Pub Restaurants Energy Savings

Hard-pressed pubs could save over £11,000 a year by taking simple steps to cut their energy wastage.

That's the find of statutory property compliance specialist, BES Consulting, which today published a checklist that details the top five ways that publicans can slash their soaring utility bills.

BES Consulting, which has offices and surveyors across the UK, has produced Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs) for thousands of pubs and says most could make energy savings of upto 25%.

The top five ways to cut energy waste are:

1)  Fitting low-energy light bulbs.  Lighting typically represents 25% of the total utilities bill.  Low energy bulbs could save a medium-sized pub restaurant £4,000 a year and reduce management time spent replacing bulbs.

2)  Ensuring that timing, zoning and temperature controls for heating and boilers are correctly set.  Many pubs are paying for water to be heated in the middle of the night and waste money by heating the bar area when its closed.

3)  Closing cellar doors and minimising cellar areas using thermal curtains to reduce the level of cooling required.

4)  Fitting light sensitive sensors to outside lights so that they are not operating during daylight.

5)  Training staff to be mindful of energy and its impact on profitability.

"A large pub with a restaurant pays around £45,000 a year for energy," said Steve Daniels, Sales & Marketing Director, BES Consulting.  "It is easy to reduce this by around 25%.

We have worked with pubs across the country and we know that even small pubs could add £2,500 to their bottom line by cutting the amount of energy that they waste - and in today's market conditions this is a crucial saving.

As our checklist shows not all energy savings requires investment.  Behavioural changes alone can bring huge cost and environmental benefits - and even more reductions can be achieved with minimal and low cost building work.

Furthermore, customers expect all companies to be taking prudent measures to cut their carbon footprint and pubs need to show that they are taking steps to reduce the environmental impact of their businesses."

BES Consulting recently announced that it is investing £1 million in building the largest field-based team of surveyors qualified to help publicans to reduce their energy costs and receive Energy Performance Certificates (EPCs).