Business energy efficiency: find and verify useful savings

Build a useful energy baseline

Gather at least 12 months of electricity and gas data where possible, then annotate closures, unusual weather, production changes, new equipment and estimated bills. Annual totals show scale; half-hourly electricity data can reveal overnight baseload, start-up peaks and energy used outside normal hours.

Walk the site while it is operating and again when it should be quiet. Record the condition and controls of lighting, heating, cooling, compressed air, refrigeration, motors, hot water and process equipment. A baseline is useful only when it reflects what the business actually does.

• Match every bill and data file to the correct meter and MPAN or MPRN.
• Separate electricity, gas and on-site generation where possible.
• Record floor area, opening hours or production output for context.
• Flag estimated readings and missing half-hourly intervals.
• Choose a repeatable measure such as kWh per opening hour or unit produced.

Prioritise controls and maintenance before capital projects

Low-cost actions can include correcting time schedules, heating and cooling set-points, repairing leaks, switching off idle equipment and assigning responsibility for out-of-hours checks. Lighting upgrades, insulation, variable-speed drives, efficient refrigeration and heating changes require a site-specific assessment rather than a generic saving percentage.

Do not approve a project on simple payback alone. Check maintenance costs, equipment life, disruption, comfort, product quality and whether one measure changes the saving available from another. Obtain technical advice for building fabric, electrical capacity and safety-critical systems.

Use monitoring to turn a project into a verified saving

Set a baseline period and decide in advance how performance will be compared. Use the same operating measure on both sides of the change and allow for material differences in weather, occupancy or output. Sub-metering can help where one large process is hidden inside the whole-site bill, but it should answer a defined question.

Review exceptions rather than collecting dashboards without action. An overnight increase, a new maximum-demand peak or consumption that fails to fall after an upgrade should trigger investigation. Keep commissioning records and supplier settings so the reason for a result can be reconstructed.

Check grants, finance and legal obligations

Government-backed and local support changes over time. Search official funding services using the business location, size and proposed measure, then check eligibility, application deadlines and whether work must wait for approval. Treat a grant as part of the funding decision, not proof that the project is technically suitable.

Larger organisations should also check whether the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme applies. ESOS is a compliance framework for qualifying large organisations; it is not a substitute for deciding which recommendations are commercially and operationally appropriate.

• Confirm whether the support is a grant, loan, tax relief or advice service.
• Check whether VAT, professional fees and maintenance are eligible.
• Do not start work before approval if the scheme prohibits it.
• Retain quotes, approvals, invoices and evidence of measured results.