According to a further study by French research bodies ARMINES / ERIE, the containment principle of the F-Gas Regulation has already started to deliver. The survey was commissioned by the European Partnership for Energy and the Environment (EPEE) to show the maximum achievable demand and emissions reduction from refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump equipment until 2030. It looks at two future scenarios: the “F-Gas Scenario” based on the full implementation of the F-Gas Regulation combined with current market trends; and the “F-Gas Plus Scenario” taking into account a more aggressive introduction of lower GWP refrigerants, the improvement of emissions rates, lower refrigerant charges and higher recovery volumes at the end of life of the equipment containing refrigerant fluids.

The EPEE’s Director General, Andrea Voigt, said the results showed that by fully implementing the EU F-Gas Regulation, emissions reduction in 2030 will even exceed the Commission’s forecast by roughly 15 per cent.

The reports are excellent news for all those in the UK who now know that the extensive time and money spent on complying with the obligations – organising training courses, applying for company certificates, educating their customers, setting up asset registers and recording mechanisms – has been well spent.

Any companies undertaking installation, servicing and/or maintenance on stationary refrigeration, air-conditioning and heat pump (RAC) equipment that contains or is designed to contain F-gas refrigerants without holding full certification, take note. The regulations are not going away and since July 4 2011, you are committing an offence continuing to work without holding a full company certificate.

In addition, those companies who have spent time and money becoming compliant are now demanding that the regulation is more robustly enforced to catch those companies damaging the industry with their lack of compliance. They want a lot more unannounced checks by LACORS officials, instead of pre-arranged visits, to ensure all companies adhere to the regulations. It is understandable; the good work done by the vast majority needs to be rewarded by the publicised removal of the small cowboy element.

Almost 88 per cent of Refcom registered companies who held an interim certificate have upgraded to a full certificate inline with the regulations. F-Gas Support also reports encouraging figures; almost 77 per cent of those companies who held an interim certificate have now made the necessary switch to a full company certificate with 4091 holding a full certificate and 1,250 non-compliant. Further investigations revealed that 23 per cent of those non-compliant companies have made satisfactory arrangements.

The industry is doing a great job meeting these regulations and as soon as those companies lagging behind catch up the better. With a little nudge from LACORS for those non-compliant companies, the regulation can be truly effective and the industry can be proud of its professional standards.

Companies wishing to upgrade to a full company certificate can visit www.refcom.org.uk

Refcom Secretary, Steve Crocker

The Government’s pension reforms are an attempt to avoid this looming catastrophe for those in old age by forcing another five to eight million people to start saving for their retirement.

This means big changes are on the way for all British businesses. Employers will be legally obliged (under the Pensions Act 2008) to automatically enrol all their eligible jobholders into a workplace pension scheme and make contributions towards it. To stagger this mammoth process, employers will be notified of staging dates by which they must meet their legal obligations, triggered by their PAYE schemes, with the largest employers staged first, followed by medium and then small businesses.

The first staging date is just 11 months from now – 1 October 2012, for employers with 120,000 employees or more. Just 11 months from now. The last staging date is 1 February 2016, by which time every employer must have a qualifying pension scheme in place. Yes, that’s every single employer in the country in just over four years!

Employers must automatically enrol all their eligible employees in their company pension scheme and make contributions to it. The Pensions Act 2008 states that from the business’ staging date, employers will be required to contribute at least 1% of the eligible jobholder’s qualifying earnings, currently between £7,225 and £42,475, rising to 3% by 2017 onwards.

Make no mistake, establishing a qualifying pension scheme and making contributions towards every employee’s fund is going to have a significant impact on every business, both in time and money, particularly for those companies with low pension participation.

It is worrying that not all employers are aware of their pending obligations. A survey of 1,500 small businesses by software supplier Sage revealed that 54% of business owners believe the Act will have no impact on their business, while 46% of firms have no scheme in place. A further survey of 2,000 workers from private and voluntary sectors by The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) found 53% were unaware of the pension reforms.

According to the Federation of Small Businesses, a company with four employees each earning £25,000 per annum can expect additional costs of £2,550 per year.

Failing to meet the legal obligations will carry hefty fines. Law firm DLA Piper recently warned that non-compliant organisations would face a warning followed by a fixed fine of £400 which can rise to £2,500 per day for persistent offenders with between 50 and 249 staff or £5,000 per day for companies with more than 250 employees.

Businesses need to start making decisions about what scheme to use, what contributions to pay and how to communicate all this to employees.

To assist companies with auto-enrolment and contributions, the government has set up a new scheme known as NEST (the National Employment Savings Trust). But there may well be an alternative better-suited to your business, a qualifying scheme either run by your company in-house or by an outside provider.

Welplan Pensions has been providing pensions for the building services industry since 1988, is the preferred pension supplier for the H&V Operative National Agreement, and has already developed the sort of auto-enrolment systems that relieve clients of administrative burden.

One thing is certain, pension reforms are coming and you must be ready for your business’ sake, for your employees’ sake – and for the sake of our retirements.

Mike Jenkins,

Business Development Manager of Welplan

It is not all bad. Yes, new, sustainability-driven regulations will bring challenges, but they will also provide business opportunities in what is proving to be an area of growth.

The government is locked into ambitious European targets to cut carbon dioxide emissions from its building stock by 2020, and at the same time end-users are expecting a reduction in their energy costs. For the Government to have any hope of reaching their targets, the country’s existing buildings need to be addressed. There lies the biggest business potential: to retrofit the existing housing stock by 2020 means completing 40,000 retrofits a year by 2015, increasing to 1.8million by 2020. The HVCA estimates that this market could be worth between £5bn and £8bn and hvac businesses need to take full advantage of the expected increase in work, both for the installation of energy saving products and in providing practical guidance on the application, design and installation of renewable technologies.

The Government is doing its part to encourage take-up of green and renewable technologies with win-win schemes such as the Renewable Heat Incentive offering rebates on energy bills and the Green Deal initiative enabling customers to pay for the work via their energy bills over a 20-year period. Providing peace of mind for end users brings the goal a lot closer: To grow the market for systems based on renewable technologies by 700% by 2020 – i.e. a total of 110,000 installations. The HVCA will be working with the Department of Energy and Climate Change to ensure its members derive maximum business benefit from RHI funding.

With great power comes great responsibility: The Non-Compliance Costs campaign launched by the Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers (CIBSE) recognises the responsibility placed on building services engineers to help the nation meet its long-term carbon reduction targets. Far from resenting this, we embrace the position of authority it places upon our members. Adhering to best practice, guidelines and regulations, and being able to demonstrate this fact to customers with Microgeneration Certification Scheme certification, stands installers in good stead for the increasing renewables contracts available.

It is essential that engineers and installers recognise the potential in this field and that they remain alert and are proactive in advocating the benefits of new systems, product designs and installation techniques, not just now but for years to come.

Mike Jenkins,
Business Development Manager of Welplan