The Environment Agency has said that the vast majority of organisations required to participate in the Government's Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) scheme have met last week’s deadline to register.
BusinessGreen.com revealed that between 2,600 and 2,700 organisations had registered as full participants in the scheme, meaning that the Environment Agency was just short of the 3,000 organisations expected to be covered by the scheme.
The Government originally stated that around 5,000 businesses and public sector bodies would have to take part in the carbon pricing and energy efficiency scheme. However, that figure was revised downwards after a larger than expected number of conglomerates registered with the Environment Agency.
Under the CRC, organisations that use more than 6,000MWh of electricity a year must register as participants in the scheme and provide annual information on their energy use. Further, all organisations with a half-hourly electricity meter have to register as an information declarer, confirming that they do not use sufficient energy to qualify for the scheme.
Organisations that missed the September 30 deadline to register as a participant risk an initial fine of £5,000 and additional fines of £500 for each day they fail to sign up. Those that fail to register as information declarers will face smaller fines of £500 for each energy meter they fail to declare.
Almost 10,000 organisations have already registered as information declarers, suggesting that thousands of firms that are technically meant to register with the Environment Agency may have missed the deadline.
However, the Agency has indicated its main focus is on ensuring all participating organisations are properly registered.
Organisations can find out if they need to register by emailing the Environment Agency's dedicated helpdesk at crchelp@environment-agency.gov.uk or calling on 08708 506506.
