Energy Monitoring for Businesses: How to Track Usage and Cut Costs

The Importance of Energy Monitoring

Relying on monthly bills alone gives you a limited snapshot of your consumption. Energy monitoring tools reveal detailed patterns in real-time, allowing your business to:

• Identify inefficient processes or equipment
• Reduce operational and seasonal costs
• Support sustainability and ESG reporting
• Forecast energy usage more accurately for procurement

With the right data, energy becomes something you control strategically instead of something you react to at the end of each month.

How Business Energy Monitoring Works

Business energy monitoring systems use readings from smart meters, sub-meters and sensors to track consumption. The process typically includes:

Measuring Energy Usage

• Smart business meters track electricity and gas in intervals as frequent as every 15 minutes
• Half-hourly meters provide automated 30-minutereadings
• Sub-meters and sensors monitor specific machinery, circuits or departments

Data Communication

• Meters send data securely to cloud platforms through Wi-Fi or 4G
• This removes the need for manual meter readings and provides up-to-date usage information

Data Analysis and Reporting

• Software converts data into dashboards, reports and trend charts
• Businesses can monitor anomalies, track performance and compare usage across different areas or sites

Key Features and Insights

Modern energy monitoring systems offer tools to support better decision-making, including:

• Visual dashboards to highlight trends and consumption spikes
• Automated reporting on energy usage, costs and carbon emissions
• Alerts to flag sudden changes or equipment faults
• Benchmarking tools to compare usage across departments or multiple locations

These insights help teams understand how energy is used and take action quickly.

The Benefits of Monitoring Energy Usage

• Encourage efficient behaviour by giving staff visibility of real time usage
• Reduce costs by identifying waste and shifting usage to cheaper periods
• Improve forecasting through accurate historical data
• Strengthen sustainability reporting for ESG and compliance purposes

Different Types of Energy Monitoring Systems

• Smart meter monitoring using your existing supplier-installed meters
• Business energy monitor display units for simple, single-site insights
• Energy Management Systems for more complex operations or on-site generation
• Industrial systems for detailed, machine-level or multi-site energy usage tracking

Setting Up Energy Monitoring for Your Business

Identify Your Requirements

Review your current bills and pinpoint the areas of highest energy consumption. Larger businesses may benefit from a full energy audit.

Install Monitoring Equipment

Upgrade to smart business meters or install sub-meters and sensors for more granular tracking. Many suppliers offer smart meters at no extra cost

Implement Monitoring Software

Connect your meters to a software platform that delivers automated analysis and reporting. This could be provided by your supplier or a third-party specialist.

Make Energy Monitoring Your Priority

Don’t wait for your next energy bill to highlight inefficiencies. With our partnerships across major UK suppliers and access to smart monitoring tools, we help businesses track energy usage more accurately and reduce costs fast. Visit our energy page to find out more.

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