Many businesses are overpaying their energy supplier – here’s how you can reduce your usage and save some cash…
If you own a nursery, you’ll know how expensive your premises are to run on a day-to-day basis.
No doubt, you’ll have also heard a great deal of complaints from parents regarding the cost of their childcare – 30 free hours just isn’t enough any more!
Mums and dads are searching for quality, without the big price tag that often follows.
So, how can your business bridge the financial gap between being able to offer a great standard of service and a reasonable price?
The following five tips will give you a good start by reducing the burden of your energy bills…
The ideal room temperature for a baby is 20–22°C, so you don’t need to have your premises’ heating higher than this for the little people you’re looking after to remain comfortable. Reducing the temperature of your thermostat by just 1°C can save £90 per year in a three-bedroom house, so imagine the price difference if you were to apply the same concept to your nursery?
Lighting is one of the main contributors to the electricity bill of any business – no one can work in the dark! There are a few methods you can use to reduce this cost, including the installation of LED light bulbs and motion sensors. The amount that you can save by exchanging traditional light bulbs with LED lighting can be worked out using the following formula:
Number of bulbs x 3 = Total potential savings per year (£)
The installation of motion sensors has been reported to shave as much as 10% off businesses’ annual bill spend. Together, these tactics could help you to reduce the cost of lighting your setting substantially.
It’s amazing how much draughts can cost your business in heating. To give you an idea, leaving your premises’ windows open overnight will waste enough fuel to power a small car for 35 miles! Stay on top of draughts by doing the following:
Spills, bodily fluids and general mess are unavoidable within nurseries, which results in big piles of washing! Filling your washing machines and dishwashers to their maximum capacity will naturally reduce the number of loads you need to do, cutting down on the amount of water, electricity and cleaning products that you use. Couple this with your greenest dishwasher or washing machine setting and you’ll soon be shedding the pounds!
This might seem like an obvious point to make, but too many businesses ignore this easy method of making savings. To demonstrate the impact that this tip can have on your business, consider the following: by simply switching off your plugs and powering down, businesses could cut their consumption by 40% (rainforest-alliance.org). By extension, if you cut your energy consumption by 40%, you are also potentially saving the same amount on your bill spend – that’s a juicy saving!
Aside from these five tips, there are other ways to save on your business gas and electricity. Many businesses are overpaying their energy supplier because they have gone out of contract and rolled onto a standard, higher-rate energy tariff. By comparing new energy contracts through services such as Exchange Utility, you can gain access to the tariff prices for a range of UK suppliers, which could instantly save 40% on your bill spend – what are you waiting for?
For more information about Exchange Utility, call 0800 464 0992 or visit exchangeutility.co.uk.
