With accommodation, spa, catering and laundry services to manage (to name just a few!), it probably comes as no surprise that the hotel and hospitality sector exceeds £1.3bn annually for energy spend.
Despite having to operate with a high energy usage, there are opportunities for energy saving and therefore improving your bottom line.
In this piece we’ll explore energy saving opportunities as well as the nest routes to market for your energy procurement.
We have more than one hotel, should I procure energy for them at the same time or separately?
Generally speaking, the more energy you use, the better the price will be from a supplier. So, rather than procuring for your hotels individually, consider grouping the hotels together as a package and buying in bulk. There is often a negotiation process involved when procuring collectively, however, an energy consultant will manage this whole process and liaise with your preferred supplier on your behalf.
Group procurement managed by an energy consultant will not only provide competitive pricing, but they should also ensure your multiple contracts are aligned in terms of end date. This will decrease the risk of you falling on to expensive out-of-contract rates with your supplier as there will only be one date to keep track of.
Is there any regulation that applies to my hotel?
Because hotels are often part of a chain, the employee headcount often amounts to over 250. Under regulation, if a business employs more than 250 people it falls under the qualifying criteria for the government’s Energy Saving Opportunity Scheme (ESOS).
The mandatory scheme is designed to assess energy use of businesses. In the UK, The Environment Agency is the administrator for the scheme.
To ensure compliance, your business needs to:
1: Work out how much energy you use per year
2: Identify where you could decrease your usage
3: Appoint a lead assessor
4: Inform the Environment Agency
Failure to comply with the regulation could result in fines of £60,000, which we covered in a previous blog on ESOS.
How can we manage and monitor the energy use of different areas of the hotel?
Following the implementation of ESOS in the hotel, you must be able to monitor how the energy saving scheme is performing. Through installation of sub-meters, you will gain the capability to measure and record the energy performance of specific areas.
Even if you do not fit the ESOS criteria, sub-metering provides insight that would be impossible to gain from one single meter for the whole building. With location specific meters, anomalies in usage are more easily identified so changes can be quickly made to rectify any issues or wastage.
Can I make better use of my energy to improve our environmental impact?
With the environment being frequently covered in national media, the public are becoming increasingly aware of their environmental impact and are making changes to limit carbon output.
Switching to a renewable tariff would automatically decrease your impact on the environment without you making any changes to your energy use. Renewable or Green tariffs provide energy that is sources from renewables rather than the burning of fossil fuels.
From a brand and reputation perspective, if your hotel is seen to be making a conscious effort to limit your environmental impact, you are already in better standing than competitors failing to do so.