Business energy for shops

As a business owner in a retail environment, you’ll know that energy costs can account for a considerable chunk of your monthly outgoings.

Lighting the shop floor or displays, powering equipment and appliances, as well as heating and cooling your shop all costs money, which could otherwise be a profit to your business.

Fortunately, there are lots of ways you can start cutting down on the amount your business spends on energy.

How to get the best gas & electricity prices for shops

You may not be paying the most competitive rate for your business energy – particularly if you haven’t given much thought to your energy bills or switched in a while. Switching to a more competitive deal - whether through your current supplier or by moving to a new one - is one of the quickest you can start reducing your shop’s gas and electricity bills.

That’s where UKPower comes in. We make it easy to compare energy deals and switch to a better rate – and it’s completely free, too.

Energy efficiency tips for shops

As well as switching your supplier, there are lots of other changes you could make in your shop to help reduce the amount of energy you use, and cut your gas and electricity bills. By making a few key changes, you could make your shop more energy efficient and cut your energy bills by as much as 20%.

Shop heating

• Replace your boiler. While this may seem like a drastic and expensive step, the savings you make on your energy bills will offset the upfront costs.
• Keep the temperature constant. Spikes in temperature are costly, so try to maintain a constant temperature between 19° and 21°C – this will give you more manageable bills as well as happy staff and customers.

Shop cooling and refrigeration

• Avoid excessive cooling in your shop. As a rule of thumb, you should only use the air conditioning if temperature rises above 26°C.
• Make sure all your refrigerators and freezers are properly maintained - door seals should be in good condition, and fans and vents should not be blocked or dusty.

Shop lighting

• Choose motion-activated lighting options for staff and stock rooms, as these will turn off automatically if no one is in the room.
• Replace standard bulbs with low energy options. Low energy bulbs provide the same strength as a standard option, are kinder to the environment, and last eight times longer than their traditional counterparts. If you use fluorescent tube lighting in your shop, you could also replace this for slim line fluorescent tubes, as these use 25% less electricity.
• Consider installing solar panels on the roof of your shop premises. This not only helps to reduce your energy bills, but helps you do your bit for the environment, too.

Electrical equipment

• Encourage your staff to use electrical equipment more efficiently manner. This could be as simple as only filling kettles with as much water as you need, or turning off computers or other appliances when they’re not being used.
• Avoid using standby mode or screensaver options on PCs where possible. Equipment in these modes use as much as 70% of the power they would use while being operated.
• Read energy efficiency labels when buying new equipment, particularly for appliances such as fridges, freezers and dishwashers, as these provide be a good indicator of how much it will cost to run them in the long-term.

How to cut your shop’s gas and electricity costs

UKPower has already helped thousands of retail business customers save on their energy bills, so why not see if we can do the same for you?

Switching your energy is simple and hassle free. To get started and find a better deal on your shop’s energy prices, all you need to do is enter your details in our online business gas and/or business electricity comparison forms to get a quote, or give one of our expert advisors a call on 0800 688 8773 to discuss your options.