Am I affected by the CRC Scheme?
The Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) has, essentially, two levels of participation. Full participation in CRC will require organisations to monitor their emissions and purchase allowances, sold by Government, for each tonne of CO2 they emit. An estimated 5,000 organisations are expected to meet the criteria that determine whether an organisation is required to fully participate in the CRC scheme; that is where, during the qualification period (2008 calendar year) the organisation:
- had at least one half hourly meter (HHM) settled on the half hourly market, and
- had annual electricity consumption through all HHMs of at least 6,000 MWh
An estimated, additional 15,000 organisations will need to participate in the CRC scheme to a lesser extent by way of disclosing information about their HHMs and the associated electricity consumption. Importantly, for the time being at least, there is no requirement for such companies to purchase allowances or be represented in CRC performance league tables. Organisations required to participate to this lesser extent are those that during the qualification period:
- had at least one HHM settled on the half hourly market, and
- annual electricity consumption through all HHMs of less than 6,000 MWh
Under the currently proposed rules of the CRC scheme, an organisation may be a single entity or an organisational group. In the case of the latter, organisations that are part of a larger organisational group must act together as one entity, although subsidiaries with over 6,000MWh annual electricity demand in their own right will have the option of registering separately if such a move does not take an organisational group's annual electricity consumption below the 6,000MWh threshold. An organisational group counts as a single entity in terms of both qualification and participation in the scheme; the energy consumption across the whole organisational group must be taken into account in this instance.
The definition of an organisation under the CRC scheme includes specific rules in respect of:
- organisations that are part of an organisational group, (e.g. a subsidiary);
- GB central Government departments or related bodies/agencies
- joint ventures
- franchises
- schools
- local authorities; and
- universities
The definition of organisation is very complicated under the CRC scheme and the following is a good rule of thumb for determining responsibility: "any electricity consumption counts as your responsibility if your organisation holds the contract with the electricity supplier for that electricity supply." Generally this will be the organisation responsible for paying the bill. However, if there is any confusion, organisations are advised to seek further advice.