For hotels, restaurants and other hospitality businesses, slimming electricity bills requires a multi-track approach.
You should make sure you have the most efficient equipment, know the areas where most energy is being used and make sure you are getting the best price for it.
Here are our top tips on slashing your energy bills.
Generate efficiencies
Many of these tips require you to install new, more efficient equipment. When looking to invest in new energy-saving equipment you should consider the initial costs, and the potential annual savings to calculate a repayment time.
Anything with a payback time lower than a few years is well worth the investment.
Done right you could generate up to 40% reduction in your energy bills from energy efficiencies alone.
Lighting efficiency
- Fitting energy efficient light bulbs could save 75% of your electricity bill.
- Sensors which extinguish the lights when a room is not in use can generate significant savings in rooms such as toilets or storerooms.
Heating efficiency
- Don’t be tempted to change the thermostat regularly. This uses a lot more energy than simply maintaining a constant temperature.
- Insulating your pipes is very cheap and can generate huge savings in terms of the heat that is normally wasted.
- Service your boiler regularly and replace older models. While replacing an old boiler is expensive, the long-term savings can make it worthwhile.
Water efficiency
- Flow regulators on taps can significantly reduce the amount of unnecessary water used by your guests.
- Low-flush toilets are a great way of reducing water consumption in bathrooms. You can make a DIY low-flush toilet simply by putting a brick in the cistern – this is an easy way of reducing the amount of water used per flush.
Insulation efficiency
- Double glazed windows reduce around 25% of heat loss that occurs through single-glazed windows.
- Draught proofing can prevent a further 35% of heat loss.
- Insulate your wall cavities to stop a potential 9% of heat escaping.
- Insulate your roof to save up to 22% of heat loss.
Monitor your usage
Installing a smart meter in your restaurant or hotel is a great way of saving money. Not only do smart meters, coupled with elaborate reporting platforms, allow you to say goodbye to estimated bills. But they also allow you to better monitor your energy consumption and identify areas where savings could be generated.
By collecting this data on your energy consumption you can identify areas where energy consumption is being used efficiently and where it is being used wastefully, such as at night.
Switch to a cheaper supplier
The quickest and easiest way to reduce your energy bills is to switch to a cheaper supplier.
At Business Gas.com we pride ourselves on finding the cheapest possible gas deals for all of our customers. Get in touch to save today – call us on 0800 157 7175.
Thousands of restaurants across the length and breadth of the UK are missing out on favourable rates on their gas prices. Whether an individual or part of a chain, every restaurateur stands to benefit from dramatically reduced gas prices simply by collecting more detailed information on their gas consumption. This can be easily achieved by using gas loggers and smart meters to dramatically lower a restaurant’s energy bills.
Contrary to popular opinion, gas prices fluctuate between peak and off-peak rates just like electricity. However, gas suppliers only receive information on annual consumption data from the National Grid. This means that no matter what time the gas is being used, most consumers are paying the same rate based on their annual consumption – and not enjoying cheaper rates based on the time of their consumption.
This is problematic for restaurants because they tend to operate on atypical gas consumption schedules. Although restaurants carry out the bulk of their operations outside of peak hours (i.e. at meal times) they do not enjoy off-peak gas rates if they are being charged a flat annual rate. By not recording more detailed data about their gas consumption they are missing out on huge potential savings.
Record your gas usage
The only way to benefit from these lower prices is to record your usage levels frequently over a suitable period of time. And then send this information onto your gas supplier to negotiate a fairer rate.
In the past this was made very difficult as there was no reliable method for monitoring and recording the data besides sending somebody to check the meter every hour. Now, however, technologies like smart meters and gas loggers mean that restaurants can get accurate information about their consumption and automatically send it to the gas provider.
Aside from the obvious advantage of allowing restaurants to negotiate a better rate on their gas, there are some less obvious benefits of keeping collecting information on your restaurant’s gas usage.
No more estimated bills
Another advantage of recording usage information is that bills will no longer be estimated. When bills are estimated there is no way of finding out if you have used the gas that you are being charged for. However, if you send information directly to your gas provider there is an iron clad guarantee that you are being charged fairly.
By recording all of the information about gas usage, restaurants can also take steps to reduce their consumption. By monitoring hourly usage over an extended period, a restaurant will be able to locate areas in which they are using gas inefficiently. For example, if gas is being used out of hours, it might be that heating is being left on overnight.
Business Gas.com has helped lots of restaurants get a better deal on their business gas. To find out more, give us a call on 0800 157 7175.