Some useful tips to reduce business gas usage

Given the current economic climate and the pressures faced by organisations today, business gas costs, as well as other utility costs, should be kept as low as possible. If you’re responsible for your organisations utilities, the below tips should be useful:

1. Install Gas Smart Meters Ensure you have a gas smart meter installed and not just a traditional meter. Smart meters will transmit real-time data to a central computer, you can analyse gas consumption to identify areas where savings can be made. This analysis can highlight if equipment is left on overnight or if thermostat settings are wrong. Also gas leaks can often go undetected for long periods of time resulting in large bills at the end of a quarter. Some smart meters and data loggers can be programmed to automatically spot such anomalies and immediately alert the user by SMS or email.

2. Increase Efficiency The smallest changes can have a very large impact on your gas bill. Why not try reducing your heaters by a degree or two and add automatic doors. Another thing to consider is the use of heat sensors to control your thermostat as this will ensure that you’re never overheating a room. Make sure though that the sensor isn’t positioned next to any equipment that generates heat. We all know that high ceilinged rooms are notoriously hard to heat. You could then use a fan to ‘push’ heat back down as it rises. We would recommend asking a professional to do a full audit of the building to highlight any inefficiencies that could be improved.

3. Insulation A lot of your business gas costs will be on heating, therefore to reduce costs you will need to improve heat retention. Make sure your building has loft insulation at least 10 inches thick. This will reduce heat loss by as much as 40% and drastically reduce your gas costs.

4. Clever Gas Procurement All businesses are different. A manufacturer will have very different energy requirements from a small business. Therefore, devise a procurement strategy to suit your needs. If you’re a high energy user it may be worth investigating flexible purchasing so you can control the timing and amount of energy you purchase in order to increase the likelihood of buying at a better average price.

5. Make your staff awareWe would recommend doing a campaign to highlight the importance of energy efficiency and highlighting that in this tight economic climate we all need to do what we can to keep business costs down.  

If you have any questions relating to business gas costs don't hesitate to get in touch