Utility Best Practice

Utility Best Practice is a zero-cost management programme that could save you in the region of 5-7% saving on your Gas, Electricity and Water bills on a monthly case. I have proved this. I was engaged on a very large Leisure Group to help them drive down their energy and we were achieving a 7% year on year saving to their bottom line.

I will be honest it did not happen over night and we were learning as we went, and as every property was visited, we were finding more and more individual initiatives that were then implemented at group level. I must also state it was important that 100% of the properties had to be assessed.

A Utility Best Practice manual was written and shared to all the key staff and more importantly when ‘new’ staff joined they were issued with this as part of their initiation course and it formed part of the Employee Handbook.

Areas to focus your ‘Best Practice’

1. Opening of the premises in line with the property opening for business or staff arriving – the times I have arrived 2 hours before opening and the property is in full operation.
2. Closing of the premises in line with the property closing after there is a close of business – the same as number 1, but at the end of the day.
3. Areas not being used in the building especially Meeting Rooms or Function Rooms. Try and keep these shut down when not in use.
4. Kitchen and Catering areas always good areas to focus on what I would call ‘Bad Practices’
   1. Gas Rings on when not in use – this is instant heat and does not need to be left on when not in use.
   2. Ovens on when not in use
   3. Grills on Full when not in use – this could be put into ‘half load’
   4. Dripping Taps
   5. Walk-in Fridges left open
   6. Fridges empty but left on – Especially in satellite kitchens
   7. storeroom Lighting Left on
   8. External Lighting operation
   9. Air conditioning Set points not set within efficient parameters. Try and develop a brand standard.
   10. Time Clocks and Building Management System settings ensure right times and correct setting based on points 1 and 2.
5. Billing
   2. Correct Contract
   3. Ensure no estimation
   4. Complete monthly meter reads
   5. Sign off process
6. Plant Room Reviews
   1. Ensure there are no Leaks
   2. Make sure plant not in Override (running 24/7)
   3. Ensure lagging is all in place
   4. Ensure all plant is maintained and is working efficiently
   5. Maintenance team to complete a daily check in this area and report any issues

What drives ‘Best Practice’?

Communications and Data drives best practice and when combined in the right measures the balance will deliver the savings because it makes the team accountable. In most cases when your looking at groups or individual properties monitoring your utilities on a daily basis makes a big impact. In some cases that is all you need to do and that is provide staff with a graph as to what their utility consumption is doing (just watch it start to trend down).

Where to start?

Our recommendation where to start would be easy:

1. Develop a team that covers off all areas
   1. Director
   2. Operations
   3. Maintenance
   4. Catering
   5. Cleaning
   6. Security
   7. Reception
2. The Team need to meet monthly and set targets and develop a plan
3. Market and Communicate this team is in place
4. The Team need to do Quarterly reviews themselves with a documented report. Try to get the team to work together.
5. Audit the process monthly and carry out a full walk round monthly by the maintenance team.

By following this guide, you could experience savings between 5 -7% overnight and year on year.