The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (ESOS) is a mandatory energy assessment scheme for large UK organisations, designed to identify opportunities to improve energy efficiency and reduce energy use and costs.

For organisations operating multi-site estates such as hotels, stores, warehouses, offices or industrial sites, improving energy efficiency across an existing estate can be a significant undertaking. There are major projects to consider, but there are also measures – such as wireless lighting controls – that can be introduced quickly, with limited disruption and a clear financial return.

A practical place to start

Under ESOS, qualifying organisations must create an Action Plan identifying the energy efficiency measures they intend to implement, their expected savings and delivery timescales. They must also report on progress against those commitments.

Government guidance specifically identifies occupancy and daylight sensors as potential lighting efficiency measures, including upgrading lighting with motion sensors. It also recognises that larger projects can be delivered in stages across different sites.

For businesses with a large estate, this creates an opportunity to look at where relatively simple measures could deliver savings quickly.

Why wireless?

Traditional lighting controls typically require new cabling, access equipment and significant installation work. Across a multi-site estate, this can make a relatively straightforward energy-saving measure difficult to deliver at scale.

The good news is, wireless controls remove much of this complexity (and disruption).

Our solutions offer quick wins. They can be retrofitted to existing lighting installations with minimal rewiring, allowing businesses to introduce occupancy and daylight control without undertaking a major lighting infrastructure project. Installation is faster, with less disruption to customers, staff and day-to-day operations.

For our customers, the commercial returns are quick – and significant. Projects using our wireless technology have delivered payback periods of less than three years, and savings often exceed 40% (on top of any saving from existing LED installations). Compared with many other retrofit measures, this provides a relatively quick route from investment to energy and cost savings. It also means businesses can start with the sites where the opportunity is greatest and roll out the same approach across the wider estate.

Start with the quick wins

Whether your business has 50, 100 or 500 sites (or more!), the question is rarely whether there are energy-saving opportunities. It is where to start.

We have a simple, but effective methodology. We undertake a site survey (at no cost to you) to quantify savings before any pricing is shared to ensure the payback period can be met. We then propose a solution that makes it possible to prioritise the sites and spaces where lighting is being used unnecessarily. This allows organisations to spread investment, minimise disruption and use the experience from early installations to inform subsequent rollouts.

Wireless controls are particularly suited to this approach. Occupancy and daylight sensing can reduce unnecessary lighting use, while the wireless infrastructure makes it easier to replicate the solution across different buildings and sites. The result is a retrofit programme that can move at the pace of the business, rather than requiring a major estate-wide project before savings can be realised.

For organisations working through their ESOS Action Plans, this makes wireless lighting controls a practical first step towards a wider programme of energy efficiency improvements.

If lighting controls feature in your ESOS action plan, now is the time to look at what our wireless solution could deliver across your estate. Talk to our wireless controls team to find out more.