Cost-saving practices
Research commissioned by Smart Energy GB in early 2023 found that many businesses are actively seeking cost-saving measures to deal with increasing energy prices.
The study of 500 adults, who either own small businesses or are decision-makers in an organisation, uncovered that companies are making an average of 6 changes to reduce energy consumption. This includes companies encouraging staff to be more energy friendly and looking at new premises.
29% of companies have reduced the temperature of the boiler, 26% have turned off radiators in some rooms and 24% have lowered the thermostat.
On top of that, 20% of organisations have gone paperless. Energy efficiencies were gained by encouraging staff to work from home, not overfilling the kettle, and not regularly running the dishwasher. 32% of businesses have also invested in energy-efficient light bulbs.
But for some companies these small changes are not enough. Nearly 1 in 5 companies (19%) have decided to reduce their opening hours and exactly one-third of small businesses said they are “very likely” to move premises.
Summarising the situation, Director at Smart Energy GB, Victoria Bacon said: ‘As business owners continue to reduce their energy usage wherever possible, actions such as changing to LED lightbulbs and turning off the lights when rooms are not being used are now increasingly commonplace.
‘As is encouraging staff to adopt more energy-saving behaviours.’
Managing finances in a small business
Although most survey respondents saw the benefits that being more energy efficient had on the environment, there is no doubt that these reductions in usage have spawned from pressure to combat growing costs.
Concerningly, 58% of small businesses said that they were not sure about the best way to cut costs and 35% noted that they felt there was not enough information available to them.
Courses like Help to Grow: Management can equip business leaders with the tools to become more resilient in these challenging times. Whether it is creating an operations model that helps managers track rising costs and address issues or giving people the skills in financial management to grow their business
You can find out more about Help to Grow: Management here.