Government launches campaign to help businesses drive down energy bills

A new campaign to help businesses, charities and public sector bodies increase their energy efficiency and drive down bills by making simple changes at low-to-no cost has been launched by the UK government.

The campaign, targeted at small and medium sized businesses, will offer guidance on how organisations can make significant savings while cutting emissions, from installing light and heating timers, to turning down boiler flow temperature and changing light bulbs.

Many organisations are already aware of ways to boost their energy efficiency and have put these measures into practice. However, a substantial number of businesses are missing out on huge potential savings, due to a lack of information on how to cut down on their energy costs.

A new website will help organisations access simple, low-to-no cost advice, outlining a range of possible actions, from having better sight of current energy use to upgrading and modifying equipment.

To make sure as many businesses as possible know about the campaign, it will be promoted through partnerships with the British Chambers of Commerce and Federation of Small Business and paid advertorial across TV, radio, social media and more.

It follows the launch of the government 's £18 million 'It All Adds Up ' campaign last year. This provides similar advice for households, saving them hundreds on their energy bills, and saw UK sales of 'draught protection products ' on eBay double shortly after the launch.

Minister for energy efficiency and green finance Lord Callanan said: “Falling wholesale energy prices are welcome news, but this in no way changes our firm, long-term commitments to vastly boost UK energy efficiency across industry and households.

“From today businesses, charities and public sector bodies can access helpful and practical advice on simple actions they can take to substantially reduce their energy use - and potentially increase profits.

“Not only will this help lower operational costs by up to hundreds of thousands of pounds, but smarter energy use will help us deliver on our critical pledges to cut demand by 15% and reach net zero by 2050. ”

Minister for energy consumers and affordability Amanda Solloway said: “This government will always be unapologetically pro-business. We 've spent over £5 billion to protect against disruption to UK industry at the hands of Putin, saving many businesses around half on their wholesale energy costs this winter.

“The new level of support offered today reflects a substantial drop in global energy prices - now at their lowest level since before Russia 's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Domestic heat networks will also receive a new, sector-specific support rate. This will make sure these customers do not face disproportionately higher energy bills under the Energy Bills Discount Scheme than those supported by the Energy Price Guarantee.

The discount is expected to be reflected in bills from May onwards, with support backdated to 1 April.

Further information about how eligible customers can apply will be provided on GOV.UK in due course.