You are here: month 2 of 12
The reporting year didn't wait for you to sign up.
FY2026–27 started on 1 Jul 2026. Start recording this month and you have 2 months of bills to catch up and 10 to record as they arrive. Start at year end and all 12 are a reconstruction job, against a deadline somebody else set.
The dates between here and a finished report
- 1 Jul 2026 (passed)
The FY2026–27 reporting year opened
Every electricity bill, fuel-card statement and gas bill issued since this date belongs in this year's baseline, whether or not anyone is recording them yet.
- 18 Sep 2026
Climate Active consultation closes
Certified businesses can still put an operator's view into how the scheme winds down. After this date, the transition is decided about you, not with you.
- 1 Oct 2026
First quarter of the reporting year closes
Recording as you go, this is three entries per category, done. Reconstructing later, this is the quarter whose bills are hardest to find: the oldest ones.
- 31 Oct 2026
Climate Active annual reports due (FY reporters)
Certified businesses compile a full year of activity data for a credential that expires in 2027. The same data, entered into a system you keep, outlives the scheme.
- 30 Jun 2027
FY2026–27 closes, and Climate Active certification ends
Two endings on one date. A year recorded as it happened gets finalised in minutes; a year left unrecorded becomes a reconstruction project with a deadline.
- 1 Jul 2027
Report in hand; next year opens itself
The baseline report is ready for whoever asks, and the loop keeps running. This is the position every deadline above is easier from.
Why reconstruction costs more than recording
Nothing here is a scare tactic; each of these is just what happens to source records as they age.
Bills get harder to retrieve
Retailer and fuel-card portals typically keep a limited window of statements online. Inside the window, a bill is a download; outside it, it's a support ticket to your provider, per account, per site.
Context evaporates
"Was that the month we moved sites?" is easy to answer in the same quarter and guesswork a year later. Every apportioning decision made from memory weakens the assumptions log, which is the exact part a reviewer reads.
The person who knew leaves
The office manager who knows which fuel cards map to which vehicles is one resignation away from taking that mapping with them. Recorded monthly, the knowledge is in the system, not in someone's head.
The ask never arrives with time to backfill
Tenders give you weeks; customer questionnaires give you a deadline someone else chose. A baseline can't be reconstructed credibly inside a three-week tender window; the businesses that answer well are the ones who already had the number.
The flip side is just as true: recorded as it arrives, a monthly bill is one entry, about ten minutes a month, and the reminders chase the gaps for you. That's the entire difference between the two paths above.
Month 2 is the cheapest this year will ever be to start. Month 5 won't be worse than starting never, but it will be worse than today.
Start recording FY2026–27