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Five Ways Businesses Can Lower Their Electricity Costs

Whilst there have been numerous reports on how households can save money on their electricity and energy bills, not everyone has given equal consideration to businesses. Businesses will typically use higher volumes of energy than households, meaning that they can stand to benefit from larger reduction is they follow the appropriate steps.

Here are five ways businesses can lower their electricity costs:

1. Moderate Use

The first way for businesses to lower the cost of the electricity is to moderate the use of it. Most business electricity tariffs will vary depending on consumption levels and therefore moderating use can help companies to lower their consumption and therefore their bills.

One of the easiest ways to moderate use is by using the correct meters. Half-hourly meters are a mandatory requirement of all large businesses, according to Business Electricity Prices.org.uk. These will monitor the energy consumption of a business periodically throughout the day, helping companies to establish when their peak consumption occurs.

Smart meters are another option for electricity monitoring, proving a similar service to that of half-hourly meters to smaller businesses. Business Electricity Prices.org.uk explained how these meters can help businesses save money by ensuring that their bills are 100% - removing the need for estimated monthly bills.

2. Combine Services

Combining your supply of commercial electricity with other energy services can also help to reduce bills. Business Link claims that taking advantage of the Combined Heat and Power schemes offered as part of the Reduced Carbon Emissions campaign could reduce bills by as much as 30% - helping businesses to make a great deal of savings on their energy. According to British Gas, their dual-fuel service could see businesses experience a £250 reduction in energy bills.

3. Train Staff

This may seem like a strange suggestion, but in order to conserve energy you need to make sure that all of your staff are following set procedures. This means that adequate training needs to be given to ensure that employees are aware of how they can save money. Turning lights off when not needed, avoiding the use of standby functions and other procedures can all help lower energy consumption levels but rely on sufficient training.

4. Switch Tariff and/or Provider

All business electricity suppliers will offer a number of different tariffs to their customers. Switching to a new tariff or provider could see businesses lower their prices significantly, with British Gas British claiming that their service could currently reduce bills by as much as 10%.

5. Improve Efficiency

Using more efficient products in your workplace will also help to conserve energy and save money. Businesses should establish how many devices they need and ensure that only those which are needed are powered at one time. Improving the heat retention of businesses could also help to make energy consumption levels and costs lower, with as much as 20% of lost heat caused by faulty ventilation and poor insulation.