Despite having the term small in their business size, most small businesses end up spending a lot of money on electricity bills due to their energy consumption. A small business owner is already so busy managing employees and customers that it becomes difficult to manage to finance and track energy usage.
Per hour usage:
In 2020, the average unit rate of electricity per Kilowatt-hour was 14.83 small businesses. The average amount of electricity used for your business will depend on a plethora of different factors, starting with the industry you’re in, the weather & climate in which you’re located, and the types of equipment you use.
If your business stays open from dusk to dawn and your location experiences drastic heat or freezing cold, you can expect quite a bit of extra cash on your lighting, heating, and cooling costs. Employees can also have a strong effect on the amount of electricity used. Forgetful employees can often leave lights and ACs on which end up being paid by the company.
Calculate Energy Consumption
If you’re struggling to pay the absurd electric bills and want to cut down on your usage, its best to figure out where most of your energy is going and estimate how much it uses on a daily, weekly, and monthly basis to get a proper idea of how much you’ll be paying and how much you can save.
You can start by multiplying your device wattage by the number of hours the device is used per day, giving you the number of Watt-hours used on a daily basis. Then divide device usage by 1000 to convert Watt-hours into kilowatt-hours. Finally, multiply the number of kWh by 30. If you feel like this amount is too much, consider carrying out an energy business comparison.
Most energy consuming appliances
Depending on your type of business & your employees, once you have calculated how much energy you are using on a daily and monthly basis, you may be shocked to see certain appliances use more energy than you thought, costing you more than necessary. This may be due to faulty machinery or employee negligence.
The biggest culprits are usually the lights which may easily cost you a lot if you’re using the higher intensity ones. Electric heaters and ACs also send a huge punch to your electric bill. These are usually the main two types of appliances that hurt your energy bill, the other appliances you will own will depend on your business type.
How to Reduce Energy Consumption:
You have assessed how much energy you are using on a daily and monthly basis and have rooted out which pesky appliances are hurting your wallet the most. It is now time to take action. You can start by limiting certain lights that you frequently turn on or consider replacing them with some LED bulbs, which draws less power overall and can cut power usage for lighting by 75%. Cutting down on AC and heater usage can also save you a lot of watts but at the cost of the comfort of you and your employees. A poorly insulated building will also cost you a lot so consider proper building insulation to help boost your energy-saving tactics.
Conclusion
Small businesses can end up using a lot of energy unintentionally. If you use more than 100,000 kWh a year, you may be classed as a large business and handled accordingly.
