NHS Scotland assets and facilities 2017: annual report

Annex E

Review of Energy Performance

In support of the aspirations of the Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009, and the associated duties incumbent upon public sector bodies, NHSScotland Boards continue to be proactive in reducing energy consumption and associated greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions.

In the reporting year 2015/16, the cost of energy across NHSScotland’s hospital sites (as reported in the ISD Cost Book) was £98,000,000 – a 2.6% decrease on the previous year. Absolute energy consumption at these sites (not corrected for the influence of weather) increased by 6.58% in the same period.

Since 2010/11, energy unit costs have risen year on year, but 2015/16 is the second year to show an overall decrease in energy costs. This is due to proactive energy management across the NHSScotland estate coupled with competitive wholesale energy costs which have been passed through to NHSScotland Boards via the Scottish Public Sector Utility contracts (managed by Scottish Procurement). These utility contracts cover electricity, gas, water, and some liquid fuels.

It should be noted, however, that wholesale energy costs and the management fees associated with these contracts make up only 50% of total costs. The remainder is comprised of pass-through charges, regulatory charges, environmental taxes and levies. These additional charges have risen substantially in recent years.

Currently the only areas that NHSScotland Boards can have influence on are the wholesale energy costs and the management fees paid to suppliers for the services they provide. NHSScotland Boards have no ability to control the application of the pass-through charges, including regulatory charges and environmental taxes that are levied at a standard rate. Most of these are set at UK Government level.

Wholesale energy costs are subject to market forces. NHSScotland works with its other public sector partners in actively managing the purchase of energy on the wholesale market through a national Risk Management Committee run by Scottish Procurement. Through this committee, maximum target costs are set to ensure the least risk of exposure to market changes. In 2015/16, the Risk Management Committee was successful in achieving a 33.6% reduction in actual costs paid against maximum target costs for electricity and a 35.7% reduction in actual costs paid against maximum target costs for gas.

NHSScotland Boards’ main response to rising energy costs continues to be to drive costs downwards through proactive energy management and reduced energy consumption.

The table that follows summarises the energy consumption and cost figures for 2015/16 and preceding years. The percentage change in energy consumption between 2015/16, the preceding year and FY 2010/11 is also shown.

It should be noted that reporting year 2015/16 was colder in temperature than 2014/15, and this may account for the increase in consumption in 2015/16. It is also important to take into account changes in the size of the estate. Between reporting years 2014/15 and 2015/16, there was a 1.91% increase in the reported hospital estate areas. Therefore, it is more accurate to consider a performance indicator of weather-corrected energy consumption per m² when reviewing relative energy performance.

During 2015/16, the average energy performance – corrected for weather and area - across the NHSScotland hospital estate was 439.9 kWh/m² – a 4.22% reduction over the previous reporting year, and a 2.59% reduction since 2010/11.

The table that follows shows energy KPI performance for each Board since 2010/11.

Table notes:
*Board data based on single hospital site.
**During 2011/12, a new large-scale CHP system was installed at a site in NHS Grampian. This resulted in more kWH being used, but has significantly reduced GHG emissions.
***During 2011/12, the State Hospital underwent considerable refurbishment, including the installation of a new biomass boiler.

Future Plans: Energy

During 2015/16, a new energy monitoring and targeting system – eSight – was procured for the NHSScotland Boards. This will facilitate more accurate recording and reporting of energy consumption and associated GHG emissions, and as the system uploads metered data automatically, it will allow more proactive energy management across the estate. Financial year 2016/17 marks the first reporting year under the new system and will allow the whole estate – not just hospital sites – to be evaluated.

November 2016 saw the introduction of mandatory Public Sector Climate Change Reporting. This impact all major public bodies within Scotland and 19 of the 22 NHSScotland Boards are required to produce annual reports.

The Public Sector Climate Change Reports include information on greenhouse gas emissions from waste arisings, water consumption, fleet transport, and business travel, as well as building energy consumption. The reports also include information on NHSScotland Boards’ actions relating to climate change mitigation and sustainable procurement.

Reports are produced annually and administered by the Sustainable Scotland Network. All reports are in the public domain and can be accessed from:

https://www.keepscotlandbeautiful.org/sustainability-climate-change/sustainable-scotland-network/climate-change-reporting/climate-change-reports/