Time has nearly run out for businesses to save as much money as they can before the end of the 2014/15 financial year. While this may be the time that some businesses hike up prices and push sales promotions, the smarter companies will look internally to see where savings could be made.
It may not have been top of your priorities over the last year, but businesses could make a substantial saving by operating in a greener, more energy-efficient manner. Don’t just take our word for it, according to the Carbon Trust a 20% reduction in energy consumption could represent the same bottom line benefits as a 5% increase in sales.
Of course, there isn’t a business out there that wants to receive a huge energy bill every month, but many SMEs aren’t aware of just how much money their bad energy habits are costing their businesses. A lot of firms choose to pay their monthly gas and electricity bills by direct debit, for sheer convenience, which means that many businesses don’t even pay attention to the sum leaving their account every month.
Reducing your energy consumption and saving money is a lot simpler than you may have first envisaged. Transforming into a green company doesn’t equal sitting in the dark, wearing extra jumpers to garner warmth. Making a few simple switches to the way you operate is enough to create enough of a ripple in your energy bill to convince you to stick to it.
There is still plenty of time to save before the fiscal year ends, so here are five useful tips.
Go paperless
A typical office uses thousands of sheets of paper every year. Not only does it create excess waste for the environment, it also wastes energy during the printing and photocopying process.
Most companies operate digitally nowadays, so eliminating paper is a natural progression to bringing your business more in line with the times. Send documents and important messages over email and create a shared file where your staff can access documents instead of printing them off and storing them in your office.
Switch to LED lights
It’s a given that you want your workspace to be well lit, nobody wants to strain their eyes to see documents while they are at work. Lighting accounts for around 7% of an average utility bill, which means there are ample opportunities for businesses to make great savings if they implement some clever switches.
Changing your traditional bulbs to LEDs will save you energy, as most traditional bulbs waste around 95% of their energy just through heat loss. LEDs are much more energy efficient, and while they may cost you more to purchase initially, they have a far longer lifespan compared to traditional bulbs. If you replace all of the lightbulbs in your office with LEDs you are looking at saving yourself around £40 a year, according to research by the Carbon Trust.
Use motion sensors for lights
Many businesses make the mistake of having every part of their office illuminated, even when those areas aren’t being used. Avoid wasting unnecessary energy by installing motion-sensor lights, which automatically switch off when they don’t detect movement.
Unplug laptops at the end of the day
It’s not uncommon for people to leave their laptops plugged in and charging 24/7. But this bad energy habit can cost your business a small fortune. Try and get into the habit of unplugging your laptop charger at the end of the day and gently remind your employees to do the same.
Switch energy providers
When you first move into a new building you often get landed with a phenomenally high energy tariff without even realising. A report published by energy regulator Ofgem revealed that 40% of SMEs haven’t switched their energy supplier in the last 5 years which suggests that many businesses didn’t know that they could even change their provider, let alone realise how simple it is.
You can now switch energy providers in as little as 17 days, down from the previous six-week timeframe. If you think you might be on an unfairly high energy tariff, it’s easy to compare your energy deal with others through online comparison sites.
So, how much money can your small business save by transforming the way your business consumes energy? This infographic published by Love Energy Savings can show you just that:
