5 effective ways to reduce energy costs for your small business

Running a business, while rewarding, can be a difficult and demanding task. In order for a company to be successful, you need an effective marketing strategy, talented employees and positive cash flow. This means, that as a business owner, amongst your many other skills, you must be able to effectively manage your company’s expenditure including your energy costs.

While office rent and employee wages are two large expenses, there is also another area that can have a big impact on cash flow: energy costs. To help you tackle these, here are 5 effective strategies you can use.

1. Invest in energy efficient equipment

Of course, when looking to save money, upgrading everything to more energy efficient models would require a large investment and therefore, is not a solution. However, when old appliances or equipment do need replacing, make sure to choose A-rated models, as these will use less energy and could therefore help to reduce utility bills.

2. Consider using the cloud

Requiring a lot of energy to run, maintaining servers can be costly. To save, you could consider storing data in the cloud. Not only does this decrease the cost of running servers, but it could offer additional company benefits by also allowing employees to work remotely, further reducing office energy consumption.

3. Switch your energy provider

One of the quickest and most effective ways to save on your company’s energy bills is by switching to another business electricity provider. By performing a simple comparison, you may find that another supplier could save hundreds (or even more) on your energy spend, all without implementing any other strategies.

4. Encourage employees to be efficient

There are a number of ways employees can be more efficient. This includes encouraging staff to turn off equipment when not in use and ensuring lights are switched off when a room is not in use. If adopted company wide, these practices could make a huge difference to energy spend.

5. Insulate the office

Depending on the type of office space you have, and whether you own or rent the facilities, you could consider better insulation. For example, up to 40% of heating can escape through ceilings, so ensuring the roof is well insulated could dramatically cut energy bills.

For any business, having a positive cash flow is essential, as it provides the funds needed for growth. As such, consider utilising these techniques to reduce energy costs. From enabling remote working to switching off equipment when not in use, these measures could help to boost company cash flow.