensure they register in time for the April deadline.

A spokesperson admitted that organisations probably have all the relevant information to determine whether they need to register on their own systems already, but suggested that it may not be in a format that makes it easy to gauge energy consumption over the relevant period.

Carbon Counter will enable businesses to establish whether they qualify for the scheme by recording details of their company structure in a CRC-ready format.

For organisations that do need to comply, the Carbon Counter will allow users to generate everything they need for the CRC mandatory ‘footprint’ and annual reports, ready for submission to the Environment Agency. 

The service will retain regular snapshots of customers’ data to provide the evidence pack required for CRC audit purposes.

Carbon Counter offers a securely managed system which, its developers say, means information can be stored confidentially and vital records can be easily retrieved in the event of data loss elsewhere.

Commenting on the new service, John Fifer, commercial director at Enviros, said: “With only a few months to go until the start of registrations for the CRC scheme, there is a real need for businesses to establish whether they are ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the scheme.  

“Those organisations that do fall under CRC will need to have an accurate and well managed compliance system in place to ensure that they comply with all aspects of the complex regulations.”

He added: “Landmark’s Carbon Counter service will enable complex organisations to assign energy consumptions to each aspect of the organisation. It will help them to measure their compliance as well as understand the associated financial liabilities.”