Companies risk increasing their energy bills if they don’t submit their first Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC) report right first time, according to research by PricewaterhouseCoopers.

With potential fines for wrongly reporting carbon emissions at £40 per tonne, PwC analysts have suggested that businesses could add between 5 – 11% to their energy bills if they make mistakes in their report.

Late submission could also be punishable, with a £5,000 fine for each report, plus £500 a day every day the report is outstanding.

Henry Le Fleming, carbon reporting specialist at PwC, said: “The regulatory powers are wide, and while it’s not certain how strictly they will be enforced, with late reporting or incorrect data both attracting fines, the clock is ticking for companies to get this right over the coming weeks and not leave it until the last minute.”

Over 3,000 organisations, mostly with energy bills of more than £500,000,affected by thegovernmentschememust submit their first reports by the 31 July 2011.