Business Energy Benchmarking
How does your business' energy use stack up?
Find out with our industry-leading Energy Market Benchmarking tool and expert analysis! We'll show you how you compare and highlighting your potential.
Expert energy advice, tailored to your business
We like to get into the nitty gritty of your business and deliver a report that offers real value to you.
Our energy benchmarking reports are no exception.
By putting in the work to understand your business, how you operate, your consumption profile and then comparing this to our wealth of utility market data - specifically around your industry - this report lets you know exactly where you stand.
And if that’s not enough, if your annual energy spend is more than £250k then we’ll provide this benchmarking report for free.
What can you expect?
We’ll provide you with an industry leading data vs data comparison of your business against your industry average. But our benchmarking goes further than this, our online questionnaire helps us to get the best understanding of how your business works and allows us to provide detailed advice in our Energy Strategy Success Indicator (ESSI) Report.
Why benchmarking matters for your business
Energy benchmarking is more than a comparison of numbers on a spreadsheet. It is a strategic lens through which you can view your entire operation, identifying where you excel, where you lag, and where the greatest opportunities for improvement lie. By understanding how your energy consumption and costs compare to similar businesses in your sector, you gain a clear, data-driven foundation for decision-making. This is not about judgement; it is about insight. Whether you are a manufacturer, a retailer, a logistics firm, or a professional services provider, the principles of benchmarking apply universally: measure, compare, understand, act.
Many businesses operate under the assumption that their energy costs are simply a fixed overhead, an unavoidable line item that fluctuates with market prices. This mindset overlooks the significant influence that operational practices, equipment efficiency, procurement strategies, and behavioural factors can have on your overall energy spend. Benchmarking challenges that assumption by revealing the gap between your current performance and what is realistically achievable. When you see that a peer with a similar footprint is spending 15% less per unit of output, it prompts the critical question: why? The answer often lies in a combination of factors that are entirely within your control.
Furthermore, benchmarking provides a baseline for tracking progress over time. Without a clear understanding of where you stand today, it is impossible to measure the impact of any changes you make tomorrow. Whether you invest in new equipment, renegotiate your supply contracts, or implement an energy management programme, the value of those actions is only visible when compared against a robust benchmark. This is why our approach goes beyond a one-off snapshot; we help you establish a continuous improvement cycle that keeps your energy performance under constant review.
How our benchmarking process works
Our benchmarking methodology is designed to be thorough, transparent, and tailored to your specific circumstances. We begin with a detailed online questionnaire that captures the essential characteristics of your business: your industry sector, operational hours, facility size, production volumes or service metrics, existing equipment, and current energy contracts. This information is crucial because it allows us to normalise the data and ensure that comparisons are fair and meaningful. Comparing a 24/7 food processing plant to a 9-to-5 office block would be meaningless; our process ensures you are compared against genuinely comparable peers.
Once we have a clear picture of your operation, we draw upon our extensive database of utility market data, which includes consumption patterns, tariff structures, and efficiency benchmarks across a wide range of industries. We analyse your energy usage intensity – for example, kWh per square metre, per unit of production, or per employee – and compare it against the median, upper quartile, and best-in-class performers in your sector. This analysis highlights not only how you compare overall, but also where specific areas of over- or under-performance exist, such as high base load consumption, poor power factor, or excessive peak demand charges.
The output of this process is a comprehensive Energy Strategy Success Indicator (ESSI) Report. This report is not a generic template; it is a bespoke document that reflects your unique situation. It includes clear visualisations of your performance relative to your peers, a breakdown of the key drivers of your energy costs, and a prioritised list of recommendations for improvement. Each recommendation is assessed for its potential impact, estimated cost, and payback period, allowing you to make informed investment decisions. We also provide guidance on how to implement these recommendations, whether through our own Engineering Energy Efficiency services or through your in-house team.
What the data reveals: common findings
Over years of conducting benchmarking studies, we have identified several recurring themes that explain why businesses deviate from their industry averages. Understanding these common findings can help you anticipate what your own report might reveal and begin thinking about potential solutions even before the data is in.
- Inefficient procurement: Many businesses are simply paying too much for the energy they use, either because they have not revisited their contracts recently, are on inappropriate tariff structures, or have not taken advantage of market opportunities. Our benchmarking often reveals that a business could save 5-10% immediately through better Energy Procurement & Risk Management.
- Poor load factor: A low load factor – meaning your energy demand is spiky rather than smooth – can lead to higher network charges and less favourable contract terms. This is often caused by starting up all equipment at once, running large motors intermittently, or having poor production scheduling.
- Legacy equipment: Older HVAC systems, lighting, motors, and production machinery are typically far less efficient than modern alternatives. The capital cost of replacement can be daunting, but the operational savings often deliver a rapid return on investment.
- Lack of monitoring: Without sub-metering and real-time data, it is impossible to identify where energy is being wasted. Many businesses are surprised to learn that a significant portion of their consumption occurs outside of core operating hours, indicating equipment left running unnecessarily.
- Behavioural factors: Employee habits, such as leaving lights on, not reporting leaks in compressed air systems, or overriding building management controls, can have a measurable impact on energy use. Benchmarking can help quantify this and build a business case for staff engagement programmes.
These findings are not isolated; they often interact. For example, a business with legacy equipment may also have a poor load factor because the old machinery requires frequent start-stop cycles. Addressing one issue without considering the others may yield suboptimal results. That is why our benchmarking report takes a holistic view, mapping the interconnections between different aspects of your energy use and recommending a coordinated action plan.
Beyond the benchmark: turning insight into action
A benchmarking report is only valuable if it leads to change. We understand that many businesses struggle to move from insight to implementation, whether due to resource constraints, competing priorities, or uncertainty about where to start. That is why we offer a range of follow-on services designed to help you realise the potential identified in your report.
For many clients, the first step is to address procurement. By working with our Energy Procurement & Risk Management team, you can ensure that you are on the most competitive tariff and that your contract terms align with your operational needs. We can also help you implement a flexible purchasing strategy that takes advantage of market dips, rather than being locked into a fixed price that may not reflect current conditions.
If your report highlights significant inefficiencies in equipment or processes, our Engineering Energy Efficiency specialists can conduct a detailed site audit to identify specific measures, calculate costs and savings, and manage the implementation. This might include upgrading to LED lighting, installing variable speed drives, optimising HVAC controls, or recovering waste heat. We can also help you access government incentives or financing options that reduce the upfront capital burden.
For businesses that lack the internal resources to monitor and manage energy on an ongoing basis, our Energy Bureau Service provides a complete outsourced solution. We handle bill validation, consumption monitoring, anomaly detection, and reporting, freeing your team to focus on core activities. This service ensures that the gains identified in your benchmarking report are sustained over time, rather than being eroded by drift and inattention.
Who benefits most from benchmarking?
While any business can benefit from understanding its energy performance, certain types of organisations tend to gain the most from a formal benchmarking exercise. These include:
- Multi-site operations: If you operate multiple facilities, benchmarking can reveal significant variations in performance between sites. This allows you to identify best practices that can be replicated across the portfolio and to target underperforming sites for intervention.
- Energy-intensive industries: For sectors such as manufacturing, food processing, cold storage, and data centres, energy is a major cost component. Even a small percentage improvement in efficiency can translate into substantial financial savings.
- Businesses with sustainability goals: Many organisations have set targets for reducing carbon emissions or improving their ESG ratings. Benchmarking provides a baseline against which progress can be measured and helps identify the most cost-effective abatement opportunities.
- Growing businesses: If you are expanding, adding new facilities, or increasing production, benchmarking can inform your design and procurement decisions, ensuring that new assets are as efficient as possible from day one.
It is also worth noting that benchmarking is not a one-time exercise. Markets evolve, technologies improve, and your own operations change. We recommend revisiting your benchmark at least annually, or whenever there is a significant change in your business, such as a major capital investment, a change in production volumes, or a move to new premises. This ensures that your energy strategy remains aligned with your business objectives and that you continue to capture available opportunities.
Getting started with your free benchmark
If your annual energy spend exceeds £250,000, we will provide our comprehensive benchmarking report at no cost. This is not a teaser or a superficial overview; it is the same detailed analysis that we provide to our paying clients, delivered with the same level of rigour and insight. We believe that the value of the report speaks for itself, and many clients choose to engage us for further services after seeing the results.
To begin, simply complete our online questionnaire. It takes approximately 20-30 minutes and requires some basic information about your operations, such as floor area, operating hours, production output, and recent energy bills. The more accurate the data you provide, the more precise and actionable your benchmark will be. If you are unsure about any of the details, our team is available to assist you in gathering the necessary information.
Once we receive your completed questionnaire, we will analyse your data and prepare your ESSI Report. You can expect to receive the report within two to three weeks, depending on the complexity of your operation. We will then schedule a follow-up call to walk you through the findings, answer any questions, and discuss potential next steps. There is no obligation to purchase any additional services; our goal is simply to provide you with the insight you need to make better energy decisions.
In a business environment where every pound counts, understanding your energy performance is not a luxury – it is a necessity. Let us help you see where you stand and, more importantly, where you could be.