UK firms urged to appoint energy tsars to save costs and environment

UK businesses are losing millions in wasted energy costs despite pressure over reducing corporate carbon footprints.

The warning follows research by The Energy Bureau of nearly 500 businesses, which showed losses of more than £7.5m – a staggering £15,500 per business each year.

Moreover, the energy consultancy, which is part of building management systems specialist TAC, believes that the loses are only a snapshot of a bigger problem.

It says that with 1.67 million VAT registered business across the country the total amount of energy – and money – wasted each year could be huge.

TAC is now urging larger firms with an annual utility bill of more than £1m to appoint their own Energy Tsar to plug the haemorrhaging cost of waste and carbon emissions.

Keith Burnett, TAC UK’s energy services manager, believes that the problem lies in a disconnect between facilities managers whose remit is to manage costs and the accounts department where energy bills are traditionally sent.

“Before you can improve your energy efficiency, you have to be able to measure it. All too often, the energy manager is typically someone who does the job as an add on to their other responsibilities,” he said.

“In many cases they do not even see the bills so he or she has no idea on the consumption of energy let alone how to improve it.”

Mr Burnett said that although many organisations were looking to invest in initiatives such as wind turbines it amounted to very little in real terms.

The Energy Bureau, which initially conducts free remote investigations of sites before carrying out a more detailed onsite analysis, claims that the return on investment for the energy audits is minimal and that most costs can be reclaimed in under one year.

It works on a conversion principle that for every £10 wasted an equal amount can be saved.

Audits of around 145 retail sites calculated £1.1m in savings, £1.9m for 124 leisure locations, £795,790 for 14 manufacturing sites and £1.3m for 31 financial services locations.

And it’s not just the cash being burned but the CO2 emitted. Conservative estimates from the study also revealed at least 455,443 tonnes of CO2 was being needlessly emitted, although TAC believes the figure to be much higher.

“UK companies should urgently put in place energy strategies that go beyond corporate posturing over their green credentials,” said Mr Burnett.