Before You Cut Costs, Find Out Where Your Energy Is Going

Before You Cut Costs, Find Out Where Your Energy Is Going

You can cut a useful budget while energy waste keeps taking money from your business every day.

Someone delays a repair. A training session is cancelled. Your team is asked to do more with less.

Meanwhile, equipment runs between jobs, heating follows an old timetable and nobody knows how much energy the site uses after work ends.

The business feels the pressure of the cuts. The waste carries on.

Before you decide where to spend less, it helps to understand what you are paying for. Energy is a good place to look because the bill gives you a cost without explaining every reason behind it.

A high bill may lead to a quick search for a cheaper deal. Your daily use also deserves a review.

Which activities need energy to deliver useful work? Where is energy being used without a clear need? Who can explain an unexpected rise?

Those questions can help you make better decisions about the next pound you spend.

ISO 50001 energy management gives businesses a structure for this work. It helps you understand energy use, choose actions and check whether performance improves.

An energy management system is the way your business plans and manages its energy use. It includes the people responsible, the information you collect and the checks used to see how well things are working.

ISO 50001 sets out requirements for that system. Its approach includes an energy policy, targets, decisions based on data and regular reviews of results.

The current published edition is ISO 50001:2018. It applies to businesses of different sizes and types, and supports better energy performance.

For a small office, the main areas may include heating and equipment. A factory may need to understand production machines, compressed air and other large uses.

The right actions will depend on the work.

Start by finding out where the energy goes and which choices affect it. That gives you a clearer basis for deciding whether a change to working hours, a repair or new equipment is likely to help.

Keep the purpose close to the business. Better information should help people make decisions they can explain and review.

Energy use and energy cost need separate attention.

Your bill can change because the price changes, because you use more energy or because other charges change. A lower bill may reflect a cheaper rate even if the business has used more.

Here is a made-up electricity example. Electricity use is measured in kilowatt-hours, shown as kWh.

The business used 10% less electricity, yet the charge for that electricity rose. These figures cover the energy used; other bill charges would add to the total.

Looking at both use and price helps you understand what happened.

When reviewing an energy project, check the change in energy use and the effect on cost. Keep the price assumptions clear so another person can follow the calculation.

This makes it easier to discuss whether a change worked and what it might mean for future spending.

A useful energy review begins with the information you already have.

ISO 50001 calls for analysis of past and present energy use and consumption, alongside information needed to understand the main uses and factors that affect them.

Gather bills and available meter readings for the sites you want to review. Include the energy types used within the work covered by your system. Electricity may be one; gas and vehicle fuel may also matter.

Check that the records refer to the right site and period. Note any estimated readings or missing information that could affect your view.

Then add the business details that help explain the figures. You might need opening hours, production records or information about a new machine.

A year of records can be a useful starting point where seasonal changes matter. A newer business may need to build a suitable record over time.

The period should help you understand normal work and important changes.

You may discover that nobody has brought these records together before. Finance holds the bills, a site manager knows the opening hours and another team handles equipment.

Connecting that information can make the figures much more useful.

Next, look at when energy is being used.

The Carbon Trust explains that metering and monitoring can help businesses identify energy waste, measure savings and support decisions about energy projects.

If you can access readings through the day, compare them with the times your business is active. Look at weekends and periods when fewer people are on site.

An unexpected rise gives you a reason to ask questions.

Some equipment needs to keep running. Work out which use supports a necessary function and which might be avoidable.

An office heating timer may still match working hours from several years ago. A machine may be left running because the team has never agreed a clear stopping routine.

Speak to the people responsible for the equipment before deciding on a change. They can explain what the work requires.

A walk around the site can help connect a reading with a real activity. Take notes about what is running and why.

If the main meter cannot answer a useful question, consider whether more detailed measurement is justified. Let the question guide the information you collect.

Focus effort where it can make a worthwhile difference.

ISO 50001 includes identifying significant energy uses. These are uses that account for a substantial amount of energy, offer considerable scope for improvement, or both.

In plain terms, find the areas that deserve closer attention.

A large piece of equipment may use a lot because it carries out an important job. The useful question is whether it can do that job more efficiently.

A smaller system may offer a good opportunity because it runs for long periods when it is barely needed.

Review the energy involved and the practical scope for change.

For example, a business might first look at the hours a packing machine runs between orders. Another might find that its main opportunity is in how a building is heated.

The priority should come from the evidence you have gathered.

Keep a clear reason for choosing each area. That helps managers understand why a task deserves time or money and makes the plan easier to explain to staff.

You also need a fair starting point for comparison.

ISO 50001 uses energy baselines and performance measures to assess improvement. A baseline is a reference drawn from suitable energy information, against which later performance is compared.

You can explain it to your team as the starting point used to judge progress.

Choose information that represents the work being reviewed. Record why you chose it and how later results will be compared.

A quiet month may give a poor view of a business that normally works at a much higher level. A cold winter may affect heating use compared with a mild one.

The comparison needs to take account of important factors that significantly affect energy use. That is part of making energy performance measures meaningful.

For a production business, output may be one such factor. Energy used per item can sometimes help, although the right method depends on the work and other factors involved.

A building may need to consider weather and the hours it is used.

Agree a suitable method with someone who understands the figures. Keep it consistent so a later change in the result can be investigated properly.

This helps you judge whether you have improved performance.

Your staff can help explain the patterns you find.

The person using a machine may know why it is left running between jobs. A cleaner may know that lights remain on after most staff leave.

Someone may have changed a setting to deal with a fault, then left it in place because the original problem was never resolved.

A conversation can reveal the reason behind a habit.

Give people a clear way to raise these points. Ask what they have noticed and what would make a useful change easier to follow.

Avoid placing the whole task with one busy person who has little contact with the work. The people involved need enough time and information to carry out their part.

If you agree a new routine, explain the reason and show staff what to do. Make it clear who can answer questions.

Follow up after the change has been used for a while. Staff may spot a problem that the first plan missed.

Their experience can help you adjust the process and keep the improvement working.

Turn the findings into a plan your team can use.

ISO 50001 action plans cover what will be done, the resources needed, who is responsible, the timescale and how results will be checked.

Begin with a task you can describe clearly. “Reduce energy use” gives a broad aim, but it leaves staff guessing about the next step.

A more useful action could be to review a heating schedule against the hours a particular area is used.

Give the task an owner. Agree what information is needed and who can approve any change.

Decide how you will check the result before the work begins. Keep a record of what changed and when, so later readings can be understood.

Allow for training or specialist input where the job needs it. These are part of the cost of making the change work.

Review progress at agreed points and follow up delays while they can still be dealt with.

A small completed action, with a clear result, can give you useful evidence for the next decision.

The same care matters when you buy equipment.

ISO 50001 includes considering energy performance over the expected working life of purchases that can significantly affect it. Relevant suppliers also need to understand when energy performance forms part of your buying decision.

That helps you look at the costs involved after the purchase.

Ask how much energy the equipment is expected to use for your actual workload. Find out what assumptions sit behind the supplier’s figures.

A machine designed for a much larger workload may be a poor fit for a small operation, even if it performs well in the supplier’s tests.

Review installation, maintenance and the support needed to use it properly. Consider how long the equipment is expected to remain in service.

If an option costs more to buy, compare that extra cost with the expected savings and other benefits over time. Use realistic hours and make the energy price assumption clear.

Ask how the result will be checked once the equipment is working.

This gives the person approving the purchase a clearer view of the decision and its likely effect on future costs.

New projects deserve the same review while decisions can still be changed.

ISO 50001 requires energy considerations in the design of new or changed sites, equipment, systems and processes that can have a significant effect on energy performance.

For a business planning a new work area, energy questions can be discussed alongside how the space will be used. Bring in the people who know the working hours and the equipment involved.

A plan may need different arrangements for areas used at different times. A change in production could affect what heating or cooling is needed.

Keep the information available to the people making the design and buying decisions.

Senior leaders also need to review the energy system and its performance at planned intervals, using the information to make decisions about improvement.

Give that review a clear purpose. Show what has changed, which actions remain open and where a decision is needed.

For cost control, this can help leaders see which improvements are supported by evidence and where more work is needed before spending is approved.

Bring the people who manage the money into the review of each proposed change.

Finance may understand the energy price and the way costs are recorded. The team doing the work can explain what will change on site and how much time it will take.

Suppose a repair needs a short break in production. Its full cost may include the repair itself and the time needed to stop and restart the work.

Planning it alongside an existing pause could make the task easier to carry out. That detail can change the case for when the work should happen.

Include these practical costs when comparing options. Give the person approving the spend enough information to understand the estimate and the expected benefit.

If you already use ISO 9001 or ISO 14001, you may also be able to use some existing processes for training, records and reviews. ISO 50001 follows a management approach designed to work alongside other ISO systems.

Keep the energy information clear within those shared arrangements. People still need to understand the measures used, the tasks they own and the results being reviewed.

This can help make energy work part of the way you already run the business.

The benefits of ISO consultant support can become clear when you have plenty of information but little time to make sense of it.

You may have energy bills and equipment records without an agreed way to bring them together. Perhaps someone has been asked to lead the work alongside an already full role.

Compliant can help you review your arrangements, understand ISO 50001 requirements and plan the work needed for your certification goals.

A useful discussion starts with what you want to achieve. Explain which sites are involved, what information you have and where the current process is causing difficulty.

You can then review the support needed for gathering evidence, setting clear tasks and checking progress.

Compliant’s published ISO process includes help with management systems and ongoing audit support. The external certification body carries out the certification assessment.

If you choose certification, build the preparation around a system that works in daily use. ISO 50001 requires continual improvement in energy performance, so evidence of progress matters alongside records of the actions you take.

Discuss the work and costs involved so you can assess the full plan.

You can begin with a focused review of one area.

Choose a site, process or piece of equipment where you have a useful question. Gather the available energy records and speak to the people who understand the work.

Check what the information can tell you and where there are gaps. Agree one practical action and a way to review the result.

Keep the energy figure and the financial effect clear. That makes the evidence easier to use when you plan the next step.

ISO 50001 energy management can help turn this work into a regular business process. Over time, it gives you a structure for reviewing use, managing actions and checking improvements.

The financial benefit will depend on the changes made, the cost of carrying them out and the prices you pay. Use the evidence from your own business when deciding what to do next.

Before cutting a useful budget, find out whether energy waste is still taking money from your business.

Speak to Compliant about your certification plans and learn how ISO 50001 can help you understand energy use and support better cost control.