Delivery of an Energy Advice Service (EAS)

The British Energy Security Strategy (BESS), published in April 2022, committed to establishing a dedicated energy advice offering for smaller businesses to provide trusted advice on improving energy efficiency and decarbonisation. Following evaluation of similar schemes operating in Scotland and Northern Ireland, the Contracting Authority is considering offering subsidised energy assessments and small-scale grants to small and medium sized enterprises to encourage implementation of energy efficiency measures.
The Contracting Authority is looking to perform a market engagement exercise to better understand the landscape of suppliers who could deliver this service, and to gather further evidence to inform the scheme's design. In particular, the Contracting Authority is keen to test the following: • Capacity of the market to supply good quality energy assessments and at what price range; • How energy assessments might be delivered in an efficient way, such as virtually and/or based on region; • Ways to ensure that the scheme is fair and representative to ensure it is a good basis for future policy development (e.g. through targeting and/or eligibility); • Likely demand from Small and Medium Enterprises and ways to drive demand; • ensure the additionality/added value of any government intervention; • The cost of delivering such a scheme; • The speed with which a pilot could be set up and start delivering; • Challenges to delivery e.g. capacity in the energy efficiency supply chain.