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At Utility Helpline our aim is to save your company money and valuable time by sourcing the right business energy deals for you. It's reassuring to know that at the purchasing end of your energy costs, keeping those business utility bills down is taken care of. But in one sense this doesn't look at the bigger picture – it's all very well to be paying the right price but what if your business is wasting energy in the first place? More and more businesses are cutting costs by using utilities more efficiently and reviewing their energy consumption. Making even small changes can have a significant impact on your bottom line. Energy efficiency for your business The Carbon Trust quotes potential savings of 15% on resource costs, so where should you start? The first step is a site audit; this should identify opportunities for energy use reductions and also help you prioritise your efforts. Some of the areas you might look at include

• Heating and ventilation systems
• Production equipment
• Office spaces

For example, savings could be achieved by managing production schedules so that the equipment which consumes the most energy is used when energy costs less. Capital investment might be needed to address some of the issues highlighted by an audit but you're likely to see a substantial effect on your business utility bills and a worthwhile rate of return (48% on average, with payback within three years according to the Carbon Trust). Making big changes to the way you do things is going to have an impact on people so getting buy-in across the business is key. Senior management support will help you get the green light on investment and help drive behavioural change within your company. Buy-in from the rest of the business, the people who will be implementing any changes, is also key. This is where an audit which puts forward a strong business case for change, can help. Highlighting not only the costs savings (energy tends to be the biggest business overhead after salaries) but also the knock on effect on your carbon footprint and the associated environmental benefits. Utility Helpline offer tailor Energy Efficiency services to businesses of all sizes. Contact us on FREEPHONE: 0800 043 0423 for more information.