Energy Saving Advice for Care Homes & Nursing Homes

Dedicated tips and advice on saving energy and money on your energy bills within care homes and nursing homes, all whilst helping to keep your staff, visitors and residents warm and cosy…

Business energy contract due to renew? Call us on 0800 9777 000 or fill in our energy quote form to see how much you could save…

How to save money on Care Home’s energy bills

In recent years, the UK’s ageing population has resulted in an ever greater need for care home places, nursing home places and residential services to support the demands of our advancing generation.

According to Age UK – “There are now more people in the UK aged 60 and above than there are under 18”

With Social Care facing an estimated shortfall of around £2.5bn by 2020, we all need to face up to the fact that cuts will need to be made, or finances found from somewhere, which often means other services going without in order to meet the shortfall.

The elderly are also becoming increasingly dissatisfied with their standard of living and it’s no wonder. With over 2.9 million over 65s saying that they feel that they have no one to turn to for help and support and only as little as 45% of people aged 50 and over saying that they are confident that older people who receive care services are treated with dignity and respect.

Should you switch or renew your care home’s energy supplier?

There are options available to your care home and nursing home, which will not impose on the quality of living of your residents, the working conditions of staff or your ability to run your business.

Our experience dictates that energy saving in care homes and nursing homes is a strong and successful overhead reduction tactic. You can incorporate it into pretty much every aspect of your business to reduce both costs and your environmental impact which in turn could make your business the care home or nursing home of choice to environmentally conscious residents.

“In total, the UK’s healthcare sector spends more than £400 million per year on energy. Unfortunately, a significant proportion of this is wasted, meaning that money is being wasted too.” Carbon Trust

Where do you use most of your energy in your care home?

Image Source: Carbontrust.com

The best way to identify how you can make energy savings is by investigating what you already use…

In the pie chart image (right), you can see the typical energy usage distribution for primary healthcare services.

Exchange Utility’s team of energy experts have explored the energy-saving possibilities that are open to care homes and nursing homes and conjured a list of pathways that have the potential to save your business thousands of pounds collectively.

This is funding that you would then be free to reinvest in training, facilities and the overall well-being of your business.

Check your care home or nursing home energy bills

The Competition Markets Authority estimates that over 1.3 million businesses are overpaying on their energy contracts, resulting in suppliers accumulating approximately £500 million each year in EXCESS profits!

This can be due to several reasons, including selecting inappropriate tariffs for your business needs or allowing your business to go out of contract which results in you being placed onto more costly tariffs.

To combat this, and potentially save up to 47% on your business energy spend, all you need to do is contact a member of staff at Exchange Utility on 0800 9777 000 for a completely independent tariff review.

Our experts are specifically trained in the best ways to manage business energy and how to select the best contract for your business. Utilising their knowledge for your business can result in you making an easy saving without having to lift a finger! All you need is a recent bill and our experts will guide you through the rest.

How to reduce heating costs in your care home

As you can see, heating is a major culprit for care homes and nursing homes experiencing high energy bills, concerning consumption, as it is typically responsible for 70% of the cost of energy bills.

Here’s what you can do to get those costs down for your care home or nursing home:

Install central heating instead of using electric heaters

Doing this can reduce the number of greenhouse gases that your heating system emits by half and running costs by as much as two-thirds.

Be mindful of your thermostat

As we get older, we naturally feel the cold more. But by ensuring the rooms as well insulated, it may be possible to warm the rooms, whilst at the same time reducing the temperature of your heating, even by just one degree can save your business £85-£90 each year in a property the size of a three bedroom semi-detached according to the Energy Saving Trust Imagine the difference it could make to your care home or nursing home.

Ensure the windows are closed during cold weather

Leaving a window open overnight wastes the same amount of fuel in heating as a small car driving 35 miles! Windows are often opened to regulate the heat within buildings when it gets too warm, so ensuring the heating is set to the ideal temperature will limit the temptation of many residents to open windows if they get too warm.

Keep your cavity and roof insulation topped up

A lack of well-maintained cavity wall and roof insulation can result in your business losing as much as ¼ of its heat. Ensuring insulation is present and topped up regularly could save your business in the region of £135 each year.

Reduce the costs of water usage in your properties

Care and Nursing homes use a lot of hot water to keep their clients clean, happy and hygienic. Given that water heating is estimated to be responsible for over 12% of your energy consumption, saving water has its benefits:

✔ Water bill reduction
✔ Energy use and bill reduction
✔ Lessen environmental impact
✔ Reduce carbon dioxide emissions by using less energy to pump, heat and treat the water

Here are some simple steps that can help you to achieve all of the above!

Tighten up your property taps

A single dripping tap is estimated to waste over 5,500 litres of water every year! According to waterwise.org.uk, this is enough water to fill a paddling pool every week for the whole summer. As a result, mending a dripping tap could save your care/nursing home more than £18 per year, PER TAP!

Encourage showering instead of bathing to make a saving

Many of your residents will likely find it difficult to get in and out of a bath these days. But did you know that the average bath is thought to consume between 35 and 60 gallons of water each time you run a bath, whereas a 10-minute shower uses just 25 gallons of water.

Encouraging just four residents of your care or nursing home who are able to replace just one bath each week with a five-minute shower could save you up to £20 each year on gas and up to £25 on water according to The Energy Saving Trust.

So if your care home or nursing home still has facilities for your residents to have baths, as well as showers. Now may be the ideal time to attempt to try and limit the number of residents still using the bath, rather than switching their routine for showers.

Get ahead on water saving for your care home

It might come as a surprise to you that shower heads can also have a large impact on your care home’s water consumption and bills. This is because some shower heads are able to use the water so that they protrude more efficiently than others.

Swapping an inefficient shower head for an efficient one has the potential to save your business approximately £65 on gas bills and £100 on water bills each year!

Turn the lights out on poor efficiency!

As the average third largest driver of care home energy bills, tackling your lighting costs has the potential to yield your business some decent savings which you can then reinvest in your care home, staff and residents. Below are just a few cost-effective ways that can save money on lighting:

Get motion sensor smart

Installing motion sensors is a highly effective way of ensuring that you aren’t wasting money on unnecessary lighting without having to goad people about turning lights off.

Sensors can cost as little as £20 and save your business up to 10% on lighting spend.

Smart key cards

Although not often applied to the care home sector, installing smart key cards that cut the power to lighting and other non-essential devices when a resident exits their room like in hotels has HUGE saving potential! There are hotels that have used this method to take control of their energy spend and have managed to save 45% on their lighting bill – That is an impressive piece of consumption reduction!

Plus your care home would reap the added benefits of giving residents a fond reminder of being on holiday as well as ease of entry into their room or residence and inexpensive key replacements.

LED bulbs are no longer a luxury

It is no longer a secret that LED bulbs use less energy than their older counterparts. Once thought of as a more expensive, luxury bulb, is now an essential purchase in order to help you save money on your lighting bills. The question is, to what extent are the potential savings?

Here’s a quick exercise to help you find out, as the result is highly dependent on the size of your business premises:

Get started on saving money on energy bills on your property

As you can see, care homes and nursing homes have the potential to save a lot of money using clever consumption reduction techniques and appropriate energy management advice.

If you’re looking for an easy way to get started, find a recent bill and call an Exchange Utility business energy expert. They will be able to aid you in recognising if you are overpaying your current suppliers and advise on appropriate, cost-saving, courses of action for your business going forward.

It’s quick, and simple and can help your care or nursing home to take the first step in taking control of its energy costs and consumption.

At Exchange Utility, we’re working to combat unnecessarily high energy costs for businesses in every sector, including Care Homes and Nursing Homes, by providing a business energy comparison service.

No matter whether your business operates in multiple different industries or you’re just interested to see what other helpful energy savings tips our team have been able to come up with. Take a look at our other business energy-saving advice for more tips and inspiration to use within your business.

Why use Exchange Utility to compare business gas and electricity for your warehouse?

✔ Our customer support team is one of the best in the industry
✔ Contact Exchange Utility to switch your energy tariff in as little as 5 days
✔ Comparing gas and electricity with us will save you time
✔ We have years of experience in the comparison of businesses gas and electricity
✔ We have built a solid reputation for being a reliable, independent and trustworthy comparison company
✔ We can compare electricity and gas prices from industry leaders to find you competitive rates
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Business energy contract due to renew? Call us on 0800 9777 000 or fill in our energy quote form to see how much you could save…