Starting a new business is full of extra costs, and sometimes it can be difficult to account for absolutely everything. When you tot up where you are after rent, stock and staff expenses have disappeared from your account, often there is precious little left to deal with fluctuating energy bills.
But with the cold nights drawing in, this is a cost that will start to impact your bottom line unless you make some smart choices. Small businesses and startups need to think carefully about how to keep energy consumption down, while still providing a working environment that is fit for purpose and pleasant for their team. Here are our top pieces of advice on how to save a quick £100 on your energy bills this autumn:
Understand your current contract
Iain Walker, head of SME sales and marketing at energy supplier E.ON, says: “Yes, there are other demands on your time but by understanding the finer print of any contract you can make sure you’re not caught out. Know when your deal expires and when you need to look to renew. At E.ON we don’t roll customers on to new fixed contracts, but some suppliers still do and you should look out for that in good time.”
Additionally, Walker says with new government legislation coming into play from April 2015, businesses could start to see extra costs added to their energy bills in the coming years. Companies should be aware of this and should continue to try and keep their energy costs low.
Monitor and manage your energy consumption
“You can’t manage what you can’t monitor, as the saying goes”, says Walker, “but by taking control of your energy consumption – the where, the when and the how much – you can see the areas where savings can be made and either quantify the success when it comes or justify any capital expenditure you need.
“E.ON offers free help and advice online, and you may be able to benefit from energy monitoring gadgets such as our Business Energy Manager or smart meters which can talk remotely to your supplier and provide accurate, live usage data.”
Focus on the small things
Everyone knows you should turn the lights out if a room is not in use, but when staff are not in their own house they may need reminding of the simple energy-saving practices.
Jeremy Cryer, energy spokesperson at comparison website Gocompare.com, says: “The obvious first step that businesses often take focuses on making small changes in the office, like bringing in more energy-efficient equipment or lighting.”
Some of the changes, such as installing energy-efficient lightbulbs, will be a relatively low-cost investment. Cryer says: “Over time this can reduce the amount of energy your business uses, but you shouldn’t expect to see an immediate, significant return.”
Business owners could also consider regulating the office temperature, by setting and locking their heating controls. Laura Croisdale, environment officer at Encore Packaging Solutions, says: “Regulating the temperature automatically will save a significant amount on heating costs and employees will no longer partake in heating wars – switching the heating on and off, or switching the heating on while the air conditioning is running.”
Additional changes, such as replacing other pieces of office equipment, are likely to be more expensive. Cryer advises small businesses to “weigh up what you’re willing to invest” in order to lower your energy usage, and work out whether it is likely to be economically viable.
Invest in energy-efficient office equipment
Office equipment can be a big investment. Computers, printers, scanners – all of these pieces of hardware add up and affect your energy bill. While a lot of this equipment might be necessary to your business, entrepreneurs must avoid having hardware that remains on even when it’s not in use.
Mark Robinson, market business developer at Canon UK and Ireland, is mindful of these costs and suggests investing in products that have auto on and off functions, or enabling hibernation mode on a piece of hardware when it has been out of use for a period of time.
He says: “The initial cost may be slightly more but the cost savings over a period of years are far greater. There is an understanding that the biggest costs are at the start when you are setting up, but with any item of hardware if it has that inbuilt capacity that it will switch off then that’s fantastic.”
There is a danger of getting sucked into the initial costs, Robinson says, but the lifecycle of the product is far more important to take into consideration. “For any device, when they are being used the wattage increases quite dramatically – it’s the same for lighting,” he adds.
Smart devices may also help to keep costs down, Robinson explains, as you then have access to everything you need from one place. He says: “Looking at people that are on the go, using smart devices they can access materials, print materials, scan materials, email materials from location. Slowly but surely it has a knock-on effect because you don’t need to have several devices being used at one time.”
Involve staff in your goals
Croisdale suggests turning your energy-saving initiative into an office competition. This will make staff aware of their own energy usage and habits, and help to unite teams in the common goal of keeping costs down.
Says Croisdale: “Our office had an issue with everyone leaving computers and monitors on overnight. So we introduced an office competition, grouping the different desks into teams and monitoring who had and hadn’t switched off their equipment. By ranking the teams on a monthly basis, the office began to police themselves and now it is second nature to switch everything off before leaving for the night.”
Small business owners could also encourage suggestions for making your office as energy-efficient as possible. Croisdale adds: “Set up an open forum for employees to make suggestions and provide feedback. It’s great to see what people think of what’s in place and what else could be done to help the environment.”
Install motion sensors
Even after installing energy-efficient light bulbs, is the cost of lighting still a big outlay? Motion sensors can “drastically” cut your electricity bill, says Croisdale, and they don’t involve the upheaval of investing in an upgraded lighting scheme.
She says: “Having lighting sensors also reduces the human error risk of employees forgetting to switch off a light, or switching off a light while someone is still working in the room.”
While those employees who sit very still may have to do the odd Mexican wave, motion sensors could go some way to saving small businesses £100 off their energy bills.
Content on this page is paid for and produced to a brief agreed with E.ON, sponsor of the Efficiency hub.
