The company advices the participants to take action in order to avoid losing out on league table performance.
Annual penalties will start at 10% of the cost of their overall emissions, rising to 50% within four years. It means organizations could face paying surcharges running into hundreds of thousands of pounds if they fail to cut emissions enough and find themselves at the bottom of the league table.
As the CRC scheme is cost neutral, for every loser there will be a winner receiving bonus pay-outs of a similar size, an element of CRC, which Bergen Energi UK believes could make it a success.
The new energy efficiency scheme affects around 5,000 business and public sector organizations who use 6,000MWh of electricity a year supplied by half hourly meter, such as supermarkets, banks, and local authorities.
They will need to buy allowances – initially costing GBP12 per tonne of carbon – to offset their energy use.
Bergen Energi UK said that it is helping its clients by drawing on its experience of dealing with carbon trading having worked within the EU’s Emission Trading System – a similar cap and trade scheme aimed at larger volume energy users since its introduction in 2005.
Bergen Energi UK will offer a phase-specific support throughout the CRC process, including calculating potential financial impacts of the scheme, purchasing allowances and creating carbon abatement plans.
Richard Southgate, vice president of Bergen Energi UK, said: ”Although the penalties will increase by 10 per cent annually, in only four years they will reach the maximum 50 per cent and not paying could lead to further fines and, ultimately, even criminal action.
”As a result we’re helping our customers make a thorough calculation of the likely cost of the CO2 emissions, putting in place a full and proper carbon abatement plan and prepare for purchasing allowances.”
