A new audit round has started on 1 July 2019 for companies that fall under the Energy Efficiency Directive (EED). This is an European directive that has been in force for several years. The guideline is intended to stimulate energy savings in large companies. Every four years, these large companies that fall under this Directive must carry out an energy audit. The audits provide an overview of the energy flows of the various locations. In addition, companies gain insight into the energy-saving measures they can take. The audits also show the expected effects of these measures. The implementation of these measures is not mandatory within the EED.
How to comply with the EED
A company falls under the EED if there are more than 250 FTE working in the company within the country or if there is an annual turnover of more than € 50 million and an annual balance sheet total of € 43 million. The second round has started this year, whereby companies will have to carry out a new energy audit. For companies that already submitted reports on the energy audits in the first round before December 5th 2015, the deadline for the new report is December 5th 2019. For all other companies, the deadline is before the end of 2020. Eventhough that’s several months away, the requirements of audits are extensive and can be time consuming. The requirements that must be met can be found in article 2a of the Temporary Regulation EED (TREED). CCS can help by conducting the EED energy audits.
A national enforcer
In addition to the new round of energy audits, the authority that will enforce this Directive in the Netherlands has also changed. Where previously the municipalities and the regional environmental services were responsible for enforcing companies, this responsibility now rests with a national authority, RVO (the Dutch Enterprise Agency). Previously there was room for agreements with the authorities on the implementation of the EED but that kind of communication will no longer remain. In the context of equal treatment of all companies, RVO is stricter with regard to the deadline, content and completeness of the reports submitted. However, companies with offices in different regions no longer have to deal with different organizations that have to assess them. There is now one organization for contact and one assessment.
For questions about the EED and the associated audits, please feel free to contact our experts!
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2 October 2019 / Author:
