Whilst energy demand tends to go up every winter, this year a cold surge is going to affect energy bills a lot more due to prices being much higher. With other pressures, businesses have to deal with during the festive period and new year, energy bills are the last thing business owners want to be dealing with.
Reducing energy demand within the business means you will see bills decrease and your overall consumption rate could go down.
Measure your energy usage
Doing an energy audit at different times of the year is useful to see how much energy your business is using. For example, if you only do energy audits at one time of the year you won’t be able to identify where you are wasting energy in the winter.
Measuring your energy usage in the winter is important to see where you are wasting energy. Energy demand typically tends to spike more in the winter due to more heating being used and lighting due to darker evenings and less natural light.
Increase efficiency and sustainability
Once you have measured where in your business you are wasting energy you can come up with a plan to increase energy efficiency in these areas. For example, if your business is wasting a lot of energy on heating you could consider where you can reduce this. This could include having a smart thermostat that controls the heat in the office and switching off heating systems when they are not needed.
You could also ensure that your building is properly insulted for the colder months. This will reduce the amount of heat lost and the amount of energy wasted. It will also take less energy to heat your building.
In the winter you could also ensure that less electricity is used through lighting by switching to automatic lighting. This way the lights are only in use when they are needed. This could help reduce the amount of electricity wasted when there is not a lot of natural light.
To find out more about increasing efficiency continue reading here.
Ensure you are on the right tariff
Being on the right energy tariff for your business is very important, especially with the current price cap.
With business energy there are many different energy tariffs, this helps your business maximise savings on business energy depending on your operations and working hours.
With the current energy support available for businesses, it is best for businesses to be on a fixed rate tariff to ensure they see optimal savings. Businesses on a fixed rate tariff will see the wholesale element of their bill capped at 21.1 p/kWh for electricity and 7.5 p/kWh for gas.
Therefore, it is much more advantageous to be on fixed rates at the moment, especially considering wholesale energy prices are expected to rise by up to 50% next year.
Stay on top of energy support
Whilst currently there has been no update on the energy support businesses can expect after March 2023, the government are still reviewing this, and it will be updated soon. As a business knowing what support is available and how to access it is going to be crucial when it comes to staying on top of energy bills.
To see the latest energy news and stay on top of developments in the industry see our news page here.
If you're looking to save money on your energy bills then why not get in touch today? The relationships Resolve Energy has developed with over 24 of the UK’s biggest business energy suppliers allows our energy experts to source the best business energy rates available for your company right when you need them. Request a free quote today and start saving money on your energy.
