Reduce your production of carbon or pay up. That is the make-the-polluter-pay-message that the Government has appointed Oxfordshire firm AEA Technology to help deliver.

Under the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) Energy Efficiency Scheme, organisations with electricity bills of £500,000 a year or more must register by September 30 or pay a £5,000 fine — plus £500 a day in penalties until they do.

But John Huddleston, knowledge leader for industrial energy efficiency at AEA Technology, told The Oxford Times: “The frightening point is that on September 6 fewer than 2,000 of the estimated 3,000 to 4,000 organisations that must by law join the scheme had done so. And of the 15,000 or so organisations that were required to register — though not join the scheme — only 6,500 had done so. They too risk the £5,000 fine plus £500-a-day penalty unless they register by the end of this month. The message is that they need to get their skates on. This is the last call.”The Abingdon company, a world leader in energy and climate change, was the main advisor to the Department of Energy and Climate Change for the CRC scheme and is now working with the Department of the Environment during the run-up to its going live The CRC scheme is designed to force down the nation’s carbon emissions by rewarding organisations that reduce their energy consumption — and naming and shaming those that don’t.

Any organisation that has a half-hourly meter at any of its branches should register. All such businesses should have received a letter from the Department of the Environment at the site where the meter applies. But Mr Huddleston warned that if your organisation qualifies, you should by law register, whether or not you recveived a letter. He said: “All organisations that used more than 3,000 megawatt hours in 2008 must register with the Environment Agency. Any that used more than 6,000 must register and participate in the scheme.”

Organisations big enough to participate must measure their energy use (other than transport), work out their emissions, and after April 1 next year buy enough carbon allowances, at £12 a tonne, to cover their estimate. The amount of money that an organisation — a company or a public body such as a local council — on the threshold of the scheme (ie, using 6,000 megawatt hours of electricity a year) must pay is £38,000. On top of that, participating organisations must pay up £1,250 to join the mandatory scheme.

By July 2011 participators must produce a site footprint and an “evidence pack” to back up their compliance data. In April 2013 carbon allowances will be sold by auction instead of at a set price.

Large companies that produce much of their energy sustainably — for example, by micro hydro-generators, or wind or solar power — will still need to register. The devilishly clever part of the scheme, though, is that revenue will be redistributed to participants, with a larger or smaller amount being repaid according to performance.

Mr Huddleston said: “The Department will then produce a league table of participants showing ‘How Green is Your Company?’ And we hope that this will publicise which organisations are going up the league — and which are going down and therefore being named and shamed.”

It appears that some local authorities have not yet registered — and will therefore incur expensive penalties at council tax payers’ expense unless they move fast.

Victoria Tilley, spokesman for the Vale of The White Horse District Council, told The Oxford Times yesterday that the council was registering that very day. West Oxfordshire said it did not have to register, while Oxfordshire County Council, Oxford City Council, South Oxfordshire, and Cherwell have all registered.

The county council urged businesses to use the online carbon calculator www.carbonaccounting.org.uk to work out their carbon footprint.

The council said in a statement: “Under the scheme, businesses and organisations will have to buy Government permits or allowances to cover the CO2 they produce. Over time the number of allowances available will be reduced, and their price will rise, making it cheaper for businesses to reduce the amount of CO2 they produce than to buy allowances.”

Oxfordshire’s Cabinet Member for Growth and Infrastructure, Ian Hudspeth, added: “I would encourage all Oxfordshire businesses to visit oxfordshire.gov.uk/crcsos and get up to date with the Carbon Reduction Commitment, which one way or another will affect all Oxfordshire businesses.

“Businesses with large carbon footprints will find their costs dramatically increasing if they are unprepared for the new carbon counting regime. However, there are significant opportunities for businesses — with bonus payments being made to the top performers.”

He added: “The county council has run a long-standing programme of resource efficiency advice for businesses, so we know we’ve got some of the country’s top environmental performers. We’d like to see all Oxfordshire businesses seize the opportunities of the burgeoning green economy.”

But some experts are asking how green the scheme really is — indeed, some suspect that it may actually increase world production of carbon emissions.

Mr Huddleston said: “I think that is fair comment. After all, if a company transfers its manufacturing to say China or India, where restrictions are less severe, and only brings its products here for finishing, total emissions will increase even though the UK’s footprint will look better.”

The Government’s chief environmental scientist Robert Watson accepts that many developed countries, including Britain, that appear to have reduced carbon emissions have done no such thing, but simply exported the problem to the developing world.

That does not alter the grim reality that if you use more than 3,000 megawatts, you must register now.

Mr Huddleston said: “If you have to make an information disclosure i.e. you have at least one settled half-hour meter and you use more than 3,000 MWh electricity but less than 6,000 MWh, then there is no charge.

“If you fail to make an information disclosure when you should have, then the fine is £500 per settled half-hour meter.

“If you are a participant, i.e. over 6,000MWh electricity, then you have to pay £920 before the Environment Agency will complete the registration process.

If you fail to register, the fine is £5,000 and £500 per day to a maximum of 80 days. Participants will also pay £1,290 a year to the Environment Agency. Then you have to buy your allowances.

“The electricity companies log usage, so there is no way to avoid being noticed if you do not register.”

Nor will claiming you didn’t know wash with the authorities. You have been warned!