Baselines established under the Energy Smart Government program provide a benchmark for the measurement of each agency's contribution towards improved energy efficiency of Government.

By establishing a strong defensible foundation the Government will be able to accurately demonstrate its commitment to reducing the intensity of energy use and associated greenhouse gas emissions.

It is therefore critical that changes to baselines are made only in legitimate circumstances. This document establishes the circumstances that are recognised by the program and provides an overview of the adjustment methodology.

Acceptable circumstances

It is acknowledged that changes in Government structure will occur over time. The impacts of these changes need to be accommodated by the Energy Smart Government program.

To enable government energy consumption to continue to be accurately reported, a process has been established to reflect the impact of any restructuring in agency baselines. Baselines may also need to be revised to include sites that were overlooked in previous years' reporting or due to incorrect or inaccurate data.

Under the Energy Smart Government policy, the only acceptable circumstances that may lead to baseline adjustments are: -

• Transfer of functions or services between agencies
• Exclusion of existing sites from previously reported data
• Corrections to previously reported data
• Change in end use category

Unacceptable circumstances

Growth of agency operations or facilities is not considered a legitimate reason for adjusting a baseline. Agencies' baselines should not be revised due to changes in operational characteristics such as staff number changes, service-level fluctuations, new sites or disposal of sites. Untenanted sites, a change in tenancy or size of floor space occupied are also not recognised as acceptable circumstances to warrant changes to baselines.

The creation of new agencies or the expansion of agency functions due to changes in Government policy is to be treated as growth and the whole of government baseline should not be adjusted. This approach applies equally to existing agencies that are now required to participate in the program because their FTE numbers have increase to 25 to more. A separate policy is in place to address the needs of these agencies.

Outcomes of the Energy Smart Government policy are measured in terms of energy efficiency. Growth in operations should not preclude agencies from maintaining or improving energy efficiency.

Methodology

Where an acceptable circumstance has been identified for a baseline adjustment, the Sustainable Energy Development Office will liaise with the agencies involved to adjust the baseline. Once the adjustment is approved, the Sustainable Energy Development Office will update OSCAR to reflect the revised baseline.

Transfer of function or service between agencies

If a Government function is reallocated from one agency to another, the baseline for each agency will be adjusted to reflect the reallocated function. The baseline of the agency receiving the function will increase, and the baseline of the agency losing the function will decrease by the corresponding amount. The adjustment will be based on the baseline energy consumption of the transferred function so the baseline at the whole of government level is not changed.

Outsourced function

When a function or service is outsourced, the agency will no longer have control of the energy consumed by the outsourced activity and therefore will no longer be required to report on it. The baseline energy use associated with the outsourced activity will be removed from the agency's baseline as the outsourcing of the activity may not result in any net energy saving by the wider community.

Existing site previously excluded from reported data

Where an agency has identified an omission in its baseline data and notified the Sustainable Energy Development Office the onus will be on the agency to provide adequate data to enable a baseline adjustment to be undertaken. The actual 2006/07 energy data will be used to determine the baseline.

Revision to previously reported data

Where an agency has identified an error in its baseline data and notified the Sustainable Energy Development Office the onus will be on the agency to provide adequate data to enable a baseline adjustment to be undertaken. The correct 2006/07 energy data will be used to determine the baseline.

Closure of a facility or site

Closure of facilities or sites will not impact on agencies energy baselines, as there is an overall reduction in energy consumption to Government and the wider community. In this situation, baselines will remain unchanged and the affected agencies will retain any benefit created from the initiative.

Change in end use category

Where an agency relocates to a building where it has control over a different amount of the building's energy use, the baseline may be adjusted to reflect this. The most common example of this is relocation from a tenancy in a multi-tenanted building (where only tenant light and power is reported under the Office-Tenant Light and Power end use category) to a building where the agency is the sole occupant and is also responsible for the energy consumption of the central services (which would be reported under the Office-Combined Services end use category), or vice versa.

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