10 Important Tips for Small Businesses to Minimize Their Electricity Bills

If you own a small business and your daily business work depends on electricity, then electricity cost is your major expense. Lowering the cost of electricity bills is one of major concerns for small business owners. There is a significant potential for saving energy cost in small businesses. If you are motivated to lower your energy bills but not certain what to do, then this article will be helpful for you.

In this article, we provide you ten important tips that you can apply to reduce your energy bills. Without further ado, let’s know what they are.

1. Invest in LED lighting technology

If you use traditional light bulbs or fluorescents in your business, then you should consider replacing them with LED. LEDs are highly energy-efficient and consume 80% less energy than other lighting options. You require significant budget for investing in LED technology, however the return on the investment will be quite rapid.

In case you require your LED light system to produce illumination during emergency i.e. when there is no main power supply, you can purchase LED panel emergency pack or kit to convert your normal LED to emergency LED conveniently.

2. Get the help of energy audit

You can contact your local utility company for an energy audit. With an energy audit, your baseline energy use can be determined and clear ways to save electricity can be known. Such energy audits are provided free by many electric utility companies. For an energy audit, a professional visits your business location and monitor for insulation issues, air leaks and proper locations to install LEDs for saving energy.

3. Use natural sunlight as much as you can

If your office space gets abundant natural light, then you can consider yourself fortunate. You have to use natural sunlight instead of light bulbs if you can. For this, you have to turn off the lights where the natural light is enough to provide the required illumination. You can also consider using passive solar heating if feasible. You can reduce your electricity bills if you use fewer kilowatt hours of electrical energy.

4. Turn off lights, computers and other electrical devices when not in use

This energy-saving tip may be a no-brainer, but businesses do not apply this effectively. In business offices, lights remain on in spaces when they are not being used. Small businesses can also make the use of sensor lights to keep the lights turn on when required and turn off when not required.

Also, you should make sure that your staff turn off the computers and other electrical appliances when they are not in use. By powering down office equipment at the end of the day, you can reduce your electrical bills.

5. Avoid Phantom energy

Phantom energy refers to the energy that is still being consumed by electronic devices that remain plugged in but are not being used. Computer peripherals such as printers, monitors, etc. can consume phantom energy when they are not in use. So, one of the useful energy-saving tips is to connect computer peripherals to surge protectors or power strips so that such devices can be shut down all at once by just the flip of a single switch.

6. Use programmable or smart thermostats

This tip might not work for business offices that remain open 24/7, but it is useful for many 9-5 offices or offices that close at night. There is no need for heating or cooling a workplace after office closes. So, the programmable or smart thermostats can be used to manage the temperature of workplace during the time when the office closes to save energy.

7. Reduce your peak demand

Peak demand refers to the times in a day when energy usage is the highest. Such times are normally office hours. You can minimize your peak demand by the use of staggered work hour system and running heavy machines and equipment before the noon and during the evening.

8. Use dimming feature of LED lights

You are already saving energy with the use of LED light bulbs or fixtures. To save more energy, you can install dimmers when and where less light could be tolerated in areas. Even if you want to use an LED emergency driver for emergency lighting needs, remember that they are also available with a dimming feature.

9. Use energy-efficient landscaping if possible

If you have a control over the landscape where your business is located, then you have an opportunity to use energy-efficient landscaping for reducing energy bills. One of such activities could be planting trees to provide shade on sunny days or block winds on winter days to minimise your heating and cooling costs.

10. Update your electronic devices

Last but not least, you should consider updating your electronic devices. This will not just help to improve your work efficiency but also reduce your electricity bills. If your office uses desktops, then using laptops in place of them can help you cut power bills. Also, there are new and latest electronic devices in the market that are designed and built to keep the energy usage in minimum.

Conclusion

Apply the above discussed energy-saving tips to reduce your energy or electricity bills by a significant amount. By saving considerable amount of money from power bills, you can invest that in your business work. If you require any high-quality emergency lighting devices for your business, contact Sanforce. Sanforce is a leading manufacturer and distributor of LED and fluorescent emergency lighting equipment.