The size and location of your business will affect your cost of business electricity. However, did you
know that the type of business you have will also affect your business electricity costs? Below we
have looked at the typical business electricity costs for three different types of business. While these
costs for electricity for businesses have been created to give you a rough guide, this will help you see
if you’re paying too much for the electricity for your business.
Business Electricity Costs for an Office
An office based business can vary from one or two people, to dozens of people, dependent on the
size of the office unit. However, when it comes to the business electricity costs for an office, it is
down to how the business energy is used. For example, most people in the office will be operating
almost exclusively online – and this is where the business electricity is being used.
The Chartered Institute of Building Service Engineers (also known as CIBSE) recently shared a report.
This report shows that a small office based business can expect to pay somewhere between £5 and
£6.50 per year in energy costs based on every square metre of the office space. It is reported that
around 85% of these costs are electricity costs. Gas is rarely used in office based businesses, apart
from some premises where gas is used for the heating and hot water.
To give you a rough guide of what you should expect to pay for the electricity in your office based
business we have completed the following. If the average costs were £6.50 per square metre of the
office, per year, then you would be looking at an annual business electricity bill of £2,762.50. If you
are paying more than this or about this then call our team. We may be able to save you money.
Business Electricity Costs for a Retail Store
Where the electricity costs for the office cover the employees working on computers, the electricity
costs for a retail store go towards keeping employees and customers comfortable. By this we mean
lighting and heating so products can be clearly seen in the store and the store is a comfortable
temperature for everyone. The Carbon Trust estimated the average amount of energy consumption
for a retailer is around 27,350 kWh per year.
Unlike households where you can take advantage of off-peak cheaper electricity rates, this is rarely
possible for retail stores as they are open during these peak times. As well as the additional heating
and electricity that needs to be factored in for retail stores, some will also have fridges, freezers and
air conditioning units that need to be factored into the electricity usage too. All of these things will
increase the overall electricity costs for a retail store.
So, let’s look at a rough guide of what you can expect business electricity cost wise for a retail store.
If we use the research by Carbon Trust the annual electricity consumption comes in at 27,350 kWh.
A daily standing charge will come in at around 23.33 pence. The price could be around 13.11 pence
per kWh. This would total £3,607.74 per annum for the retail business. Once VAT is factored in, this
would be £4,404.89 per year.
Business Electricity Costs for a Restaurant
Very few businesses have the same electricity requirements as a restaurant. The lighting and heating
in a restaurant is needed for much longer hours than your typical business. There is all the additional
requirement of electricity for ovens, deep-fat fryers, fridges, freezers, dishwashers, microwaves and
more. Due to all the electrical appliances in a restaurant and kitchen, the business energy costs for a
restaurant can be extremely high.
If we were to make a conservative estimate for the electricity usage in your standard restaurant, you
would be looking at around 20.600 million kWh per year, across the catering industry in the UK. It
has been predicted that there are around 88,850 catering and hospitality businesses in the UK. This
puts the average electricity consumption at 231,861 kWh each year for the typical restaurant.
Many restaurants will use electricity and gas as their energy source. However, it is electricity that
accounts for the majority of energy used by a restaurant. The running of the fridges, powering the
ovens and running ventilators is all heavily reliant on electricity, as opposed to gas. Electricity is
essential to many aspects of the food and beverage businesses – but it does come at a cost!
Now let’s look at the average business electricity costs for a restaurant. Let’s say that it’s 13.11
pence per kWh of electricity. A standing charge will be around 23.09 per day. A typical restaurant
will use 139.117 kWh per year. This should total an annual business electricity bill of £18,322.52 for
the restaurant. When the VAT is added this will be £21,987.02 per year.
If you have looked at these estimates of an annual electricity bill for businesses and yours comes in
higher, we would recommend you call us. We can find the best quote for your business electricity
and hopefully save you money.