Energy Savers Week

It is energy savers week this week! This is an annual campaign about energy efficiency, reducing energy bills, lowering carbon emissions, and reducing fuel poverty. We have spoken to one our members Pippa and Joe Gil from Auditel to find out more about energy efficiency.

Can you tell us a bit about Auditel?

We help SMEs save energy, carbon and money by seeing where the ‘hotspots’ are in your business. Our energy audits look at your buildings, your bills and your activities. We identify the best ways to reduce waste, improve efficiency/insulation and cut costs. Then we can help you implement these strategies if you need us to. Our work can be self-funding and even result in savings to improve your bottom-line. Beyond energy and utilities, we can also help with your wider business cost-reduction and procurement, and your carbon-footprint reporting.

How can businesses begin in understanding their own energy consumption and what are the benefits ?

Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement is a huge change coming to business and household energy markets. MHHS ensures bills are based on actual half-hourly consumption data rather than estimates, leading to more precise and transparent billing. This is valuable data: What times of day do you use most energy? Are machines left running overnight that needn’t be? Can employee habits be altered to reduce energy use? Would a new piece of kit pay for itself with lower energy use? How much of our energy could be generated from solar or wind power on our premises? Is there another tariff that would suit us better? MWHHS is central to the UK Strategy for achieving Net Zero: Market-Wide Half-Hourly Settlement

What is your top tips for improving energy efficiency?

• Insulation and draft-proofing are worth doing if your building is drafty and cold. Your staff will appreciate that you care about them and the environment.
• Know what your bills are and when/how you use the energy. – Data is key.
• Do you know how much electricity capacity you are paying for? Modern lower-powered equipment may mean you can reduce peak capacity and reduce your standing charges.
• Do you have overly high-ceilings? A lower, well-insulated ceiling makes it easier to heat a space comfortably. You could tie this in with new LED lighting.
• Hot water – do you boil just enough for each round of drinks? Over-boiling the kettle will be costly over the course of a year. A boiler-tap may make sense for your staffroom.
• Is your boiler well maintained? It will work more efficiently and be less likely to break down resulting in emergency costs.

• Think about different temperatures in different spaces – a showroom where staff walk around and customers come in with coats on doesn’t need to be as warm as an office where people are stationary all day.