
In late 2012 the government unveiled plans for its long-awaited Energy Bill – a package of reforms designed to help speed up the nation’s transition to low-carbon and renewable sources of power generation.
The upshot of it all is that while the government may have avoided a significant jump in energy prices in the longer term, there will still be smaller, short-term increases. This is because in order to pay for the transition towards renewable energy sources, the government must make a significant investment itself and so it needs to pass on some of the costs to end users through their energy bills. The reforms will steadily begin to fall into place over the coming years, starting this spring, so it’s important that business owners begin to take steps to limit their energy consumption soon, in order to offset the inevitable rise in costs. A very simple first step is to conduct an audit of your lighting and standard electrical appliances to ensure that they’re as efficient as possible, making replacements where necessary.Though, as any business owner will testify, enacting cultural change is no mean feat, and in some cases technology might provide a quicker, if not more expensive, option. Automatic lighting systems are a good example for turning electric lights off when they are not needed without relying on busy employees to remember. Timer systems can also be used to ensure office computers, water coolers, televisions and other non-essential equipment is turned off at the end of the day. Clearly, for some businesses the nature of their operation and the equipment they use will be far more energy intensive than in the average office. In these cases the potential for rising energy costs to have an impact on the bottom line are obviously much greater, and you should investigate whether there is a case for investing in replacements for older and more inefficient technology used on the floor.
Share this story