7 tips to save money on your business utility bills
Whether you’re the owner of a small business or large organisation, doing all that you can to keep running costs down should be your number one priority. If you employ others in your business, it can be all too easy to lose track on how much gas, water and electricity you’re wasting.
It’s crucial that you take the right steps to ensure your company is running efficiently, so here are 7 tips on how to save money on your utility bills.
Insulate your premises
Whether you work alone or have a busy workplace, the environment you’re in should be warm and comfortable for your team, so insulating your premises should be your first port of call, especially if you’re serious about cutting down how much gas you use. Depending on the type of building you’re in, you may be able to insulate the walls and the roof too. If your workplace is properly insulated, this will mean that there is less heat lost throughout the day, meaning it will take less energy to keep your premises warm.
Turn the thermostat down
As a business owner, it’s important that you know how to boost productivity in the workplace, so if your work environment is too cold or too hot, you can’t expect your team to work at their best. However, you may not realise that turning the thermostat down by just one degree can make a big difference and see your heating bill reduced by up to 10%.
Heat rooms at a different rate
If you have reduced the temperature of the thermostat to try and save money on your energy bills, you may not be aware of all the energy you could be wasting if you’re heating the entire building to the same degree. Rooms like workspaces and offices will need to have a comfortable and constant temperature, however, spaces like storage areas do not need to be heated at the same level.
Install a smart meter
If you already have smart meters installed in your home and business to track your electricity consumption, you will be only too aware of all the benefits they can bring, so why not install smart meters to track your water and gas? Doing so will mean that you only pay for the energy that you use, helping to save money on your bill at the end of the month.
Get an energy audit
Whilst you can look around the premises and make a few changes here and there, the larger the business premises, the more areas there are where energy waste could be occurring.
An energy audit takes a whole business overview of how energy is used within the company itself. It doesn’t just look at some quick points that are common in other businesses; the audit looks at everything. The auditor also has an outsider’s perspective about how an office, a warehouse or other premises used for business purposes could be run to be more energy efficient. They’re then able to make out-of-the-box suggestions to implement that business owners never would have thought of on their own.
Find the best supplier
Now you have a better idea on how you can cut the cost of your business water and gas bill, the last step you need to take is to find a supplier who can provide the best and reduce your utility bills. Comparison sites like Utility Bidder enable you to compare a range of gas commercial suppliers such as SSE, British Gas, and EDF Energy, so use them to your advantage.
Take advantage of Sleep & Hibernation modes
Windows computers now have Sleep and Hibernation modes.
Sleep mode turns off the monitor or laptop screen and reduces some of the energy usage. It’s also useful to have the screensaver disabled and to let Windows turn off the laptop screen or external monitor if it’s been idle for a few minutes too.
Hibernation mode is different to Sleep mode. Once activated, Windows will save the active state including the apps that are loaded and what’s currently in memory. It will then spin down the hard drives and almost completely shut the PC off. Minimal power is used to maintain this state and watch for activation via a mouse movement or key press. At which point, the PC comes back to life and reloads back to the previous state.
Insulating your premises, turning down the thermostat, heating rooms at different rates, using energy saving modes on the PCs, as well as looking online to find the best supplier are just a few key tips on how to save money on your business utility bills.
