Develop an energy management strategy
Your energy management strategy shows how you’ll put your energy management policy into action. It establishes key roles and responsibilities, levels of resourcing (HR and funding), and specific deliverables such as action plans, reporting and communication.
Review your strategy regularly to make sure changing goals, priorities and businesses are taken into account.
Develop an energy management policy
What to put in your strategy
Your Energy Strategy should cover the following areas:
- Strategic: define your long term strategic problems and goals, and how they’ll be addressed
- Management: identify who will be responsible for your Energy Strategy and define their roles
- Resources: identify the internal and external resources required
- Financials: identify the budget and financial objectives, investment criteria and life-cycle costing
- Reporting and monitoring: specify which information will be monitored, and the reporting mechanisms and timeframes.
Sample strategy
Here’s an example of an energy management strategy to help you develop your own.
Our Energy Management Programme
This Energy Management Programme acts on our policy goals that link strategic goals with our business objectives.
Implementation
Our energy manager will develop an annual business plan for energy management. Working with the financial manager, the energy manager will establish and review annual funding requirements for the programme, appropriate investment criteria and financial targets.
Responsibilities
The energy manager coordinates energy management activities, formulates and implements energy policy and is accountable to the chief executive. Our organisation’s end-users are responsible for controlling energy consumption.
The energy manager will chair a monthly meeting of the energy management team of representatives from each energy-consuming section.
Structure
Managers will set energy use targets with the energy manager, who’ll review any upgrades or new capital development work.
Reporting
The energy manager will give the chief executive a monthly report on energy consumption and energy management activities.
Communication
The energy manager will provide regular progress reports to relevant end-users, budget-holders, other managers and the energy management committee.
Action Plan
In the next 12 months, we will prepare a costed programme of work.
Resources
The number of energy management staff for the coming year will be [one] Full Time Equivalent (FTE) per $5 million of energy spend. Annual funding will be $[specify], representing a minimum of 5% of each division’s annual expenditure on energy.
Review
The energy management strategy, programme and activities will be subject to periodic review. An annual audit of activities will be prepared on behalf of the energy manager and presented to the board, with relevant extracts circulated to managers, budget holders and end-users. Energy management achievements will be noted in the annual report.