GUEST BLOG: How to cut the cost of commercial gas heating

By Sam Allcock, owner of BusinessGas.co.uk

With the costs associated to business energy bills constantly changing in align with the rate of inflation, the heating that your business consumes can be one of your most expensive overheads.

Natural gas prices are known to fluctuate regularly and on the rare occasion that a new development cuts off your business’ heating supply, prices can soar. The only difference between natural and commercial gas is that the latter has much larger consumption, resulting in significantly higher bills for your business.

Recently, many entrepreneurs have searched for alternative solutions to lower the cost of their business’ heating, with some methods proving more successful than others.

Not only does optimising your heating’s operation system benefit greatly on the environment but the financial benefits that you receive will be visible in as little as 12 months. Cutting the cost of your commercial heating bills is the key to reducing your overheads – it’s a win-win situation all-round!

Here are the best ways to cut the cost of your commercial gas heating and how to get the most out of your current business energy supplier:

Adjusting the thermostat – Automatically regulating the temperature that a room stays at, many businesses use a boiler thermostat as a way to control their heating. However, they are usually set at much higher temperatures than they need to be and result in more heat energy being produced than is needed.

To avoid over-heating your property you should ensure that your heating system does not allow the temperature of your environment to surpass 20°C. 16°C is the ideal temperature for labour-intensive industries such as mining and agriculture, whereas 20°C is the optimum setting for the majority of office environments.

Because the amount of energy your commercial property uses is the main influencer of the price you pay for your bills, using less power to regulate a lower temperature is a great way to reduce your commercial heating costs.

Surplus heating – If your commercial property has poorly draught-proofed doors and windows in its structure, surplus heating may have an impact on your bills. Typically, 25% of a building’s heat is lost through windows and doors and with this percentage being much higher in larger properties; surplus heating is a cause for concern for many business-owners.

Draught-proofing all of the doors and windows in your commercial properly is the best way to avoid surplus heating, as well as ensuring that all vents are closed in offices throughout periods of cold weather. Treat internal doors the same as you would exterior doors – ensuring that they are air tight to prevent any internal heat escaping.

Not only does optimising your heating’s operation system benefit greatly on the environment but the financial benefits that you receive will be visible in as little as 12 months

Insulation or reflective strips – Placing silver foil down the back of a radiator to reflect otherwise-lost heat back into your room isn’t just an old wives’ tale – it actually works!

Specialist insulation or reflective strips can be stuck to the wall behind the radiators in your property using strong wallpaper paste and works especially well when reducing the amount of heat lost through single-skin walls. Working by reflecting otherwise lost heat energy back into the room; reflective strips can be beneficial for reducing your energy consumption.

Use personal heaters – Having employees that work best at certain temperatures is not uncommon – especially when working in an office environment. Even though the use of personal heaters can be an inefficient solution for keeping the peace, they definitely can have a number of positive impacts on your heating habits when used efficiently.

This is achievable by ensuring that the heaters are not being left on when not in use; which requires more power to be generated and in turn, adding extra costs onto your bill. You can also adjust the thermostat on personal heaters to be similar of that on the boiler, making sure that both the temperature and timer work to your advantage.

The position of a personal heater can also have an impact on reducing the cost of your commercial gas heating. Situating the machines in a closed space that benefit several people simultaneously is a great way to reduce the amount of extra heaters that you need and turning off the machine in unoccupied areas can help with lowering your business’ energy consumption.

Photo (above): 드림포유