Given the current Covid-19 outbreak, we understand that many businesses will be adapting their usual routines to navigate through these unprecedented challenges. The government’s intervention and support will go some way to assisting you but what can you do lessen the impact on your business from an energy perspective?

As your day-to-day routine changes and some of your buildings are temporarily vacated or even closed, there are several simple actions you can take to optimise your electricity usage, avoid unnecessary costs and ensure valuable renewable energy is not wasted. These changes could be adopted at any time to help your business all year round but really could have a significant impact right now.

We’ve put together 5 top tips to get you started:

• We encourage you to regularly provide meter reads to your supplier so that you receive accurate billing during this time. This is particularly important if your business is making changes to your normal operations, as standard estimates could easily overstate (or understate if your operations have increased) consumption.
• If you are currently experiencing unpredictable cash flow, ensuring that bills are accurate could help your business manage accounts more effectively.

Switch it Off

• If your business is temporarily vacating sites or reducing operational hours, is there anything that isn’t being used that could be switched off?
• Heating, lighting, computers, fridges and freezers are just some examples of appliances that may temporarily not be required and could be switched off.
• An air compressor will only run at or near full capacity between 60-100 hours in a full working week. As businesses’ routines change, reducing your compressors usage or turning it off completely during evenings and weekends could reduce your energy bills by up to 20%.¹
• Most buildings will have a fridge or freezer, especially in the hospitality sector, and these can be difficult to moderate as they’re running 24 hours a day making up a large proportion of your electricity bill. Your freezer works most efficiently when packed as full as possible, whilst a refrigerator needs air circulation to keep food at an even temperature. Prioritising freezing for food storage will allow you to turn off some of your fridges, reducing costs and helping energy efficiency.²

Turn it Down

• If there are appliances you can’t switch off, are there any you can turn down?
• Reducing your room temperature by 1°c can save you between 8-10% on your heating bill, minimising your energy wastage and therefore reducing your energy bills.³
• Likewise, any machinery that will be running in your absence should be reviewed. Can it be turned down or run for a shorter period of time? Even a small reduction in your energy consumption could have a notable reduction on your electricity bills.

Get your Staff Engaged

• As your business changes its routine and employees begin to work remotely, it’s likely some of your business’ electricity consumption will now take place at their home. So how can your employees avoid an unnecessary increase to their electricity bills?
• Even the smallest changes to electricity usage can have a noticeable effect on bills. For example, by replacing all bulbs at home with LED alternatives, could save about £35 a year on electricity bills.⁴
• Encouraging your employees to be more energy efficient, such as switching lights off when they’re not in the room or turning off devices when not in use, could contribute to a reduction in their electricity costs. These could also become practices you can apply to your business when work is back to normal.

Look to the Future

As businesses and individuals navigate through the challenges of this outbreak, the need to be innovative and make changes to our daily routines has been paramount.

• In a short amount of time businesses and their employees have adapted, becoming more energy efficient, reducing consumption to decrease unnecessary costs and prioritising appliances that need to be used.
• These changes, whilst necessary presently, can continue to have positive effects when business is back to usual, helping your business become more energy efficient, reduce costs and help the environment.

Here at Bryt Energy, our zero carbon, 100% renewable electricity helps business reduce their carbon emissions all year long. A few simple changes to how you use your energy could make a positive impact to your business, your energy costs and the environment.