Having an energy management strategy in place is valuable for any business, especially when living in the current energy crisis. It brings benefits such as reducing your business’ financial costs, which ultimately means the money you save can be used for other necessary costs elsewhere in the business. Reducing costs wherever possible is becoming increasingly valuable as energy costs continue to rise. Boxfish have shared useful strategies for your energy management below.

1. Identify and Monitor Sources of Energy Consumption

Identify where you consume energy, as there will most likely be multiple. Ongoing monitoring will be needed to identify which sources use the most energy consumption. But,  this may change with seasonality so make sure you use month on month comparisons to see if there are any fluctuations. If you can identify the larger sources of energy consumption, you’re already halfway there.

2. Collect Utility Bill Data

Your utility invoices contain a large amount of data which can be collated over time, analysed and used to identify opportunities to reduce consumption and optimise your costs. 

3. Analyse Your Meter Data

Analysing your metering data will help you to look deeper into how energy is being used and may even assist you to identify specific areas or processes that are consuming more than they should. If you only have a single supply, make sure this is upgraded to a smart meter so you can get access to granular data at 30 minute intervals (interval data), This can help identifies at what times energy use is at its peak and when it’s also at its lowest. Where you have a larger or more complex site (e.g. a manufacturing facility) investing in sub-metering will provide even more detail allowing you to track and measure data across multiple areas and processes, and in turn crack down on wasted energy.

4. Identify Opportunities

By understanding what time of the day or which days of the week energy consumption is the highest, proactive steps can be taken to reduce costs. As examples, you could look at replacing machinery with energy-efficient alternatives, or invest in staff training to educate them on the importance of avoiding (and fixing) out of hours consumption. 

5. Track The Progress

Tracking the difference between your old and new ways of energy usage will be an ongoing strategy to ensure your changes are effective; this will also allow you to show results and unlock additional support and resources to do even more. If the usage is the same and no progress is being made from your changes, then alternative methods should be introduced. Tracking your progress allows you to see if your changes are effectively reducing costs for the business.

Effective energy management is key to helping your business achieve their corporate sustainability goals. By having control and conserving your energy spend and usage, you can be more efficient in these difficult times.