CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme

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What is the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC)?

   The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (formerly known as the Carbon Reduction Commitment) is the UK's mandatory climate change and energy saving scheme, bagan in April 2010. It is central to the UK’s strategy for improving energy efficiency and reducing carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions, as set out in the Climate Change Act 2008. It has been designed to raise awareness in large organisations, especially at senior level, and encourage changes in behaviour and infrastructure. The schemes amended title serves to better reflect the CRC’s focus on increasing energy efficiency.

   We are pleased to announce the government response to and policy decisions on the Consultation on the draft order to implement the Carbon Reduction Commitment.

The analysis report on which the Government response is based and the notification to stakeholders which was sent out on the publication of the response are now also available.

Carbon Reduction Commitment quarterly stakeholder update
Consultation on the draft order to implement the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC): analysis of consultation responses
 
March - July 2009
As part of the process of ongoing stakeholder engagement on the CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC), DECC held two workshops to tie in with the third period of consultation on the forthcoming legislation. The aim of the two workshops, held in London and Manchester, was:

To provide Government with informed feedback on specific aspects of the proposals set out in the Consultation on the draft order to implement the Carbon Reduction Commitment document

Combined Consultation Workshop Report, July 2009
 
More about CRC
      CRC is designed to improve energy efficiency in large organisations. It will operate as a 'cap and trade' mechanism, providing a financial incentive to reduce energy use by putting a price on carbon emissions from energy use. In CRC, organisations buy allowances equal to their annual emissions. The overall emissions reduction target is achieved by placing a ‘cap’ on the total allowances available to each group of CRC participants. Within that overall limit, individual organisations can determine the most cost-effective way to reduce their emissions. This could be through buying extra allowances or investing in ways to decrease the number of allowances they need to buy.

All the money raised through the allowances will be recycled back to participants, according to how well they perform. The scheme features an annual performance league table that ranks participants on energy efficiency performance. Together with the financial and reputational considerations, the scheme encourages organisations to develop energy management strategies that promote a better understanding of energy consumptiton.

      The scheme is designed to tackle CO2 emissions not already covered by Climate Change Agreements and the EU Emissions Trading Scheme. The scheme will cover large public and private sector organisations, who are responsible for about 10 percent of the UK’s emissions. This will affect around 20,000 organisations and yours could be one of them.

      Organisations are eligible for CRC if they (and their subsidiaries) have at least one half-hourly electricity meter (HHM) settled on the half-hourly market. They also qualify if their total half-hourly electricity consumption exceeded 6,000 megawatt-hours (MWh) during 2008. Initially, we estimate around 5,000 organisations will qualify, including supermarkets, water companies, banks, local authorities and all central Government Departments. Qualifying organisations will have to comply legally with the scheme or face financial and other penalties.

DECC has developed the CRC policy in partnership with the Scottish Government, the Welsh Assembly Government and the Department of Environment Northern Ireland.

To Download Your CRC User Guide click here

Please also visit  The CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme Order 2010 released on 17th of March 2010