Checklist: Using energy efficiently

Using energy more efficiently will save your business money by cutting your energy bills. To help identify potential savings you should:

• Conduct a walk-round survey of your business to spot immediate money and energy saving opportunities.
• Assign responsibility for energy efficiency to someone within the business and give them the necessary time and resources to do the job thoroughly.
• Take regular meter readings to get an accurate picture of how much energy your business is using and where the biggest savings could be made.
• Use one of the Carbon Trust tools to benchmark your business against industry norms. 
• Contact one of the government-funded organisations like the Carbon Trust. They offer free telephone consultancy and on-site visits to businesses that use a lot of energy.
• Check that you are on the correct energy tariff. For example, if you have a 'day/night' tariff but do not use electricity overnight, it's likely that your bills are higher than they need to be.
• Talk to alternative suppliers of energy about the tariffs they could offer you and whether these beat the terms offered by your current supplier.
• Consider inviting energy companies to tender for your business.

Further information

• Carbon Trust: Better business guide to energy saving
• Carbon Trust: Energy management self assessment tool
• Business Energy Scotland: Make your business greener
• The buyENERGYonline: Energy supplier tendering facility