Comply with the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) phase 4
Qualification, compliance and notification requirements for ESOS phase 4.
Applies to England
Documents
Details
ESOS phase 4 guidance provides information on the qualification, compliance and notification requirements for the fourth compliance period (phase 4).
This guidance reflects the changes in the most recent amendment in the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme Regulations 2014, as amended 2026.
It details:
- which organisations qualify for this mandatory scheme
- what qualifying organisations need to do to comply
- how organisations should notify the Environment Agency that they are compliant
- when the compliance deadline is
- what the penalties are for not complying
Summary of ESOS phase 4 updates
1. Removed 2 compliance routes that are no longer considered to meet best practice standards: Green Deal Assessments (GDAs) and Display Energy Certificates (DECs) – this is because they provide more limited and less tailored recommendations than an ESOS energy audit.
2. Completed the following changes to reporting requirements for implemented energy efficiency measures, intended to improve ESOS participants’ accountability and engagement.
New requirement for participants to report progress against action plan commitments in the ESOS assessment. The ESOS report and notification of compliance must include details of energy savings achieved during the compliance period. This includes a description of the measures implemented to achieve the energy savings, the level of energy savings achieved by each measure and the energy saving category of each measure.
Only the combined energy savings achieved across all measures will be published – savings for individual measures will not be published, to avoid releasing potentially commercially sensitive information.
New requirement for participants to carry out an action plan review as part of the notification of compliance. The ESOS report and notification of compliance must identify any proposed measures that were not implemented and explain the reasons why. These submissions will not be published.
3. Introduced a new third progress update report for the action plan, due by 5 December 2031.
4. Reduced ESOS obligations for participants that comply solely through the ISO 50001 certification route – participants whose ISO 50001 certification covers their total or significant energy consumption, as applicable, do not need to produce an ESOS report or appoint a lead assessor.
5. Additional minor changes to support regulator activities, improve data quality, enable ESOS assessment quality checks and extend the existing ESOS exemption for insolvency proceedings.
Other ESOS guidance
See guidance for:
- the ongoing third compliance period (phase 3)
- the previous first and second compliance periods (phase 1 and phase 2) on the National Archive
- the shorter overview of ESOS