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    QHSEtech
    Updated 22 October 2026
    Software Guide · Updated 22 October 2026

    Energy management software: baselines you can defend

    Dashboards are the easy part of this category and every product has one. The question that decides whether the investment pays back is narrower: when consumption falls, can you show the fall was caused by what you did rather than by a warm winter, a slow quarter or a line that was down? That is a normalisation and baseline problem, and it is the part most buyers do not examine until they have to defend a number.

    Jump to the 7 products

    Editorial responsibility: Dimitris Mitsios (Founder of The QHSE Standard; product marketing at Tekmon) · Tekmon pays for sponsored placements on this site (disclosure) · How pages are made · LinkedIn · Content date: 22 October 2026

    On this page (18 sections)

    Three questions, in order

    ISO 50001 sets out requirements for an energy management system built on energy performance indicators and an energy baseline, with continual improvement against them. Whether or not you certify, that structure is the right specification for software, because it names the two artefacts that have to survive scrutiny. Note that ISO itself does not issue certificates — independent certification bodies do — so a product marketed as delivering ISO 50001 is making a claim to examine. ISO 50001: energy management systems; ISO: certification — ISO does not issue certificates

    In the EU, Article 11 of the recast Energy Efficiency Directive, (EU) 2023/1791, sets the audit and management-system duties by how much energy an enterprise uses rather than by its size: above 85 TJ a year, a certified energy management system; above 10 TJ, an energy audit unless such a system is in place. Each Member State applies it through its own law, so confirm your national rules and your own scope before configuring anything — the obligation determines what evidence you must keep, and that determines the software. The thresholds, dates and records are set out in the Article 11 section below. In the UK the counterpart is ESOS, which qualifies organisations by size rather than by energy use; its phase 4 dates are in the ESOS section. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2023/1791, Articles 11 and 36 and Annex VI; European Commission: Energy Efficiency Directive

    Then, in order: where do readings come from and at what granularity; can the baseline be normalised for the things that genuinely drive consumption at your sites; and can a prior baseline be restated with the reason recorded when a site, a process or a tariff changes. A tool that is strong on the third is rare and is worth more than any visualisation.

    What actually differs between products

    Data acquisition

    Half-hourly meter feeds, sub-metering, building management systems, and utility bill parsing are different sources with different reliability. Establish which are included, who maintains the connections, and what happens to a reading that fails to arrive.

    Normalisation

    Degree days, production volume, occupancy, operating hours. Ask which drivers can be applied, whether more than one at a time, and whether the model is visible or a black box — because you will be asked to explain it.

    Baseline and restatement

    Establish what happens when a site is added, a process changes or a meter is replaced. A prior baseline that silently shifts makes every historic saving unverifiable, which is the same failure mode as an emission factor update in carbon accounting.

    Researched product scope

    In the products our catalogue lists here, energy sits inside a broader EHS or sustainability product; specialist energy monitoring vendors are not in our researched catalogue and are not listed. Not ranked, not equivalents, not tested hands-on.

    Tekmon pays for a sponsored placement (above); its place in this list follows the same rule as every entry. How lists are ordered

    Same rule for every product: tagged “Energy Management”, “Environmental Management”, “Sustainability Data” or “Carbon Accounting”, with a sourced energy or utility data capability in its record, or one the vendor stated to us, labelled as vendor-stated. 7 qualify.

    The demonstration: prove a saving you did not make

    1

    Load a year of your own meter data

    Use real data with its real gaps. Establish how missing intervals are handled — interpolated, flagged, or silently ignored — because a gap filled without a mark will later look like a reading.

    2

    Set a baseline and normalise it

    Apply degree days and one production driver. Confirm you can see the model rather than only its output, and that someone who is not an analyst could explain it to a finance director.

    3

    Introduce a fall caused by something else

    Use a period when output dropped. Establish whether the platform still reports a saving, and whether normalisation removes it. This is the test that separates a reporting tool from a measurement tool.

    4

    Change the estate and restate

    Add a site and replace a meter mid-period. Confirm the prior baseline is restated deliberately, with the reason recorded, rather than shifting on its own.

    5

    Export the evidence behind one number

    Take a reported saving and export the readings, the baseline, the normalisation drivers and the dates as one traceable set, readable without a licence.

    Questions that separate candidates

    Which data sources are included, and who maintains the connections?
    What happens to a missing interval — interpolated, flagged, or ignored?
    Which normalisation drivers are supported, and can several apply at once?
    Is the normalisation model visible, or a black box?
    What happens to the baseline when a site or meter changes?
    Is a baseline restatement deliberate, attributed and dated?
    Does energy arrive as consumption, as cost, or as converted emissions?
    Are tariffs and contract rates held, and who updates them?
    Can a reported saving be exported with all its inputs?
    Is ISO 50001 evidence a configuration, or a separate module?

    EU Energy Efficiency Directive Article 11: audits and certified systems

    Read on EUR-Lex on 21 October 2026. Article 11 of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 replaced Article 8 of the 2012 directive, under which the duty fell on enterprises that were not SMEs. The test is now energy use: an enterprise is in scope because of what it consumes, whatever its size, and the Commission’s guidance adds that no sector is carved out, so installations under the EU emissions trading system and holders of IPPC permits are covered too. EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2023/1791, Articles 11 and 36 and Annex VI; EUR-Lex: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/2002 on Article 11 (guidance, not law)

    The Directive is addressed to Member States, not to companies. They had to bring Article 11 into national law by 11 October 2025 (Article 36), and the duties an enterprise actually carries, with their deadlines, reporting channel and penalties, are those of its national law. The Directive sets minimum requirements, so a country may go further. EUR-Lex keeps the list of measures each country has notified. EUR-Lex: national transposition measures for Directive (EU) 2023/1791

    Who must do what under Article 11

    DutyWho is in scopeDate in the DirectiveWhat follows
    Certified energy management system (Art. 11(1))Average annual consumption above 85 TJ (about 23,611 MWh) over the previous three years, all energy carriers added togetherIn place by 11 October 2027The system is certified by an independent body against the relevant European or international standards. The Commission names ISO 50001 as the most relevant one and notes that the Directive gives no separate date for the certificate, so national law may ask for it within the same period.
    Energy audit (Art. 11(2))Above 10 TJ (about 2,778 MWh) on the same measure, for an enterprise that does not implement an energy management systemFirst audit by 11 October 2026, then at least every four years; enterprises already auditing keep a four-year cycleAudits are done independently by qualified or accredited experts, or run and supervised by independent authorities under national law, and meet Annex VI. The enterprise turns the recommendations into an Action Plan for its management, and the plan and the share of recommendations implemented go into its annual report and are made public, within confidentiality rules.
    Telling the authority (Art. 11(3))Any single year in which consumption is above 85 TJ or above 10 TJSet by national lawThe figure is made available to the national authority in charge of Article 11, which may collect it through a national data platform.
    Transposition (Art. 36)Member States11 October 2025Article 11 reaches companies only through national law, which sets the working deadlines, the reporting route and the penalties.

    How consumption is counted against 10 TJ and 85 TJ

    The Directive states the rule in one line: the average of the previous three years’ annual consumption, with all energy carriers added together. The detail below comes from Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/2002, which is interpretive guidance to Member States, not law; the binding interpretation belongs to the Court of Justice, and your national rules may differ. EUR-Lex: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/2002 on Article 11 (guidance, not law)

    Count final energy consumption across every carrier and every use: heating, cooling, ventilation, lighting, transport, data storage and production. The Commission suggests starting from the energy invoiced to the enterprise, adding energy delivered by an energy service provider and renewable energy produced and used on site, and deducting anything fed into the grid. A fuel billed by weight or volume can be taken in the bill's own unit and converted. Where a management system or an audit already gives a more accurate figure, that figure should be used.

    For a group, the guidance adds the consumption of linked enterprises, meaning those under more than 50% control, wherever they are in the EU, and leaves out partner enterprises, although a Member State may count those as well. Only enterprises on a Member State's territory carry the duty. In the Commission's own example, an enterprise that alone would need only an audit reaches 91 TJ once its linked enterprises are added, and so needs a certified system. For 2025, the guidance takes the average of 2022, 2023 and 2024.

    Converting units: a terajoule is 10¹² joules and a megawatt-hour is 3.6 × 10⁹ joules, so 1 TJ is about 277.78 MWh, 10 TJ about 2,778 MWh (2.78 GWh) and 85 TJ about 23,611 MWh (23.6 GWh). An illustrative enterprise billed for 2,900, 3,100 and 3,300 MWh of electricity and gas over the three previous years averages 3,100 MWh, about 11.2 TJ: above the audit threshold before any linked enterprise is counted.

    Thresholds are crossed and uncrossed over time. The Commission's reading gives an enterprise that enters scope after the first dates two years to put a management system in place and one year to complete an audit, while acknowledging that the Directive does not say so expressly. If the three-year average falls below 10 TJ, no audit is required, even for an enterprise that had an audit duty under the earlier directive.

    When Article 11 does not require an audit or a system

    An enterprise above 10 TJ that implements an energy management system falls outside the audit duty, because Article 11(2) applies only to enterprises without one. That paragraph does not itself say the system has to be certified; only paragraph 1, for enterprises above 85 TJ, does. Check whether your national law asks for certification before granting the exemption. The Commission also warns that the energy review inside a management system is not an energy audit, which matters for an enterprise moving from one duty to the other.

    Two further exemptions remove both duties. Under Article 11(11), a certified environmental management system qualifies if it includes an energy audit meeting Annex VI; the Commission reads this as covering ISO 14000-series systems and EMAS. Under Article 11(10), so does an energy performance contract that covers the necessary elements of a management system and meets Annex XV, although the Commission expects that to be rare because the contract would have to cover the whole enterprise.

    Annex VI is the test the routes share. An audit has to rest on current, measured and traceable consumption data, with load profiles for electricity; examine buildings, operations, installations and transport in detail; identify efficiency measures and the potential for cost-effective renewable energy; prefer life-cycle costing to simple payback where possible; and be proportionate and representative of the whole. Its calculations have to be detailed and validated, and its data storable for historical analysis and for tracking performance, which is the line most directly about software.

    Records an energy management tool should hold for Article 11

    RecordWhy Article 11 calls for itWhat to check in the tool
    Consumption by energy carrier, per site and yearThe 10 TJ and 85 TJ tests use a three-year average of all carriers; Annex VI asks for measured, traceable data and electricity load profilesEach figure kept in its billed unit (kWh, m³, tonnes, litres) with the conversion factor and where that factor came from; interval data for electricity
    On-site generation, self-consumption and exportThe Commission counts self-consumed on-site renewables and deducts grid export; a Member State may exclude self-consumption other than bioenergyGeneration, self-consumption and export held as separate quantities, so the national treatment can be applied without re-entering data
    Group structureLinked enterprises (more than 50% control) are added in the Commission's method; partner enterprises only if national law says soLegal entities, ownership shares and the dates they changed, with a three-year average per obligated enterprise
    Threshold years and what was reportedArt. 11(3): a year above 10 TJ or 85 TJ is made known to the national authorityThe year, the figure, the date it was submitted and any reference the authority returned
    Energy audit reportsArt. 11(2) and Annex VI: first audit by 11 October 2026, then at least every four years, by qualified or accredited expertsAudit date, auditor and qualification or accreditation reference, sites and share of consumption covered, the reason for any sampling, and the next due date
    Recommendations and the Action PlanArt. 11(2): a measure for each feasible recommendation, submitted to management, with the plan and implementation rate published annuallyEach recommendation tied to its measure, the feasibility decision and its reason, an owner, a status and completion evidence; the Commission's rate divides fully implemented measures by all recommended ones
    ISO 50001 certification evidenceArt. 11(1): the system is certified by an independent bodyCertificate, certification body and its accreditation, scope (sites and entities), issue and expiry dates, surveillance audit reports, and the energy reviews, indicators and baselines behind them
    Exemption evidenceArt. 11(10) and (11): an energy performance contract meeting Annex XV, or a certified environmental management system with an Annex VI auditThe contract or the environmental certificate, the audit that meets Annex VI, and the dates and scope of each
    History and correctionsAnnex VI: audit data storable for historical analysis and tracking performanceEarlier readings, factors and baselines kept unchanged when something is corrected, with who changed what, when and why

    Article 11 questions to put to a vendor

    Can a reading stay in the unit it was billed in, with the conversion to MWh or TJ and the factor's source stored beside it?
    Does the tool compute the three-year average per enterprise, including linked enterprises whose ownership shares change over time?
    Are on-site generation, self-consumption and grid export separate fields, or netted into one figure?
    Which national reporting platforms or file formats can it export to, and can we see a sample export?
    Can every audit recommendation be tied to an Action Plan measure with a feasibility decision, an owner and completion evidence?
    How is the implementation rate calculated, and can it follow our national definition if that differs?
    Does it hold certification evidence (certificate, body, scope, expiry, surveillance audits) and warn before a date lapses?
    Does it show when the next four-yearly audit falls due for each obligated enterprise?
    When a factor, meter or site changes, are earlier figures kept and the change logged with a reason?
    Which of these are in the quoted licence, and which need a separate module or service?

    What we could not verify (21 October 2026)

    On 21 October 2026 we read the Directive in its Official Journal text and in the consolidated version of 5 August 2026, which shows no change to Article 11 or Annex VI, together with Recommendation (EU) 2024/2002 and the Commission's directive page. We did not read any Member State's transposing law. National deadlines, reporting platforms and penalties, whether an uncertified management system lifts the audit duty, and whether a given country has finished transposing Article 11 are therefore not covered. EUR-Lex lists the measures each country notified but does not show which article each one implements.

    Two passages of the Recommendation give 10 October where the Directive says 11 October; this page uses the Directive's dates. The Commission's directive page says a post-2030 energy efficiency framework is scheduled for the last quarter of 2026, and we do not know whether it will change Article 11. ISO 50001 is a paid standard, so this page describes it only from ISO's public pages.

    EUR-Lex also records an action by Poland to annul the whole Directive. On 21 October 2026 the Court’s case page showed Case C-771/23 as pending, with Advocate General Emiliou and a delivery date of 12 November 2026, so we cannot say how it will end. Bringing the action does not by itself suspend the Directive, under Article 278 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. InfoCuria: Case C-771/23, Poland v Parliament and Council (action to annul Directive (EU) 2023/1791); EUR-Lex: Article 278 TFEU (actions do not suspend the contested act)

    UK ESOS phase 4: who qualifies and what falls due

    Read on GOV.UK and legislation.gov.uk on 22 October 2026. The Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme is the UK’s mandatory energy assessment, run under the ESOS Regulations 2014 as amended by the ESOS (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/701, in force since 22 July 2026. Where Article 11 counts terajoules, ESOS counts size: an organisation is in phase 4 if, on 31 December 2026, it is a large undertaking, meaning 250 or more employees, or an annual turnover above £44 million together with a balance sheet total above £38 million. A corporate group is in if one UK member qualifies, and a UK establishment of an overseas company can be caught through its group; public bodies are usually outside. GOV.UK: Energy savings opportunity scheme (ESOS), find out if you qualify (last updated 2 September 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/701

    Phase 4 runs from 6 December 2023 to 5 December 2027, the deadline for the notification of compliance in MESOS, the Environment Agency’s reporting system. A board-level director, or a person with management control, signs off both the assessment and the notification. Organisations that qualified for phase 3 meet a date first: the annual progress update on their phase 3 action plan, due in MESOS by 5 December 2026 and also signed off at board level. After phase 4 the cycle continues with an action plan by 5 December 2028 and progress updates by 5 December 2029, 2030 and 2031. Environment Agency: How to comply with ESOS phase 4 (published 30 July 2026)

    What the 2026 amendments changed: Display Energy Certificates and Green Deal assessments no longer count as routes to compliance; the ESOS report and notification now include a review of the previous action plan, with an explanation for each commitment not met and more detail on the savings achieved; estimates must be stated in kWh; a lead assessor must tell their approval body when an assessment is completed; and an organisation with zero energy consumption has its own route. An ISO 50001 certificate issued after 5 December 2023 and valid on 5 December 2027 that covers total consumption, or the significant consumption of at least 95%, removes the duties to appoint a lead assessor, audit and write an ESOS report. Phase 4 participants may also include a voluntary decarbonisation assessment to PAS 51215-1 and -2:2025, although MESOS cannot take it.

    The scheme regulators can issue civil penalties, and the assessment itself is signed off by an ESOS lead assessor from an approved register unless the ISO 50001 or low-consumption exemptions apply. Software holds the data behind those signatures; it does not make an organisation compliant.

    Records an energy tool should hold for ESOS phase 4

    RecordWhy ESOS asks for itWhat to check in the tool
    Total energy consumption over a 12-month reference periodThe period must include 31 December 2026 and end before 5 December 2027, use the same 12 months for every carrier, and rest on verifiable data where reasonably practicableOne reference period per participant; each figure tied to its invoice, meter reading or half-hourly file; any estimate flagged, with its method and the reason, because the scheme administrator must be told
    Areas of significant energy consumptionOptional, but if used they must account for at least 95% of total consumptionWhich sites, processes and vehicles are inside the 95%, what was left out and the share each represents
    Energy intensity ratiosOne for each organisational purpose: buildings, transport, industrial processes and other uses, in kWh against an activity indicatorThe kWh subtotal per purpose, the indicator chosen for it (for example floor area, distance or output) and where the indicator figure came from
    Audit and ISO 50001 coverageAudits use 12 months of data starting no earlier than 6 December 2022 and no more than 24 months before the audit, and include site visits; the ISO 50001 route needs a certificate issued after 5 December 2023 and valid on 5 December 2027A map of consumption by route (audit or certificate), audit dates and site visits, certificate dates and scope
    Previous action plan and progress updatesPhase 4 reports review the phase 3 action plan, and the phase 3 progress update falls due on 5 December 2026Each measure with its planned date, whether it was carried out, the reason if not, and the estimated savings with the estimation method
    Group agreements and sign-offsWritten agreements that change who complies for a group go in the evidence pack, as does any lead assessor's notice that the assessment meets the scheme; a director signs off before the notification is sentThe agreements, the director's sign-off with name and date, and the lead assessor's register and notice
    Evidence packA regulator's compliance audit can ask for it; it holds the data, the ESOS report, the notification, the action plan and progress updatesOne export of the whole pack, readable without a licence, with earlier versions kept when something is corrected

    ESOS questions to put to a vendor

    Can the tool hold a 12-month reference period that includes 31 December 2026, the same for every energy carrier?
    Is every consumption figure tied to its invoice, meter reading or interval file, with estimates flagged and their method recorded?
    Can consumption be split into buildings, transport, industrial processes and other uses, with intensity ratios in kWh?
    Does it show which areas make up the 95% of significant consumption, and what was excluded?
    Can phase 3 action plan measures be marked done or not done, with reasons and savings estimates, for the 5 December 2026 update?
    Which MESOS fields can it fill from its own data, and can the vendor show a completed example?
    Can the same data serve an EU Article 11 audit for group companies in the EU, keeping the different thresholds and dates apart?
    Which of these are in the quoted licence, and which need a separate module or service?

    What we could not verify about ESOS (22 October 2026)

    We read GOV.UK's ESOS page, the Environment Agency's phase 4 compliance guidance and the 2026 amending regulations with their explanatory note, but not the full 2014 regulations as amended. We did not cover penalty amounts, the rules for organisations close to the size thresholds (section 1.6 of the guidance), or how the regulators in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland apply penalties. MESOS needs a sign-in, so we have not seen its forms, and PAS 51215 is a paid BSI standard that we describe only from GOV.UK's summary.

    Sources and evaluation limits

    11 sources, checked 22 Sep – 22 Oct 2026

    Management system structure: ISO 50001: energy management systems; certification boundary: ISO: certification — ISO does not issue certificates, both checked 22 September 2026. EU overview: European Commission: Energy Efficiency Directive, re-read 21 October 2026. Article 11, Article 36 and Annex VI: EUR-Lex: Directive (EU) 2023/1791, Articles 11 and 36 and Annex VI; the Commission’s interpretation of Article 11: EUR-Lex: Commission Recommendation (EU) 2024/2002 on Article 11 (guidance, not law); national measures notified: EUR-Lex: national transposition measures for Directive (EU) 2023/1791. All three read on EUR-Lex on 21 October 2026, together with EUR-Lex: Article 278 TFEU (actions do not suspend the contested act); the pending annulment case: InfoCuria: Case C-771/23, Poland v Parliament and Council (action to annul Directive (EU) 2023/1791), checked the same day. UK ESOS: GOV.UK: Energy savings opportunity scheme (ESOS), find out if you qualify (last updated 2 September 2026); Environment Agency: How to comply with ESOS phase 4 (published 30 July 2026); legislation.gov.uk: Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme (Amendment) Regulations 2026, SI 2026/701, all read on 22 October 2026.

    We publish no figure for typical energy savings from software. Reductions depend on your starting position, estate, tariffs and what you actually change, and a percentage quoted without those is not transferable. Establish your own baseline first; that is also the only way you will be able to prove a saving later.

    No product was tested hands-on and none is ranked. The listed products are broader EHS and sustainability platforms that document energy or utility capability, not energy specialists. Where the output you need is emissions rather than consumption, see carbon accounting — the conversion is a separate step with its own factor provenance question.

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    Frequently Asked Questions

    What does ISO 50001 require of software?
    Nothing directly — it sets requirements for an energy management system, built around energy performance indicators and an energy baseline with continual improvement against them. That structure is a good specification for software because it names the artefacts that must survive scrutiny. Note that ISO does not issue certificates; independent certification bodies do, so treat a product marketed as delivering ISO 50001 as a claim to examine.
    Why does normalisation matter so much?
    Because without it you cannot tell a saving from a warm winter or a slow quarter. Consumption falls for many reasons, most of which are not your efficiency project. Normalising against degree days, production volume or operating hours is what lets you attribute a change — and being able to show the model, rather than just its output, is what lets you defend the attribution to someone who is sceptical.
    What happens when we add a site or replace a meter?
    That is one of the best questions to ask in a demonstration. The baseline has to be restated, and the restatement should be deliberate, attributed and dated. If prior figures shift on their own, every historic saving becomes unverifiable and you will not be able to explain the movement — the same failure mode as an unlogged emission factor update in carbon accounting.
    Should energy sit in our EHS platform or a specialist tool?
    It depends on whether energy is a programme or an indicator for you. If you are running efficiency projects and need to defend savings, data granularity and normalisation matter and a specialist may be justified. If energy is one environmental indicator reported alongside air, water and waste, the broader platforms documented on this page may be sufficient. Decide which before comparing.
    Which EU companies need an energy audit or a certified energy management system?
    Under Article 11 of Directive (EU) 2023/1791 the test is energy use, not company size: the average of the previous three years' annual consumption, all energy carriers added together. Above 85 TJ (about 23,611 MWh) an enterprise needs an energy management system in place by 11 October 2027, certified by an independent body; the Commission notes that the Directive sets no separate date for the certificate. Above 10 TJ (about 2,778 MWh), an enterprise without such a system needs an energy audit, the first by 11 October 2026 and then at least every four years. The duties reach companies through national law, which sets the working deadlines and reporting route, so check your country's version. Directive read on EUR-Lex on 21 October 2026.
    Which UK organisations must comply with ESOS phase 4, and by when?
    An organisation qualifies if, on 31 December 2026, it is a large undertaking: 250 or more employees, or an annual turnover above £44 million together with a balance sheet total above £38 million. A corporate group qualifies if one UK member does. The phase 4 notification of compliance is due in MESOS by 5 December 2027, signed off by a board-level director. Organisations that qualified for phase 3 must also submit a progress update on their action plan by 5 December 2026. Since the 2026 amendments, Display Energy Certificates and Green Deal assessments no longer count as routes to compliance. Read on GOV.UK on 22 October 2026.
    How much will we save?
    We do not publish a figure, because it depends on your starting position, estate, tariffs and what you actually change, and a percentage quoted without those is not transferable to your situation. Treat any vendor figure as a claim to evidence. Establishing your own baseline is the necessary first step anyway — without it you cannot prove a saving even if you make one.