The companies that have promised energy work under ESOS
Will, Founder of Locarum. 16 October 2026.
Thousands of large companies in England have published the energy-saving work they plan to do, and the month they plan to finish it. If you sell lighting, controls, heating or solar, that is a list of companies that have already said in public what they intend to buy.
The list is free. It is updated every year. And many of the companies on it are behind on what they promised.
Where the list comes from
The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme, or ESOS, applies to every large organisation in the UK: 250 staff or more, or a turnover over £44 million and a balance sheet over £38 million. Every four years they have to audit how they use energy.
Since December 2024 they have also had to file an action plan. It lists each measure they intend to carry out, the month and year they plan to finish it, and the energy they expect to save. Every December after that they file a progress update saying which measures are done.
The Environment Agency publishes the plans and updates for England as spreadsheets on its data site. Anyone can download them and use them, including for business.
What is in it
The files published on 5 June 2026 have 7,062 action plans. 5,993 of them list at least one measure, and there are 33,684 measures in all. Each one has the company’s name and company number.
The measures are written in the company’s own words, so they are untidy, but the pattern is clear. About 5,700 mention lighting. About 4,300 are controls or building management systems. About 2,700 are heating, cooling or ventilation, about 1,900 are metering and about 1,800 are solar. Only about 300 mention heat pumps.
A typical row reads something like this. The company is invented.
Fairfield Freight Ltd. LED lighting upgrade across distribution sites. Planned for 03-2026. Expected saving 410,000 kWh. Recommended by the energy audit.
That is a company telling you what they want to buy, roughly when, and roughly how big the job is.
The companies to contact first
The progress updates are where it gets interesting. The first round covers 28,562 of the planned measures. Companies reported 12,665 of them, 44%, as not done.
Many of those simply weren’t due yet. But 2,637 had a planned month of November 2025 or earlier and were still not done, at 1,280 companies. Those companies set themselves a date, missed it and said so in public.
In my view that is the best starting point in the whole dataset. You aren’t asking whether they need the work. They have already said they do. You are asking what is stopping them, and offering to help.
Why 2027 matters
There is no fine for missing a measure. The plans are a company’s own targets and the scheme doesn’t make them do the work.
But the rules for the next round, published on 30 July 2026, add some pressure. By 5 December 2027 each company has to list every measure from their plan that they haven’t done and explain why. That goes into their ESOS report, which a director has to approve. The explanation isn’t published, but nobody enjoys writing it. A company with unfinished measures has a reason to finish them in 2027.
The second progress update is due on 5 December 2026. The Agency publishes updates within six months, so it should be public by June 2027. It will show which measures were done this year and which slipped again.
How to use the files
Download the action plans and the latest progress update from the Environment Agency’s ESOS dataset page. Each file has a sheet of plans or updates and a sheet of measures. Each update names the plan it reports on, and its measures have the same names as the plan’s, so you can line them up.
Filter the measures for words that match what you sell, such as “LED”, “BMS” or “solar”. Then look at the planned month. A measure due in the next six months is a live conversation. One the progress update says is overdue is a better one.
What it doesn’t tell you
A plan names a company, not a building. “LED upgrade across distribution sites” doesn’t say which sites. Large groups often file one plan for many companies, so the name on the plan may be the parent and not the business at the site.
The plans are the company’s own words and the Agency doesn’t check them. Some measures are vague and some savings are guesses. And this dataset is for companies registered in England. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have their own regulators.
Finding their buildings, and one trap
To turn a company into a list of buildings, start with the company’s own annual report and website, which often list their main sites. Many councils also publish their business rates list, which names the business paying the rates at each property.
The obvious shortcut is the Land Registry’s free list of property owned by companies. Don’t use it for this. Its licence forbids using the data for direct marketing, and that includes using it to decide who to approach.
See the signs as they happen
Locarum reads these plans and updates every week and puts each one beside the buildings the company is linked to, with the energy certificates, planning applications and business rates changes at the same address. Each fact comes with its source and date.