How Businesses Can Save on the Energy Costs

Running a business is expensive and it’s easy for outgoings to soon stack up. From the costs of renting or owning your premises to paying staff, buying equipment and shipping and transportation, there’s a lot to budget for month in, month out. 

However, one area where you can reduce your costs without it impacting your business in a negative way is through your utility costs. Gas and electricity can be incredibly expensive, but by making a few changes, you could see a significant drop in your expenses each month. Here are a few useful tips to help your business save on energy costs. 

Switch Off Electricals:

All businesses require electrical devices and appliances to work, from computers and printers to machinery. But leaving these items on all day and night can increase your bills unnecessarily. If you work in a building with numerous computers, for example, having all of these on stand-by every night could add a substantial figure to your energy bills each year. But making one simple rule to switch off items when they’re not in use could soon add up to a hefty saving and help to reduce the carbon footprint of your business too. 

There was once the argument that the power needed to get a computer up and running was more than leaving it in sleep mode, but that’s a myth so if you use a lot of electrical devices in your business, make sure they’re off when you go home. 

Check Your Suppliers:

You might have been with your utility suppliers for years and not given it a second thought. But have you considered that maybe they might not be the most affordable on the market? There are numerous electricity suppliers on the market so working with a commercial broker to find the best deal for your needs could save you a lot of money.

So often, we stick with what we know, without taking the time to see if there’s a better alternative. But this lack of research could be costing your business a lot of money each year, so it’s time well-spent to see if you can get your bills down simply by going with a different supplier. 

Install Light Sensors:

On the subject of switching off, lights are a common area of a business that can be left on for hours at a time without anyone realising. You or a member of staff might switch them on when you first arrive in the morning and not give them a second thought until you go home, even though they’re not needed during the day. 

Installing light sensors removes the risk of this happening, ensuring that the lights are only on when someone is in the room and needs visibility. Even if you only install these in meeting or conference rooms, it can be a big saving to your overall energy usage, ensuring you’re not wasting electricity unnecessarily. And where you do have regular lights in place, choose energy-saving bulbs to reduce your energy usage even more. The savings you can make from such an easy swap can be considerable. 

Get A Smart Metre:

Smart meters enable you to clearly see how much gas and electricity your business is using, which can be an incentive in itself to cut back. Most suppliers won’t charge for the installation of a smart meter as the set-up costs are usually swallowed by the tariffs, but you will be able to save money through accurate estimates and it also saves you time from having to submit meter readings as it’s all done for you. Being able to review your usage is a great way to keep an eye on your utilities in real-time and make changes accordingly. 

Final Thoughts:

Utilities are an expense that no business can avoid entirely, but there are ways to bring the costs down and save your company some money to put towards more important areas of the business, from hiring an extra team member to rolling out a new product. There are additional benefits to cutting your energy usage too, from reducing your carbon footprint and making your business more sustainable to automating annoying tasks. 

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