The Self Audit Scheme is a voluntary agreement to which companies subscribe, centring on a public commitment to good energy management practices administered by the Irish Energy Centre, Companies register to the scheme, committing to set out an energy management policy, the core of which will be an annual internal audit of their energy performance, coupled with a public statement of energy accounts, including targets and plans for the coming year. In this way, companies are given the opportunity to formalise their approach to good energy practice, and to receive a public recognition of their efforts in this regard.

The Annual Self Audit and Statement of Energy Accounts Scheme is a specific attempt to fill a gap in the Irish energy management scene. The Scheme is designed to give a framework through which a company can establish a stronger profile for energy management at senior management level, and through which energy managers can find their efforts better legitimised and easier to promote.

The Self Audit Scheme

The Annual Self Audit and Statement of Energy Accounts was piloted by the Irish Energy Centre in 1994, as an EU SAVE initiative. At that stage, 10 major Irish companies from several sectors were recruited and registered to the scheme. The success of this phase led to an expansion of the programme and at the latest registration ceremony in November 1997 Mr Joe Jacob, T.D., Minster of State at the Department of Public Enterprise formally welcomed a further 16 companies into the scheme bringing the total membership to 59 companies. A full list of scheme members is presented at the end of this page. Membership is drawn from all major industrial sectors. The annual fuel bills of the registered companies comes to more than £120 million.

• to encourage companies to establish an energy management structure and to undertake energy audits,
• to increase awareness of the importance of energy efficiency among employees and customers,
• to realise identifiable and substantial energy savings, and
• to reduce national emissions of carbon dioxide, the main contributor to global warming.

The actual workings of the scheme fall into four parts:
- Registration Certificate
- Energy Policy Statement
- Energy Audit
- Annual Statement of Energy Accounts