29 July 2026
An estates manager, facilities lead or energy and sustainability manager with a decarbonisation project somewhere on next year's agenda has a genuine opportunity right now. For many organisations, summer offers a rare chance to step back from day-to-day operational pressure and focus on longer-term projects, well before any contractor or funding body gets involved.
Heat pump, solar and battery works usually happen later in the year, often during a shutdown period, a gap between terms, or another planned access window. The planning done over summer is what determines how ready a project is when that later window arrives.
Winter and early spring are when energy and estates teams are busiest reacting: heating demand peaks, breakdowns happen more often, and budget renewals for the next financial year landing in the same window.
Summer brings a genuine drop in that reactive load, since heating systems aren't under the same strain and the seasonal fault calls that eat into a team's time slow down.
This is exactly what makes room for the work a decarbonisation project needs before it goes anywhere near procurement: pulling consumption data together from across multiple meters and systems, checking it against actual billing, and building a business case with numbers that will survive scrutiny months later when funding decisions get made.
Establishing a baseline
Sizing a heat pump, scoping a solar install, or building a funding case all depend on knowing current consumption properly. Carrying out an energy audit is the practical starting point, giving a clear read on where consumption sits, where data gaps exist and where a project's scope needs testing before it goes any further. If data is patchy or spread across systems that don't talk to each other, sorting that out now avoids it becoming a blocker later.
Building the business case
Whoever holds the budget will want to see realistic costs, a credible payback or carbon case, and a clear answer to why this project, this year. Building that case takes far longer when it's competing with deadline pressure, so summer is the better time to do it.
Securing funding
Public sector organisations applying through the Public Sector Decarbonisation Scheme (you can find out more about how the scheme works here) need a business case built and an application in well ahead of any funding round closing. Organisations using other grant or finance routes face a similar sequence.
Projects involving new on-site generation carry a separate set of lead times. A standard Distribution Network Operator connection assessment can take 45 working days on its own, before any network reinforcement works are even identified. Building that timeline into the plan early avoids it becoming a surprise later or causing unexpected delays.
Preparing for procurement
Procurement preparation is often overlooked until a project is ready to go to market. Summer gives teams the chance to define requirements, identify potential suppliers, and understand the available procurement routes before delivery deadlines start dictating decisions instead.
A project without a baseline or business case ready when its delivery window opens usually misses that opportunity, since there's no time left to build one once contractors need booking. The project gets pushed into the next busy period, where it competes with everything else on the agenda.
Capital allocated against this year's budget either gets reassigned or sits unspent, which makes the case harder to defend next time round. And every year a project slips is a year closer to deadlines that aren't moving, including the proposed tightening of Minimum Energy Efficiency Standards to EPC B by 2030 for commercial landlords, and the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme and Streamlined Energy and Carbon Reporting cycles that come round every year regardless of where a project stands.
Early-stage planning depends on reliable consumption data, a realistic view of project timelines, and procurement that's properly scoped before it goes to market. Smart meters and automated meter reading capture that consumption data, and the My SEFE Energy portal makes it visible and usable, turning early planning into something that is built not on estimates but real numbers. Those are areas where the right support can move a project from an idea on a list to something genuinely fundable.
Usage data and reporting tools help establish the baseline a business case depends on, so the numbers hold up under scrutiny later. Flexible procurement models can be timed around when a project actually needs to go to market, rather than a generic renewal date. And our decarbonisation offering, including renewable certificates and carbon credits, gives organisations options to support a project once the larger interventions are underway.
We also work alongside customers planning funded projects, helping them understand how scheme timelines and procurement decisions fit together.
If your organisation's next access window falls later this year, the groundwork for it needs to happen now, while summer still offers the space to do it properly. Waiting until that point gets closer means doing the same work later, under more pressure, with less room to get it right.
To learn more about the solutions we offer, download our Decarbonisation Brochure below.