# How to Get an Energy Audit for an MSME in India

Canonical: https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/energy-audit-for-msme-india

Published 2026-10-13.

An energy audit is the cheapest way for a factory to find out where its money is burning. It is also, increasingly, a document banks and government schemes require before they fund an efficiency project. Yet many owners have never had one, or had one that produced a thick report nobody acted on.

This article explains the types of audit, who can carry one out, what support exists to pay for it, and how to make sure the report is useful.

## Three kinds of audit

- **Walk-through audit.** A short visit, often a day, that looks at the main energy users and lists obvious savings: leaks, idle running, poor power factor. Useful as a first screen.
- **Detailed energy audit.** Measurements over several days with instruments on furnaces, boilers, compressors, pumps and motors, and a full energy balance. It quantifies each saving and its payback.
- **Investment-grade energy audit (IGEA).** A detailed audit written for a lender: costed measures, technical specifications and a monitoring plan, packaged as a detailed project report. This is what schemes like ADEETIE require.

## Who can do it

The Bureau of Energy Efficiency certifies energy auditors through a national exam and accredits a smaller group with more experience. Schemes usually specify which they accept: ADEETIE uses BEE-empanelled auditors for its investment-grade audits, and state schemes often require a BEE-certified auditor.

## Who pays

- **ADEETIE (central):** for MSMEs in its 60 notified clusters, BEE reimburses the auditor up to ₹1 lakh per investment-grade audit and project report, once a lender approves the project. See [the ADEETIE scheme explained](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/adeetie-scheme).
- **State schemes:** several states reimburse part of the audit cost. West Bengal's scheme reimburses 50 percent of the audit cost for micro and small enterprises after the recommendations are implemented. Haryana has run energy audit schemes requiring a BEE-certified auditor; its 2021 scheme covered audits and equipment bought up to 31 December 2025, so check whether it has been renewed.
- **The owner:** where no scheme applies, the audit is a business cost that a single implemented measure often repays.

Reimbursement is almost always paid after something else happens, a loan approval or the implementation, so plan cash flow accordingly.

## How to get a report you will use

1. **Hand the auditor your baseline.** Twelve months of electricity bills and fuel invoices, with monthly production. Without it, the auditor measures one week and guesses the year.
2. **Ask for savings in units, not just rupees.** kWh, litres and kilograms per tonne of product survive tariff changes.
3. **Insist on a monitoring plan** for each measure, so you can show the saving later to a lender or a scheme.
4. **Rank by payback and by what you can finance.** The best report is a short list you can act on this year.

Senseible builds the baseline from the bills and invoices you already have: monthly kWh, fuel and emissions, each linked to its source document, ready to hand to an auditor. For the bill itself, see [how to calculate a carbon footprint from electricity bills](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/how-to-calculate-carbon-footprint-electricity-bills).

Check the current scheme rules in your state and cluster before you commission an audit.

## Related guides

- [ADEETIE scheme eligibility and application](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/adeetie-scheme)
- [Scope 1 emissions for manufacturers in India](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/manufacturing-scope-1-emissions-india)
- [Scope 2 emissions for manufacturers in India](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/manufacturing-scope-2-emissions-india)
- [Scope 3 emissions for manufacturers in India](https://senseible.earth/climate-intelligence/manufacturing-scope-3-emissions-india)