Tom Melhuish 11 min read

Energy saving tips | Top tips to reduce your energy bill

Wholesale energy prices are volatile at the best of times and even more so in times of conflict. The best action to manage price fluctuations is to reduce your business energy consumption, lowering your exposure to increasing rates by saving on your energy bills.

This guide looks at the benefits of reducing your consumption and other energy saving tips to reduce your business energy bills.

Why is it important to reduce your energy consumption?

There are two key reasons for your business to reduce energy consumption. One is to save money. Energy is increasingly expensive and one of the most significant business overheads, so keeping your energy costs low is imperative.

The second reason for reducing your energy consumption is to reduce your impact on the environment. Electricity and gas supplies in the UK continue to be produced by burning fossil fuels that directly emit carbon dioxide. Businesses are increasingly looking for ways to improve environmental practices.

Here’s a breakdown of some short term and long term ideas on how to save money on your gas and electric bills.

How to save money on electricity and gas | Ultimate energy saving tips

Here are our top tips on how to save on your business energy bills; whether it’s comparing business gas prices or implementing renewable energy strategies, there are plenty of short and long term solutions to combat rising energy costs.

Compare energy tariffs.

One of the easiest ways to reduce your annual energy bill is simply comparing business energy rates. The business energy market is highly competitive. Comparing business energy tariffs allows you to secure the best deal.

As long as you have 12 months or less on your energy contract, you can compare and secure competitive rates for the future.

Ensuring you pay the best possible business gas prices and electricity rates will help to reduce your annual business energy bills significantly.

Move to a renewable source of energy

Install solar panels. Yes, it sounds cumbersome, but solar technology has come a long way in the last ten years. With current energy prices, you will recoup the initial investment in solar panels within the first four years of installation. Solar energy is a brilliant way to reduce your overall electricity and gas bills.

Remember, solar panels last up to 30 years on average. These are a long-term solution that helps you to reduce energy costs, and a great energy saving tip.

Read our expert guides on renewable energy and help your business improve its impact on the environment and save money doing so.

Monitor your consumption

Monitoring your energy consumption can help you cut costs in two ways. Firstly, you’ll have a smart meter fitted, which will ensure you only pay for what you use rather than estimated bills.

And two, if there are any inefficiencies in energy usage or spikes, you’ll be able to resolve these quickly, unlike if you submit a meter reading once a quarter. You can resolve the issue swiftly and save your business a lot of money in the long run.

Here’s our full article on business energy monitors.

Use eco mode

Yes, it can be much slower, but it saves a considerable amount of money.

For example, if you have a dishwasher on your business premises and a lot of staff, one dishwasher may be used three times a day. Using the eco mode on your dishwasher saves 30% on energy usage every time you use it.

If you use it three times a day, consumption adds up over a month, so eco mode becomes an important part of reducing your bills.

Go paperless!

Printers eat money. They cost a lot just for the ink and paper and use a lot of energy. We have a digital solution for everything today, so why do you need a printer?

If you are a printing factory, then it’s necessary to have one, and you can install smart timers and set up other functionality to reduce energy usage. But for 90% of businesses, everything can be signed and managed digitally. So go paperless; you’ll save money on your energy bills.

Cut your hot water usage

Hot water used in your business is usually heated with a traditional gas boiler. It costs money to heat water and adds to your carbon footprint.

To combat this, you can reduce the hot water tap temperature in the kitchen, bathrooms, or shower facilities. Reducing the temperature will use less energy to heat the water as it’s a much lower temperature for your heating to achieve.

Did you know? You can compare business water suppliers and save thousands on business water bills?

Use a heat pump!

Swap your gas boiler for a heat pump. A heat pump is a system that extracts heat from the air or ground outside your property to heat your interior efficiently.

A heat pump will be 100% renewable if your electricity is created via a renewable source implemented in your business premises.

Heat pumps are between 3 and 4 times more efficient than a conventional boiler system, helping you save thousands on your energy bills.

Install timers

Smart times allow you to set time limits for lighting and appliances. It’s a perfect way to improve energy efficiency. There’s no point having multiple computers, printers and appliances on standby or left on while not in use.

Setting smart timers will turn the equipment off in off-peak hours, reducing energy usage and significantly improving gas and electricity bills.

Do you have kitchen facilities?

These three tips will help you improve the energy efficiency of your fridges:

Clean the coils on your fridges. Dirty coils can slowly build up and cause your fridge to operate less efficiently.
Never put hot food in the fridge. Why? The fridge takes extra energy to cool back down to the correct temperature. Putting piping hot food into the fridge will cause the internal temperature to rise, so the fridge must fight to get back to the correct temperature.
Check the temperature. The ideal temperature for a fridge is around 4˚C. Make sure it’s set to this temperature and nothing lower; the lower the temperature, the higher the energy consumption.

Educate your staff

Simply educating your staff on energy best practices will significantly reduce energy consumption. There are plenty of articles/explainer videos that can help staff understand their responsibilities in and around the workplace.

For example, switching off computers when it’s time to leave, turning lights off, not filling the kettle too high. These are basic energy-saving tips, but they all help do their part to reduce consumption.

LED lightbulbs

Switch to LED lightbulbs and reduce your energy consumption by 20-30% compared to standard lighting. If you have a big warehouse or large office space, maybe look at large glass windows, so the need for artificial light is minimised.

Energy audits and how they help

An energy audit essentially reviews how your business currently consumes energy. The audit evaluates your current energy usage and offers advice on improving efficiency and reducing energy usage.

You can discuss an audit with your business energy supplier, as many of them offer free energy audits in one of the three types.

What are the three types of energy audits?

Energy audits can be conducted in three ways, these are:

On-site energy audit. Your current business energy supplier or third-party energy audit specialist will conduct an on-site energy audit. The auditor will physically inspect all the devices that consume electricity or gas on your premises.
Internal audit. An internal audit is where a staff member is given a checklist to run through, directing them to review common areas of inefficient energy use. The internal energy audit isn’t as in-depth as it would be from an external company.
Phone-based audit. A phone-based audit is where the auditor will ask you a range of questions and, from the answers provided, will create a custom energy plan for you to follow. The plan includes criteria of energy-saving ideas and the cost they entail.

Why should my business consider an energy audit?

Here are three key reasons why you should conduct an energy audit:

It helps to combat price increases as your business will use less energy.
It promotes sustainability through the organisation.
It saves money.

Contact one of our energy experts here to discuss any of the above points or request an energy audit today.

We hope this article on energy-saving tips was of use to you, and you can use this to improve your energy consumption. At AquaSwitch, we look to help businesses save money on their business energy bills through our business utilities comparison service.

Save on business electricity prices and business gas rates.

Read our guide for more general business money-saving advice.