An Adaptive Energy Management Maturity Model for SMEs: Dynamic Assessment and Action-Oriented Improvement Planning

Although small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) play a key role in decarbonization, structural and organizational constraints often hinder the adoption of structured energy management practices, while existing maturity models are generally static, resource-intensive, or insufficiently tailored to SME characteristics. This paper aims to address this gap by proposing a dynamic energy management maturity model specifically designed for SMEs, integrating an adaptive assessment mechanism with an action-oriented improvement pathway. The model is structured around six maturity dimensions and four progressive maturity levels, and it employs a dynamic questionnaire that adapts to the organizational characteristics and maturity level of the assessed enterprise. The assessment outcomes are translated into a tailored action plan aimed at supporting incremental and feasible improvements. The model was applied in an exploratory pilot involving five SMEs to assess its applicability and practical usefulness. The resulting global maturity indices ranged from 0.27 to 1.97 on the 0–4 scale, distinguishing organizations at different stages of energy management development, while the dimension-level indicators highlighted different maturity profiles and improvement priorities across the participating organizations. For two organizations, model outputs were compared with prior independent qualitative assessments and showed qualitative agreement. Given the small and purposively selected sample, these findings are interpreted as preliminary evidence of feasibility and applicability rather than as empirical validation of the model. Following its development, the model was implemented in an operational web-based environment to support future larger-scale applications and validation.