Business Energy Audits Explained

What You Need To Know About Commercial Energy Audits

Conducting a business energy audit can help identify energy waste and help you use your commercial gas and commercial electricity more efficiently. Business energy audits are essential, particularly in an energy crisis and rising wholesale energy costs.

What Is A Business Energy Audit?

Business energy audits are a series of checks on your gas and electricity usage to look for discrepancies during certain hours (in the week, month, or year). They ensure you’re only paying for your energy, making the most of your usage during peak hours, and being efficient to avoid overpaying on your energy bills.

There are three key areas to consider within a business energy audit:

• Assess Current Usage: Use specialist equipment or processes to analyse your usage and compare this to similar businesses.
• Creating Energy Plans: These plans can include any projected maintenance and their costs, and monitoring your peak usage to maximise efficiency in these hours.
• Identify Areas For Improvement: Go around your business and identify which areas require energy and are not being used. For example, if lights are being left on in certain areas or if any light bulbs need upgrading to be more efficient.

Who Can Benefit From An Energy Audit?

Any business can benefit from an energy audit, as it helps to reduce energy costs, improves sustainability and boosts company morale. 

Audits can help find savings of up to 40% in businesses that have never previously managed their energy in this way. Identifying the energy shortcomings can not only help you to save money, but it can also contribute to being more sustainable, which is a great asset for marketing and helps your business to stand out from competitors.

Through fostering new ways to be more energy efficient, employees may be motivated to suggest new ideas on how we can improve, and feel like they are contributing to the overall well-being of not only the company but also their environment.

Business energy audits can also help to increase property value, particularly if energy-saving devices are installed, like solar panels, LED lighting, and quality insulation. All businesses will be able to benefit from conducting an energy audit.

Why Should I Do An Energy Audit?

A business energy audit will be able to achieve the following:

• Save more money on your energy bills - Identify areas where you are wasting energy and where you’re not using it effectively.
• Reduce environmental impact - Energy audits can help to reduce your carbon emissions and any excess waste.
• Improves productivity - Energy audits can help you identify areas of peak consumption so you can tailor your business hours where the cost of using energy is lower.
• Increase property value - By using LED lighting, solar panels, good building insulation and other energy-saving devices, you can add more value to your property.
• Increase employee comfort - If your building is brighter, at a comfortable temperature, and has better facilities, your employees will be much more comfortable. Heating and air conditioning, insulation and ventilation, and lighting can all play a factor in employee well-being.

Energy Audit Types

There are 3 main different types of energy audits you can conduct:

On-Site Energy Audit (With External Auditor)

You can book an external auditor to come to your business to check your operations and create a list of any changes or improvements to ensure you can save more energy. They will check your lighting, heating, air conditioning and other systems on your property to find any opportunities to save energy.

When the audit is complete, you should receive a comprehensive list of what you currently have installed and ways to improve. The external auditor will also advise on certain criteria you could meet and any areas where you can apply for extra grants (depending on your business type).

Phone Audit

A phone-based energy audit is when an external auditor calls you and asks a series of questions about your current energy usage. With this information, they will create a custom energy plan for your business to follow, including any energy-saving solutions and their costs. Your current energy supplier can sometimes offer this as a free service, get in touch with us today to see if this applies to you.

Internal Energy Audit (DIY)

Small to medium-sized businesses prefer to perform their internal audits to look for any opportunities for energy savings. This method isn’t as in-depth as it would be from an external auditor, however, it should highlight areas where your business is inefficient in using energy.

How To Conduct Your Own Energy Audit

To conduct your own energy audit, make sure you include the following:

Business Energy Audit Checklist

Cost Of An Energy Audit

The cost of an energy audit is wholly dependent on the size of your business. For a small business energy audit, you could be typically looking at between £500 and £1,500, depending on the complexity of the business and the type of audit. 

Some energy suppliers may offer a free energy audit and action plan when you switch to a new tariff. There are also grants available for some UK regions, to pay for the cost of an external energy audit.

Alternatives To A Business Energy Audit

1. Get Cheaper Business Energy - Switch to a better tariff that suits your business energy needs.
2. Install Specialist Meters - Smart Meters and Half Hourly Meters can be used to perform energy audits and create load diagrams for cost allocation and performance analysis.
3. Demand Response - This is a program that offers financial rewards to businesses that change their electricity demand to alternative sources.
4. Solar Power - A sustainable and cost-effective energy alternative that can lower energy bills and make them more predictable.
5. Draught Proofing - A low-cost way to save energy and money by fitting draught excluders to reduce heat loss.
6. Energy Audit Software - Software like EnergyCAP can help manage utility bills and consumption, and includes energy audit features.