CRC Glossary

Administrator
CRC will be administered by the Environment Agency. It is responsible for:

Administering the process of identifying CRC participant organisations from returns;
Operating the CRC registry and distributing allowances;
Running the sale of allowances;
Recycling the revenue;
Issuing guidance drawn up by all regulators, and constructing and publishing the performance league tables.

Allowance
Participants in CRC must surrender allowances at the end of each compliance year for each tonne of CO2 they emit. Allowances are sold by the Government at the start of the year, and can also be traded on the secondary market.

Annual Report
The report that each participant must provide via the CRC registry by the last working day of July, after the end of every compliance year detailing their CRC emissions for that year.

Associated Person
Under CRC, in certain cases emissions from one (normally smaller) organisation are assigned as the responsibility of another – even though the smaller organisation is not a legal subsidiary. These smaller organisations are referred to as the “associated person”. The responsible organisation is referred to as the “responsible person”. In CRC there are four cases of responsible and associated persons: franchisor/franchisee; local authority/schools; collegiate university/colleges; Greater London Authority/ GLA’s related bodies

Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) Meter
Automatic Meter Reading (AMR) meters have been developed for gas and electricity supply not measured by traditional HHMs. These meters provide consumers with access to half-hourly or hourly data of their energy consumption. As there is a wide range of AMR equipment available, CRC will only capture AMR meters which are the main meters measuring the quantity of electricity or gas supplied to a premise, not a sub-meter or clip-on device. In CRC, AMR meters must be read remotely by customers. Voluntary installation of AMR meters is one of the factors measured in the early action metric.

Capped Phase
A capped phase is a phase in CRC which is subject to a cap on the total number of allowances made available to participants each year. All phases, except the introductory phase, will be capped. The first capped phase will start in 2013.

The Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC)
A mandatory emissions trading scheme for non energy-intensive organisations in the public and private sector.

Carbon Trust Standard
An independently assessed accreditation offered by the Carbon Trust for organisations who measure, monitor and reduce emissions year on year. Achieving the Carbon Trust Standard is one of the factors measured in the early action metric.

Climate Change Agreements (CCAs)
Climate Change Agreements relate to the Climate Change Levy (CCL), which was put in place to encourage users to improve energy efficiency and reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Climate Change Agreements (CCAs) allow energy intensive business users to receive a discount from the CCL in return for meeting energy efficiency or carbon saving targets. As a general rule, any emissions across your whole organisation which are already covered by CCAs do not ultimately need to be included in your CRC emissions.

Combined Heat and Power (CHP)
A combined heat and power station is one where heat or steam, which are by-products of the power generation process, are not lost but supplied to consumers for various uses. Organisations that generate energy through CHP can claim an electricity credit if they export any of that electricity to other users or to the grid.

Compliance Year
Each phase is made up of a number of compliance years. Each compliance year runs over the same period as a financial year during which there are certain requirements, such as reporting or surrendering allowances with which participants must comply.

Core Sources
Core sources are those that you are obliged to include in CRC. They include:

All electricity consumed through HHMs (including pseudo HHMs);
All electricity consumed through AMR meters;
All electricity consumed though profile class 5-8 meters;
All daily-read gas meters;
All gas consumed through AMR meters;
All non-daily metered gas consumption of more than 73,200 kWh per annum.

CRC Emissions
These are the emissions of each participant for which it must purchase allowances each year. A participant determines the sources of energy which will contribute to its CRC emissions in the Footprint Report.

Daily-Read Gas Meter
Daily-read gas meters are required for high volume gas users (those consuming 58,600,000 kWh or more per year). Gas consumed through daily read gas meters is a core source for CRC.

Draft Order
See Regulations.

Energy Efficiency Accreditation Scheme
An accreditation formerly offered by the Carbon Trust for organisations that make energy use savings through improved management and energy efficiency measures. This scheme has now been replaced by the Carbon Trust Standard.

EU Emissions Trading System (EU ETS)
A greenhouse gas emissions trading system covering emissions from large combustion installations (larger than 20 MWthermal) within EU Member States. Sectors covered by the system include: power generation, cement, glass, ceramics, steel, aluminium, and pulp and paper, which are termed ‘trading sectors’. Operators of installations that are covered by the system are obliged to monitor and report emissions of greenhouse gases (GHGs) from that installation and to surrender allowances equivalent to those emissions.

Evidence Pack
Participants in CRC must keep an evidence pack, containing records of their organisation’s energy use, and other documents to support information provided to the administrator.

Footprint Year
The footprint year is the period prior to the start of each phase during which participants must monitor energy use across their organisation, and establish the sources of energy use to be included in CRC for the forthcoming phase. In the introductory phase, the footprint year will not take place prior to the start of the phase but will run concurrently with the first year of the phase – financial year 2010/2011.

Footprint Report
Participants must submit a footprint report, containing information about their energy use, via the CRC registry by the last working day of July, after the end of the footprint year.

Grid Average Emissions
The grid average is the average emissions per unit of all electricity supplied by the grid. CRC uses the five year rolling average for the grid average figure. Currently this five year rolling grid average emissions factor is 0.537/MWh.

Half Hourly Light Meter
These meters will be introduced in April 2009 and are designed to be an alternative to traditional half hourly settled meters, as they are able to provide half hourly data at a lower cost. The data recorded by half hourly light meters can be used for settlement purposes. In CRC, these meters are therefore counted as half hourly meters settled on the half hourly market. As they have not yet been introduced, they will not be relevant for determining qualification for the introductory phase.

Half Hourly Market
The half hourly market is a mechanism used by electricity suppliers and generators to ensure there is a balance between consumption and generation.

Highest Parent Organisation
Defined in line with the Companies Act 2006, the highest parent is the body with ultimate control over an organisational group. The highest parent of an organisation will act as the participant on behalf of its organisational group unless an alternative primary member is nominated.

Information Disclosure
Organisations that have a settled half hourly meter but do not meet the qualification threshold for participation in CRC will have to disclose information on the HHMs they have and their electricity consumption to the administrator via the CRC registry.

Introductory Phase
The introductory phase is the first phase of CRC scheme. It begins in April 2010 and lasts for three years.

Mandatory Half Hourly Meter (HHM)
Mandatory Half Hourly Meters (HHM) are HHM settled on the half hourly market. They are required where a site’s average peak electricity demand exceeded 100kW in three out of the previous 12 months.

Megawatt Hour (MWh)
A unit of energy equal to 1 million watt hours or 1 million joules per second consumed for a period of one hour.

Non-Daily Metered Gas
All frequencies of metering less than daily are counted as non-daily metering:

For sites consuming between 73,200 and 293,000 kWh at least annual meter reading is required;
For sites consuming more than 293,000 kWh but less than 58,600,000 kWh, at least monthly meter reading is required.

Participant
An organisation that qualifies, and then must register under CRC. A participant must comply with all requirements of the scheme such as reporting emissions, and purchasing and surrendering allowances.

Performance League Table
An annual table, published by the administrator, that details the relative performance of all participants in CRC against the three weighted metrics: absolute metric, early action metric and growth metric.

Primary Member
The organisation within an organisational group nominated to act as the participant in CRC on behalf of all parts of that group.

Principal Subsidiary
Any subsidiary of an organisation which would meet the qualification criteria for participation in CRC in its own right were it not part of a larger organisation.

Profile Class
Electricity meters are classified by profile class. Half hourly settled meters are profile class 00, domestic customers (profile classes 1 and 2) and non-domestic customers (profile classes 3-8). The profile class assigned to a meter is dependent on its maximum electricity demand.

Pseudo Half Hourly Metering
Pseudo Half-Hourly Metering is a technique for calculating half hourly electricity consumption where the supply is unmetered. It is calculated using historic data and is commonly used to monitor the electricity consumption of street furniture such as street lights and traffic lights. This data can be used for settlement purposes and so in CRC is counted as an HHM settled on the half hourly market.

Qualification Period
The period during which electricity consumption through all half hourly meters must be monitored to determine whether your organisation qualifies to participate in the forthcoming phase of CRC. The qualification period for the introductory phase is the 2008 calendar year.

Registration Period
This is the period during which organisations that qualify for the scheme must register with the scheme administrator via the online CRC registry. For the introductory phase, this period is from April 2010 until the last working day of September 2010.

Registry
CRC will be administered online via a purpose-built website known as the CRC registry. Participants will register, report, buy and sell allowances and communicate with the administrator via this online system.

Regulations
The legislative document which provides the legal basis for CRC. It is also referred to as the Draft Order.

Regulator
The role of regulator will be carried out by the relevant body in each part of the UK: Environment Agency for England and Wales, Scottish Environment Protection Agency for Scotland, and Northern Ireland Environment Agency for Northern Ireland.

Relevant Emissions
Relevant emissions refers to all an organisation’s energy use emissions, minus those from energy used for excluded activities (transport and onward supply).

Renewables Obligation (RO)
The main support scheme for renewable electricity projects in the UK. It places an obligation on UK suppliers of electricity to source an increasing proportion of their electricity from renewable sources.

Renewable Obligation Certificates (ROCs)
A green certificate issued to an accredited generator for eligible renewable electricity generated within the United Kingdom and supplied to customers within the United Kingdom by a licensed electricity supplier.

Residual Sources
Residual sources are any energy use other than CRC core sources. They include coal, LPG and diesel but a comprehensive list will appear in CRC regulations.

Responsible Person
Under CRC, in certain cases emissions from one (normally smaller) organisation are assigned as the responsibility of another – even though the smaller organisation is not a legal subsidiary. These smaller organisations are referred to as the “associated person”. The responsible organisation is referred to as the “responsible person”. In CRC there are four cases of responsible and associated persons: franchisor/franchisee; local authority/schools; collegiate university/colleges; Greater London Authority/ GLA’s related bodies

Revenue Recycling
All revenue raised from the sale of allowances every April is returned to participants in the form of a recycling payment to each participant. The amount each participant receives depends on their proportion of emissions in relation to the total CRC sector emissions and their performance in the league table. The revenue recycling occurs six months after the end of each sale, in October.

Safety Valve
A mechanism by which participants can buy allowances from the administrator throughout the year if the price on the secondary market becomes prohibitively high. The price will be linked to the EU ETS price of carbon.

Secondary Market
The secondary market refers to any trade in allowances that takes place between participants or with third parties.

Total Footprint Emissions
An organisation’s total emissions from energy use after subtracting those from excluded activities and those exempt through CCAs.

Voluntary Half Hourly Meter
Voluntary Half Hourly Meters are the same type of meters as the mandatory HHMs, but have been installed on a voluntary basis. In most cases they are installed because an organisation wants their electricity settled on the HH market or because it wants to collect data on their electricity consumption for energy management purposes. In CRC, these meters are counted as HHMs settled on the half hourly market.