Cut energy costs and improve your onsite business efficiency

One of the best ways to cut costs is to reduce the amount of energy your business uses.

Lower energy bills can free up money that you can invest in other areas of your business.

Energy efficiency measures can also help you reduce:

• other operational costs like maintenance
• the carbon footprint of your business

Find out about some of the most effective ways to reduce business energy costs and meet sustainability goals.

Monitor your energy usage and contract
Find out where and how your energy is used
Switch to low carbon electricity
Improve resource efficency
Reduce the carbon impact of process heat
Find finance and support

Monitor your energy usage and contract

Start saving money by monitoring your consumption and how much it costs according to your contract.

This is important if you don’t regularly monitor usage or haven’t looked at your energy deal in some time.

You can improve energy efficiency even if you do not directly control your facility’s energy management. Request energy consumption data from the facility owner or co-manufacturer to understand usage patterns.

Use data to make a business plan to present to stakeholders and ask for upgrades.

Install a smart meter

A smart meter sends live data to you and your energy supplier about your energy use. Smart meters can also send alerts when you reach certain usage thresholds.

You only pay for the energy you use, not estimated bills, to help you budget better.

A smart meter can help you:

check how much your consumption varies on a daily, weekly or monthly basis and if these variations make sense
check half-hourly consumption for a high overnight baseload to see if equipment can be switched off overnight to reduce out-of-hours demand
access a wider range of energy deals, including ‘smart tariffs’

You can get a smart meter installed at no cost to your business if you’re eligible.

Find out more from:

Sub-meter different areas, activities or equipment

Sub-meters measure the energy usage of a business activity, area or type of equipment.

You can use sub-meters to identify which parts of your business are the most costly and where you can save.

Find out more about how to monitor building performance using smart meters and management systems.

Make someone responsible for your energy management programme

Assign your energy management programme to a particular job role or working group, depending on the size of your business.

Assigning responsibility helps make energy savings a business priority and ensures long-term action despite staff turnover.

Find out more about how to get staff engaged in your carbon reduction plan.

Review your tariff

You might be on a ‘default’ energy tariff if you have a new business premises or your last contract ended without a renewal plan.

Your energy cost is often highest under this type of deal. Check if your supplier allows switching to a cheaper plan and if a notice period is required.

Should shop around for a new business energy contract if your current deal is expiring soon and you don’t plan to renew it. Help can include hiring an energy broker.

Check:

Find out where and how your energy is used

Identify the different activities and areas where your business uses energy. Find out if these end uses are operating efficiently.

Many energy savings measures need little or no financial cost. You can build substantial savings by spending time and attention on behavioural changes and smaller-scale investments.

Save on lighting

Lighting may be one of your issues. Replacing incandescent lightbulbs with LEDs can usually save over 75%, depending on the efficiency of your existing system.

Automated lighting systems have higher upfront costs but can pay back quickly.

Options for these systems include:

occupancy sensors for internal lighting
night time sensors for external lighting
‘daylight harvesting’ sensors that dim lights when sunlight is present

Start by changing traditional light switches and fixtures to motion sensor models if an entire workplace system is too expensive.

Check:

Review your heating, ventilation and cooling systems

Your business may have a problem with excessive heating, ventilation, air conditioning (HVAC) use.

Changing the way you control energy use can help reduce energy bills. Most require changing habits and cost less than upgrading other parts of your home’s energy performance.

For example, you can lower your monthly heating bill up to 8% for every 1°C you reduce the average temperature, according to a GOV.UK energy saving guide.

Consider installing a Building Management System (BMS), or optimising your current system, to ensure the run times of main building services closely match the building occupancy. Review temperature set points, ensure systems aren’t conflicting, for example, heating is not ‘on’ at the same time as cooling.

Set your thermostat to create a gap between one switching off and the other coming on to prevent competition between your heating and cooling systems. This gap where no heating and cooling is needed is called a ‘dead band’. For example you could set your heating to shut off at 20°C and cooling to come on at 24°C.

You can use a smart thermostat to save up to 10% of your heating costs. Smart thermostats switch on heating systems according to temperature rather than the time.

Check:

more ways to save on Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning (HVAC) costs
Carbon Trust’s Heating and Ventilation guide for more help with temperatures for your business type and activity levels

Review your use of office equipment and office space

Review end uses such as computers, printers, desk lamps, and other office equipment.

Do the following with your electrical equipment to help you waste less energy:

don’t leave electrical appliances plugged in or on standby: the red dot shows power consumption, called standby or phantom power, that can cost £1 a year for every Watt of power used
set office equipment, such as printers, to automatically shut down when not in use
optimise the brightness of monitors
use the eco setting on all appliances

Switch to low carbon electricity

Install renewable energy technology

Generating your own energy can reduce your reliance on the national grid and may reduce energy bills in the long term.

The development of renewable energy sources, such as wind, solar, and hydrogen, has the potential to drive both job creation and decarbonisation efforts.

Installing solar panels may also provide your business with an additional revenue stream while reducing energy costs. With the Smart Export Guarantee (SEG), you can sell any surplus electricity you generate back to the grid, earning payments for the energy you export.

You can also consider harnessing energy with a wind turbine to generate clean, renewable power onsite and decrease your carbon footprint.

Check if you qualify for a business rate exemption if you install renewable measures on your site.

Get a heat pump or biomass boiler

You may be eligible for a grant to cover the upfront cost of getting a heat pump or a biomass boiler through the government’s Boiler Upgrade Scheme. This grant significantly reduces your initial expenses.

Learn more about how to get an air or ground source heat pump.

Switch to a ‘green’ energy tariff

If you can’t generate your own renewable energy, consider switching to a ‘green’ tariff.

Switching from a default mains electricity supply to a ‘green tariff’ can further reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.

Find out more about how to find a ‘green’ supplier.

Improve resource efficiency

Improve refrigeration efficiency

With fridges and freezers, no and low-cost measures include:

maintaining correct temperatures and avoid over-cooling
making sure fridges and freezers are no more than 75% full
repairing or replacing door seals and PVC strip curtains
relocating refrigeration units away from heat sources and draughts
keeping condensers and evaporators clean and frost-free

Find out more about how to improve process cooling and refrigeration.

Replace equipment with more efficient models

Check the nameplate efficiency of your current model and consider replacing equipment:

that is over 15 years old
with the models using the UK or European A–G efficiency label with scale from A (most efficient) to G (least efficient)

Use the eco setting if your equipment has this option.

Use the Bathroom Manufacturers Association’s voluntary labelling scheme to help you when you buy bathroom products.

Check GOV.UK’s Energy Technology List for over 8,000 energy efficient products that can save your business energy and money.

Find out more about energy efficiency labels.

Do regular operations and maintenance checks

Keeping your building equipment and systems in good working order helps reduce:

the risk of equipment failure
unscheduled down time
waste from early replacement

You may be able to do easier tasks like cleaning or replacing filters. Call a technician for tasks such as tune ups, calibration and programming coordination between different equipment and systems.

Get more detailed advice on operation and maintenance checks from Energy Star.

Improve insulation

Investing in better insulation can have a quick payback, depending on the condition of your building and what type of measures are needed.

Low intervention fixes include:

weatherstripping: sealing doors and windows to reduce air leaks can significantly reduce your heating and cooling bills
insulating your water tank, radiators and exposed pipes

Find out more about how to improve insulation to increase energy efficiency.

Reduce waste

Plan ahead to prevent waste from being taken to landfill sites. Landfill waste takes longer to break down and creates more emissions.

Set up a waste management system to:

conduct a waste audit to identify the types and amounts of waste generated by the business to show opportunities for reduction
establish a system for monitoring and tracking waste generation
regularly review and make adjustments to waste reduction strategies

Train your employees on your recycling plan. Make sure they know how to:

separate and monitor waste where waste is unavoidable
plan and order carefully to avoid overstocking and wastage

Check your waste-related obligations and how to manage your waste.

Save water

You can reduce your carbon footprint by saving water. By using less water, you’re helping to lower greenhouse gas emissions from:

your own energy usage heating water and running water using appliances
the energy needed to abstract, treat and pump water to you
the energy needed to take away and treat your wastewater

Find out more about how to save water and reduce your carbon footprint, including:

fixing leaks
installing water-efficient appliances
using harvested rainwater or greywater

Reduce the carbon impact of process heat

Electric motor systems and industrial process heating are a major contributor to energy costs and carbon emissions.

Take steps to reduce carbon emissions from process heat by:

using motors of correct size
ensure your air compressors and electric motors run as efficiently as possible
installing variable speed drives to help motors run at an optimal speed
capturing waste heat from ovens, refrigeration units, and production processes for reuse

Find out more about how to cut costs and emissions in motor systems and process heating.

Find finance and support

Use our finance and support page to find green business grant programmes. Many help with improving energy efficiency and offer matching investments or grants.

Use Charis to find business grants that help with high energy costs.

Get a green loan

You might be able to get a green loan to pay for sustainable business activities such as investment in:

renewable energy
green buildings
building upgrades

You might need a retrofit plan and proof of assets such as owned property to apply for a green loan.

Check British Business Bank’s advice on green loans for smaller businesses.

Find energy management support

Implementing ISO 50001:2018 as an energy management standard, can significantly improve energy efficiency and demonstrate a commitment to sustainable practices.

Check BSI’s guidance, the UK’s National Standards Body, for a step-by-step process to help you implement an energy management system (EnMS).

Get Devolved Nations advice and support from: