How to Cut your Business Electricity Costs

I won’t waste your time. You want to cut your business electricity costs. I’m going to tell you how.
Read on and don’t bother thanking me. You’ve got an office to run and a world to take over.

Office Lights
A lot of offices keep their lights on, all day, whether it’s summer, winter, night or day. This is a terrible waste and an easy way to cut down on your energy costs. So, don’t do it.

First things first, turn the lights off a night. When I walk past a ground floor office, lit like a shop window I do not stop and think ‘ooh, how pretty’ or ‘that company must be doing extremely well if they can keep their space lit all night. I must buy their product.’ No. I keep on walking imagining the huge amounts of money they’re throwing down the toilet every night, or how easily I could smash a window and grab that iMac.

If you absolutely must keep lights on overnight – so your security can see any smash-and-grab chancers like me coming – then make sure they’re dim.
For day-time stuff, try not having any lights on at all. If you see your staff falling asleep in a dark corner, then you’d better turn them on, but make sure they’re energy-saving. Spirals are cool and they can save the planet, too.
One last thing, please don’t expect your staff to remember to turn lights off. They’re too busy thinking how to steal your pencils and loo-roll. Invest in timed light switches and you’ll reap the benefit. You’ll also get the added bonus of hilarity, when your staff sit there in darkness, rather than stand up and activate them again. Priceless.

Computers
Unfortunately, it’s hard to find computers with timed power switches. You can try to ask your staff to turn them off, but don’t be surprised when they forget, deny they even use that computer, or go full hog and turn off the fridge, as well, resulting in a sticky swamp of a kitchen.
You can’t whip them when they forget and you’re far too busy to do it yourself, so get someone who leaves late (a cleaner, or your security) to turn everything off as part of their duties.
In case you’re confused, when I say turn something off, I mean turn them off, completely. Setting it to ‘sleep’ is not good enough, neither simply shutting down the monitor (you’re not fooling anyone, Sandra).
Meters and Companies
This is so obvious, I feel like I’m wasting everyone’s time – which I hate – but for completion’s sake, check your meter readings regularly and compare supplier’s prices. There’s no point paying for energy you’re not using and if someone else can give it to you cheaper than say hello to your new best friend.
This will be tedious, so give it to the temp or intern you can never remember the name of. They’ll love the responsibility and it’s a genuinely useful task. Then get them to make you a cup of tea and shout at them when they get it wrong.

Derek Blythe works for www.businesselectricityprices.org.uk the UK's #1 in finding cheap business electricity prices. He’s been known to buy the odd round in the pub, but but likes to play aggressive in the office.

Photo By fsse8info on Flickr License By http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en