Reducing your electricity costs for your business shouldn’t affect how much electricity you use.
This means that you need to find a way to keep the required amount of electricity in use or what is necessary while paying less.
To spend less on business electricity, you can visit an online energy comparison website to find utility provider prices and rates that are on offer against your current energy supplier rates.
Let’s discuss the ways you can drastically reduce your business electricity costs.
Strategies to Reduce Business Electricity Costs
Here are the top eight strategies that can help you reduce your electricity usage costs.
1. Do an Energy Audit.
This is one of the first things your company needs to do to establish how much electricity you are using and what the average cost of this energy amount is.
You can either do the audit yourself, ask an employee or hire an energy auditor to come out and assess your business’s energy consumption.
If you hire an energy auditor, he/she will also provide you with tips and advice on where your business can cut usage and how you can achieve your goal of reducing the costs to your business.
2. Invest in Energy-Efficient Appliances
Throwing out old electrical appliances and getting new modern energy-efficient ones will help save on the energy bill.
Modern appliances are designed to save energy while in use, whereas older appliances do not have this feature. You can also save more by teaching your employees to become more energy efficient when using appliances and devices at work.
Remind them not to leave devices such as computers and laptops on standby or sleep mode and to remove any appliance from the wall socket instead of leaving it plugged in while off.
Another small tip to add to saving electricity is that people tend to overfill the kettle when they only need enough water for 1 cup. This wastes energy as the same water gets reboiled constantly and cools with more water being added to the kettle each time.
3. Switch to Energy-Efficient Lighting Systems
Some buildings still have old traditional light bulbs and fixtures that take energy to heat up before they are bright enough to be used properly.
Switching to alternatives such as LED lightbulbs which are designed to be energy-saving, will help reduce electricity costs greatly.
Encouraging staff and employees to switch off lights that are not needed can also make a big difference. Motion sensors and the use of natural lighting can also make a difference in how much energy is used.
4. Maintenance of Thermostat and Air Conditioner
Another reason your business electricity bill is high is the use of the thermostat and the air conditioner during office hours.
Set the thermostat and the air conditioner to one setting; the higher they are set, the more electricity they need to work.
At the end of the day, ensure they are turned off and remind staff/employees not to change any settings, leading to more energy being used.
Also, ensure that all windows and doors are closed when these appliances are switched on so that the air doesn’t escape leading to a waste of electricity.
To avoid needing thermostats, you can ensure that all vents and gaps that might cause the office space to be colder than usual are insulated properly.
These appliances must be checked regularly and maintained to avoid any broken appliances. If the appliance doesn’t function as it should, it will use extra energy.
5. Install Energy Monitoring Software and Devices
Installing a smart energy meter and monitoring software will help you track your business energy usage.
This way, you can know which processes or methods within the business are running up the bill and find ways to manage the amount of electricity used and how you can make changes to save on energy.
If you install these energy monitoring software devices, you can set alarms to highlight any areas of the business with energy inefficiency.
Another bonus to using these monitoring software is that they have extra features such as security and data automation.
6. Switch Your Energy Supplier
This is one of the options that can help reduce the cost of your energy bill. Looking for cheaper utility providers or alternative energy sources can make a difference in your expenses.
If you find an energy provider with better business rates and can meet your electricity needs, then switching to an energy supplier can reduce your energy costs.
Some utility providers offer dual deals, meaning that if you are using gas and energy, you can get them from one supplier at a much more affordable price.
7. Go Digital
Changing from paper to digital can be an adjustment, especially if your business requires documents to be printed and paper copies to be kept on hand.
However, to save on energy costs, going digital is a must. This way, you do not have to pay for printing costs such as paper, toner, ink and maintenance of the machines. There is also no need for extra storage space within the office to keep all the admin safe.
Technology and cloud storage can give staff easy access to documents at their fingertips, and documents can be electronically signed and copies emailed to the people requiring them.
8. Involve Employees in Saving Energy
Having your employees be involved in this energy-saving program will bring down the energy bill faster and also show them the importance of not only being energy efficient at work but that they can also start doing this at their homes to cut on personal costs.
To encourage them to keep saving energy, a reward program or acknowledgement by the rest of the staff will boost morale and get other employees on board as well.
Conclusion
It will cost more to keep your business open if your energy bill is high.
Using the above-mentioned strategies, such as doing an energy audit, investing in energy-efficient appliances and lighting systems, maintaining the HVAC system, installing energy monitoring software, switching your energy supplier, going digital and involving employees in saving energy can drastically save your business money.
These strategies have been tried and tested and always bring positive results. To save on your energy bills, be sure to incorporate these methods today.
