NEWS
5 tips for businesses to reduce their energy bills
Last week marked Big Energy Saving Week, ran by Citizen’s Advice to show the different ways people can reduce their energy bills and consumption. Here’s our top five tips for businesses looking to reduce their energy consumption, and in turn, reduce their energy bills.
1. Carry out an energy audit of your business
The best place to start when looking to reduce your energy consumption is to complete a full energy audit of your business or site. This can help you find out exactly where you need to make changes to cut down on consumption and costs. When you choose to manage your energy through Flame Energy, we’ll work with our network of approved suppliers to conduct a site survey. This will identify any areas that your business or site can improve on. Once you’ve done this, we can help you to begin implementing the changes you need to reduce both your consumption and your bills.
2. Make sure you’re on the best tariff
Another way to reduce your bill is to make sure you’re on the best tariff for your business. If you’re on a fixed rate tariff, your unit price for gas and electricity will not change at any point in your contract. These can offer you security in knowing your unit price won’t change and can often be cheaper, but they often leave you tied into a contract for a while and have large fines if you want to leave early. On a variable tariff, your unit price can vary depending on your supplier. These offer more flexibility and are easier to exit, but you are vulnerable to price changes.
If you don’t renegotiate your contracts once they’ve ended or your business moves into new premises, you may be placed on a deemed or out of contract tariff. These are the most expensive tariffs on the market, with some being 80% more expensive than the average energy contract. Therefore, it’s crucial that you’re checking your tariffs to ensure you’re not overpaying.
3. Check if you’re eligible for schemes
There are lots of different schemes you can take advantage of if you’re trying to reduce your energy consumption and bills. Eligibility criteria varies depending on suppliers so it’s worth checking if you’re eligible for any relief. Some suppliers are offering discounts or vouchers to customers who are making changes to reduce their energy consumption or switch to more renewable energy sources so you may be eligible for those. You may also be eligible for exemptions from certain taxes depending on the nature of your businesses. There’s also the Energy Bill Relief Scheme from the government. However, this is due to change in April this year. Our experts have extensive industry knowledge so can advise you on all the schemes and exemptions you may be eligible for.
4. Make sure to switch off equipment
Switching off any equipment can help to reduce your energy consumption. Instead of switching equipment to standby, switch it off completely. During breaks and lunch, ensure all equipment is turned off. This can not only cut down your bills but can help your business cut down on its carbon footprint too. Over a year, a single PC and monitor will cost around £10 to leave on standby. Multiply that by the number of employees, and it could be costing your business hundreds. This could be even more if you’re operating lots of large machinery on your site. By simply turning off equipment, you could see a reduction on your energy bills.
5. Keep equipment clean and well serviced
Keeping all your equipment clean and well serviced is another way you can keep your energy bills down. For example, if you have a dirty and poorly maintained piece of equipment, it will be working even harder to do its basic functions. It will be using more energy, which could be causing your energy bills to be higher than they could be. By giving your equipment a good clean and keeping up with maintenance, you could be shaving money off your energy bills.
Contact us
Flame Energy can supply your business with total energy management to help your business cut down its consumption and energy bills and help meet any sustainability targets. Get in touch with one of our experts today to find out how we can help your business.
Take a look at our social media to check out our video series for Big Energy Saving Week!