Energy Audits for Businesses

Interested in getting an energy audit for your business? We’ve outlined the information you need to know, as well as helping you understand where an energy audit fits in to your overall energy efficiency journey. There are many great reasons to start looking at improving the energy efficiency of your business. This page will focus mainly on SME Energy Audits as our Sustainable Energy Community focus is on the Wexford Town area which has a low number of large enterprises. If you’re looking for information on energy efficiency for a large enterprise, you can visit SEAI’s relevant webpage. Here are some of the most important reasons to get an energy audit done & start improving your energy efficiency:
  • Lower costs
  • Better understand your processes
  • Find investment opportunities
  • Appeal to your customers
  • Ensure a future-proofed business model

First steps to becoming more energy efficient

SEAI lay out  5-step process for becoming more energy efficient as an SME. One of the five steps is getting an energy audit done but it’s important to understand the full process:

Understand your energy use

Create an energy action plan

Complete an energy audit (€2,000 voucher available!)

 Invest in energy efficiency upgrades and renewables

Monitor, track and report

As you can see, getting an energy audit is only one part of the puzzle. You can read the full SEAI guide below:

Steps to Energy Efficiency

"Support Scheme for Energy Audits " €2,000 SME voucher

SEAI Support Scheme for Energy Audits graphic

SEAI offer a €2,000 voucher for SMEs to use against the cost of an energy audit which they feel should cover the entire cost for most small businesses. Therefore, in order to avail of this scheme, your business must meet the below criteria:

  • Non-obligated entities (small and medium enterprises [SMEs], or public sector bodies with a useful floor area less than 500m2 and spending less than €35,000 per year on energy)
  • Tax compliant
  • Registered in the Republic of Ireland
  • Spend at least €10,000 on energy (exclusive of transport energy costs) per year at the site being audited
  • There is a limit of 1 audit voucher per Applicant/Company

How to apply for the SME Energy Audit voucher

1. Select a Registered Energy Auditor & contact to confirm details of business and costs.
2. Register online here.
3. Energy Audit Voucher is sent to you by email automatically.
4. Schedule energy audit. 5. Auditor conducts energy audit at your business.
6. Auditor sends energy audit report to you and claims payment directly from SEAI.

What is needed for an Energy Audit?

SEAI have a brilliant guidebook which runs through the entire process for applicants. You can view the guide below:

Support Scheme for Energy Audits - Applicant Guidebook

Energy Audit Summary

Im summary, you can see here that it’s not difficult or expensive to get your business audited for energy efficiency. Overall, the important thing to remember is that an audit by itself won’t improve your efficiency. To really reap the benefits, you should sit down and come up with an energy action plan with an energy audit and then act on the recommendations of the audit.

Finally, it’s worth noting that there are many grants available to businesses to improve their energy efficiency. You can find all the details over on our Business Grants page below:

View all Business Grants

Frequently Asked Questions about Energy Audits

An energy audit will assess your business’s energy usage; the processes and equipment that contribute the most to your energy bills. The audit report will recommend a list of actions to improve energy efficiency and an idea of their costs.

The cost will depend on the size & complexity of your business but SEAI estimates that their €2,000 voucher should cover the cost in most cases. There is a chance if you’re on the larger side of SMEs, you may be required to pay a small amount.

Yes! The Support Scheme for Energy Audits is a voucher scheme set up to cover the costs of getting an energy audit conducted for your business. The full details on how to apply are above!
SMEs are not required to complete audits but are advised and incentivised to do so. Large enterprises are required to complete energy audits every four years by law.
You should be given a completed version of the SSEA Report Template which you can view here. It will help you better understand your energy use, which areas of your business are contributing the most to your energy bills and what you can do in response.
Use the SSEA template here to get an idea of what an Energy Action Plan looks like. It’s a comprehensive overview of your business’s energy usage. It’s also a vehicle for you to use to undertake your energy efficiency journey. You shouldn’t look at it as a once-off form. It should be a live document that changes over time – from when your energy audit is conducted, to when you start acting to improve efficiency; then as a future part of your sustainability drive.
SEAI have a guidebook for applicants with all the information which you can view here.
You can use the SSEA Report Calculator Template to both create your Energy Action Plan and to help monitor and track your usage and savings.
SEAI have a list of Registered Energy Auditors here. In order to qualify, “the auditor is participating in the SSEA (check column X)”.