As a small business owner, you have probably noticed the cost of your utilities rising as energy becomes more expensive. If that is the case, you might be thinking that there is not a lot you can do about it – after all, you need electricity to run your company day-to-day – but you’d be wrong.
Although you might not be able to change the price of electricity, there are lots of things you can do to slash your small business’ electricity bills and save money, including the following:
Performed an energy audit
An energy audit is something all businesses should do from time to time. It is an excellent way for you to get on top of your energy consumption and work out where you are using more energy than necessary, whether it be by leaving computers on when no one is using them or because your office is letting in too big of a draft.
Get a new roof
If you have noticed that your building is draftier than it used to be, and you are using way more electricity to keep it warm, then you might want to think about a commercial roof replacement. Yes, this is a big expense right now, but it will ensure that your workplace is more energy-efficient for many years to come, which means you should be able to slash your utility bills significantly in the long term.
Choose EnergyStar-rated appliances
When you run a small business, chances are you use a lot of electronic equipment from computers and printers in the office to coffee makers and fridges in the staff room. Many of these appliances are likely to be sucking energy.
The good news is, if you start to replace them with EnergyStar-rated appliances, you can lower your consumption significantly because these appliances have been tested and rated as being more energy-efficient than average.
Landscape your outdoors
If you own any outdoor space surrounding your work premises, then using landscaping to keep your building in shade is a good way to cut down on the cost of air conditioning, If you plant mature trees around the perimeter, they will help to naturally keep the building cooler than it would otherwise be and you can keep your electricity bills down to a more manageable level more easily than ever before.
Turn things off
It’d an obvious point, but if you turn things off when no one is using them or they do not expressly need to be switched on, you can save a huge amount of energy and lower your electricity bills vastly over the course of a year. You might need to keep reminding your employees to switch things off st first but they’ll soon get the idea and your business will benefit hugely as a result.
Run equipment off-peak
If you run a factory or another company where energy consumption is often high, one thing that can really work to cut your electricity bill is to run your biggest energy consumers in times of lower demand. High demand hours are normally 9-5, so you may need to rejig the way you run your company, but if it means you could save thousands of dollars, it has to be worth it, right?
Get new windows
If your windows are particularly drafty, then you might also want to think about having them replaced as they can cause your workplace to be very energy-inefficient, and if you use electricity to heat your office spad, this could end up pushing your bill up significantly.
Use natural sunlight
If you want to keep your offices light and bright, but you do not want a big energy bill, then something you don’t do is to make the most of natural sunlight. Ensure your workplace’s windows are always clean, remove blinds and let the sun’s natural rays light up your office as often as possible. Obviously, this will not work in winter or if you have too few windows, but if you do have access to natural sunlight, use it to keep your costs down. Oh, and natural sunlight has been shown to boost productivity, so there is that too.
As you can see, there are so many things that you can do to slash your business’ electricity bills that you can definitely cut down on utility costs now and in the future, you just need to take the first step and start making changes. Not all of these ideas will work for everyone but implement as many as you can and you should see a decrease.
