Regulatory energy audit: 7 additional months

Following France's delay in transposing the European directive, the Ministry of Ecology has postponed the first corporate energy audit until June 30, 2016.

Marie Faucon
EHS Consultant
Update : 
12.09.2025
Publication: 
12.03.2015
Contents
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With three weeks to go before the December 5, 2015 deadline, the French Ministry of Ecology has decided to grant an additional 7 months for the completion of the first regulatory energy audit. The large companies concerned have until June 30, 2016 to provide proof of completion of their audit or ISO 50001 certification of their energy management system. One condition, however, is that they must have initiated one or other of these procedures by December 5, 2015.

A necessary postponement to guarantee the quality of regulatory energy audits

Article 8 of Directive no. 2012/27/EU of October 25, 2012 on energy efficiency is the source of theregulatory energy audit requirement for large companies. This measure had to be transposed by EU member states by June 5, 2014, with a view to carrying out a first audit by December 5, 2015. In France, the transposition process was completed on November 26, 2014, with the publication of Decree no. 2014-1393 of November 24, 2014 and the Order of the same day defining the terms of application of the energy audit. Prior to this, Law no. 2013-619 of July 13, 2013 had laid the legal foundations for the scheme[1]. Decree no. 2013-1121 of December 4, 2013 specified the scope of application and associated penalties.

Although France was the 5th European country to transpose the energy audit obligation [2], the latest national implementing measures were adopted almost 6 months after the deadline set by the directive. Logically, this delay had repercussions on the qualification and selection procedures for audit providers by the companies concerned. As the December 5, 2015 deadline approached, auditors' workloads meant that they could no longer complete their audits and reports in good conditions.

So as not to compromise the quality of the audits carried out, the Ministry of Ecology decided to publish a press release on its website on November 16, announcing the introduction of a 7-month transition period for the transmission of supporting documents relating to the first energy audits[3].

The ISO 50001 audit or certification process must be underway by December 5.

According to information published by the Ministry :

  • A company committed to carrying out a regulatory energy audit by December 5, 2015 now has until June 30, 2016 to submit the required documents (definition of scope + summary of energy audit report OR full audit report) to the prefect of the region in which its head office is located. No further details are provided on the criterion of commitment to the audit process by December 5, 2015. However, we can assume that a company must, at the very least, have signed a contract with a qualified service provider and planned the various stages of the audit, in order to benefit from the transitional period.
  • The Ministry of Ecology also specifies that all audits launched after December 5, 2015 must cover at least 80% of the amount of energy bills paid. The company concerned will not be able to benefit from the lowering of the coverage rate to 65% provided for the first audits.
  • A company that has opted to implement an energy management system in line with ISO 50 001, rather than carrying out a regulatory energy audit, can also submit its certificate by June 30, 2016, provided it has analyzed its energy use and consumption as at December 5, 2015, which is the first stage of the energy review provided for in § 4.4.3 of the standard.

In summary, the new implementation schedule for companies is as follows:

Regulatory energy audit

Regulatory energy audits: a reminder of the system

Scope of application

The mandatory energy audit applies to any company (identified by its SIREN number) meeting at least one of the following conditions:

  • More than 250 employees
  • Annual sales in excess of €50 million
  • Total assets in excess of 43 million euros

The companies concerned must have carried out their first regulatory energy audit by June 30, 2016. Thereafter, the audit must be carried out every 4 years. A company's activities covered by an ISO 50001-certified energy management system may not be audited. Companies may be exempted from the energy audit requirement. To do so, all its activities must be covered by ISO 50001 certification.

Object

The audit consists of analyzing the company's energy use and consumption, in order to identify opportunities for improving its energy efficiency. The audit report must recommend and prioritize energy-saving actions. It must distinguish between operations with a fast payback time (less than one year) and those with a longer payback time (between 1 and 4 years or more).

Methodology

Defined freely by the company, the scope of the energy audit must cover at least 80% of the company's energy bills. The coverage rate is lowered to 65% for audits carried out or committed to by December 5, 2015. The audit must be carried out in accordance with standard NF EN 16247-1:2012. In addition, there are three specific standards for buildings, industrial processes and transport.

The audit can be carried out :

  • or by an external service provider whose competence has been qualified by a COFRAC-accredited body (LNE, AFNOR Certification, I.Cert, OPQIBI).
  • or by in-house personnel meeting the competence criteria defined by the order of November 24, 2014.

In both cases, the auditor must not be directly involved in the operation or maintenance of the activity being audited. The auditor may not meet all the criteria for recognition of competence. This is the case when the audit is carried out as part of an ISO 14001-certified environmental management system.

Receipts

To certify that it has fulfilled its regulatory energy audit obligation, the company must submit the following documents to the prefect of the region in which its head office is located:

  • definition of audit scope
  • summary of the energy audit report (in the format defined by the order of November 24, 2014)
  • if applicable, copies of ISO 50001 and/or 14001 certificates
  • the full audit report, if submitted electronically => an online filing platform is to be made available to companies by March 2016.

Sanctions

Failure to carry out a regulatory energy audit may be sanctioned by a formal notice, which may be made public. In the absence of compliance within the set deadline, this will be followed by an administrative fine of up to 2% of sales (4% in the event of a repeat offence).

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[1]Art. L. 233-1 to 4 of the Energy Code

[2] After Denmark in April 2014, the United Kingdom in June 2014, Italy in July 2014 and Romania in August 2014.

[3] https://www.ecologique-solidaire.gouv.fr/

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