In Wednesday’s budget the Government announced a long expected change to the Climate Change Levy, CRC Energy Efficiency Scheme and Climate Change Agreements. These are to be streamlined, possibly into one scheme.
The Energy Managers Association (EMA) welcomes this proposal and is prepared to advice on any changes that would reduce bureaucracy that surrounds these schemes. We would also like to propose that any new scheme would be merged with greenhouse gas reporting.
The EMA would not argue over the rate which the new scheme should be set at, but on how it should be implemented. If the new scheme is a simplification of the present arrangements, this will reduce the time spent by energy managers on the compliance with this process. However, it is still crucial to retain the valuable data from the process, including carbon emissions and energy use that are used to enhance energy efficiency measures.
We are aware that any argument about a tax burden on business will be ignored by the Treasury and will be a waste of our time. Therefore, the main aim is to ensure that any proposed system would be simple and cost effective to administer by energy managers.