ISO 50001 cost: what certification really costs

The certificate is only one line in the budget. On the classic route you pay a certification body for audit days, perhaps a consultant for the set-up, and your own people for the time they spend on the energy review and the documentation.

Certification bodies price by audit days. The number of days depends on company size, the number of sites and how complex your energy use is. That is why no reliable price list exists, and every figure on this page for the classic route is an indicative range, not a quote.

Certification audits

Fees of the certification body for the initial audit, plus travel and report.

Consulting

Optional external help with the energy review, the baseline and the documentation.

Internal effort

Working hours of the person who runs energy management in your company.

Metering

Sub-meters or data loggers, if you cannot yet measure your main consumers separately.

Recurring costs

Yearly surveillance audits and a recertification audit at the end of the cycle.

• Guide on certification cost

For a small or medium business with one site, the initial audit is indicatively a few thousand francs. With several sites, high energy consumption or complex processes, it can move well beyond ten thousand. The audit is usually done in two stages on site, and you pay for the auditor's time and travel.

The table puts the classic route next to Zertify. Ranges for the classic route are indicative and vary by provider.

• Certification without an on-site audit

Consultants usually bill by the day. Indicatively, a small company needs a few days to build the energy review and the documentation, a larger one considerably more. Many SMEs skip consulting and do the work themselves, because the standard is readable once you know the structure.

Internal effort is the item most budgets forget. Someone has to collect consumption data, name the big consumers and keep the records current. The work is the same whichever route you take, because the requirements of ISO 50001 do not change with the way you are certified.

1. 01

   Establish the energy baseline

   Collect electricity, gas, heating oil and fuel data for a defined period, so later savings can be measured against it.

2. 02

   Identify significant energy uses

   Find the machines, buildings and processes that account for most of your consumption.

3. 03

   Define energy performance indicators

   Choose figures such as kWh per unit produced or per square metre, and track them.

4. 04

   Set objectives and action plans

   Write down what you will improve, who is responsible and by when.

5. 05

   Monitor and improve

   Review the figures regularly and adjust the plans when results fall short.

On the classic route the first audit is not the whole bill. Certification bodies normally return every year for a surveillance audit and run a full recertification audit when the three-year cycle ends. Each visit again means audit days, travel and a report.

Budget the full cycle, not only the first invoice. An initial audit that looks affordable becomes a larger sum once two surveillance audits and the recertification are added, plus the hours your team spends preparing for each visit.

• Certification cost in detail

You answer 32 yes/no questions online. Thirteen of them are mandatory requirements of the standard and must all be answered yes. Of the other 19, at least 13 must be yes. The assessment is free and needs no registration. Only when you pass do you pay: CHF 749 (€749) in the first year, then CHF 499 (€499) per year including the yearly online re-audit. The certificate is valid for 3 years.

The certificate is issued by G6 Agency AG under licence from SICE, the Swiss Institute of Certification and Education. SICE reviews every assessment before the certificate is issued. There is no on-site audit. Every certificate can be checked publicly by its number or the QR code on the PDF, which is what a purchasing department or a customer auditor will do.

Billing is an automatic yearly subscription. You cancel in your customer account at any time, effective at the end of the current year, and the certificate then ends with the paid year. Holding two standards earns 20% off, three or more 30%, also on the yearly fee. Swiss and Liechtenstein customers pay 8.1% VAT, which is already in the prices. You do not need an account to buy.

• ISO 50001 at Zertify
• Pricing
• Start the free self-assessment

If a tender or a key customer explicitly asks for an on-site audit by a certification body, the classic route is the one to budget for. In that case ask two or three providers for offers based on your energy use and number of sites.

If the certificate is meant to answer a supplier questionnaire, support a quote or document your energy management to a customer audit, compare what each route delivers for the money. The guide on certification routes sets them side by side.

• Compare the certification routes
• ISO for small and medium businesses