Doubt over accuracy of CRC registration data

London – One in five businesses registering for the Carbon Reduction Commitment Energy Efficiency Scheme (CRC) may not have submitted the correct information, according to npower.

The energy firm npower has conducted the research, which it said, highlights the confusion still felt by businesses ahead of the 30 Sept registration deadline. The findings also indicate that many organisations could face longer term problems under the scheme.

The study of 100 UK financial directors - which was conducted just two weeks before the deadline - also showed that 22% had not completed their registration, and of those that had, 23% found the process confusing.

With a large proportion of businesses admitting to leaving registration to the last minute, npower believes that many may have missed the deadline as they hadn’t left enough time to complete the process.

Many (24%) also reported issues with compiling data from multiple sites across their business, and over one in 10 didn’t fully understand what was required of them to complete registration. Added to this, one in five financial directors were unaware of any guidance or advice available about the CRC or said they had to do their own research.

If collecting the required information together was problematic, then going forward, many may well find the ongoing obligations of the scheme equally challenging, notes Dave Lewis, head of business energy services at npower

“This confusion could also explain the high number of businesses that have left completing registration to the last minute and are unsure if they have submitted the correct data. We worked with a number of businesses to support their registration and part of the problem is that many failed to appreciate the full scale of the task.

“Submitting inaccurate data could have a longer term impact meaning it will make forecasting emissions for purchasing allowances in April 2011 even more challenging. With the first league tables due to be published in October 2011, this could be costly - both in terms of money and reputation.”

The research also showed that one in five financial directors don’t understand what is required of them for forecasting carbon allowances or the purchasing of allowances, although encouragingly, 95% said they have been tracking energy consumption since April 2010 - which will help with submission of the first ’footprint’ year report to the Environment Agency.

While businesses have been focused on hitting the registration deadline, Lewis points out that this really is just the first in a list of actions which need careful management if companies are to succeed in the scheme in the long term.

“It is encouraging that businesses have been tracking energy consumption for footprint year, although there is still confusion that needs addressing if the correct data is going to be submitted in 2011,” he said.

For its part, npower has introduced the ’CRC Assist’ service to support organisations in managing their CRC obligations, and in developing a longer term strategy.

According to the company, the service avoids the need to recruit and train new staff for the task, or to establish a suite of processes and procedures for compliance with CRC, thus freeing up valuable internal resources.