Is Electricity Cost A Concern For You?

Rising Electricity Cost is not in our control. However, Opto Electrical put together a report for you to show you that it’s possible to have control over your energy consumption. I want to discuss specific businesses in the food industry. Energy Efficiency in your café, restaurant & institutional kitchen is becoming a worthwhile investment for business owners.

These businesses are energy-intensive, using about 7 times more energy per square meter than commercial buildings like office buildings and retail stores.

As energy prices increase, energy efficiency is a great way to protect your business from this uncontrollable phenomenon.

Be aware of the Electricity Cost in your business.

A full-service restaurant for instance has an Energy Profile example as follows: In British units (BTU)

• 1st Quarter, Food preparation at 35%
• 2^nd Quarter, HVAC at 28%
• 3d Quarter, Lighting at 13%
• 4^th Quarter, Refrigeration at 6%
• 5^th Quarter, Sanitation at 18%

So, when you are starting or you’re replacing old appliances, you need to look beyond the purchase cost. Your ongoing costs of utilities & maintenance GREATLY outweigh the purchase cost of any equipment.

Use Energy Star Certified  Equipment to save Electricity Cost

It’s better to purchase Energy Star (certified) appliances and train your staff to use the equipment as designed and be energy conscious. You’ll see that it doesn’t take that much effort.

To give you an example… Energy Star certified commercial refrigerators, freezers, and ice machines can save you hundreds of dollars per annum. For example, an Energy Star ice maker can save :

• $125 of electricity annually for a batch type unit and
• $185 annually for continuous type.

Now, this may not sound like much to you right now but bear in mind that when you buy all your appliances with an Energy Star certified rating, the collective of that SAVING will have a major impact on your bottom line.

Energy Star rated appliances are designed with best practice usage in mind to be energy efficient, for example when you load your fridge or freezer incorrectly, the airflow can be restricted in a way that the compressor needs to work way harder to meet the cooling needs, therefore costing you more money to run.

Monitoring your Electrical Consumption may help cut your Electricity Cost

Monitoring your fridge temperatures and electrical consumption of your system can help you understand your system conditions and may show you misuse by staff or other factors which is costing you unnecessary money.

If you want to know more about monitoring options in your Café, Restaurant, or Institutional kitchen, book an appointment with Opto Electrical HERE

And remember to keep it safe. Electrical Safety should always be your number one priority.