What can you do to lower your energy usage and expenses?

Q&A with Linda Tumlinson

Higher energy costs are pushing operating expenses to near all-time highs. While there are a multitude of reasons for these increases, from weather-related disasters to war to infrastructure maintenance, controlling costs can give you some leverage over your operating budget. Energy Services Manager Linda Tumlinson helps break down what you can do to rein in this pricey line item.

Q: Why are energy prices so volatile?

“First off, energy is a commodity that the world relies on. When demand is high, prices will follow. It’s a finite resource, especially when we’re talking about oil and gas which we mostly still run our economy on.

And energy prices are sensitive to unpredictable forces. Take the weather, for example. Hurricanes, floods, wildfires. When these events hit areas with oil refineries, you can see prices go up.”

Q: We can’t control the weather so how can we control costs?

“I advise clients to start by getting a baseline on what energy is costing each month through utility expense management.

And then from here forward, what increases are we seeing? Where are we seeing them and what caused it? We also want to benchmark our clients across their properties if they have multiple locations.

This will help you understand where your highest spend per square foot is and why one location may be costing more than another.

Once you know what you’re spending, you know the areas where you have to focus. You want to get your biggest expenses down first, low hanging fruit or maybe the least expensive fixes.

Then we focus on big-ticket fixes. You know, is this boiler or chiller 30 years old? Is it at the end of its life? What will it cost to replace it? What's the ROI on that replacement?

Those factors all come into play, but by setting a baseline, you then can make scientifically accurate decisions and you should see savings reflected in your utility bills.”

Q: What should operators know about renewable energy as they consider becoming more energy efficient?

“When you're going to look at other options, whether it's in hydro or are you going to look at solar or wind, the first question to ask is why. What is your reason for looking at this alternative source? We have a lot of clients that do choose renewables because it's the right thing to do and because they have net-zero commitments and they're going to use these as offsets.

If your purpose in doing it is to reduce your current spend, then you really want to have an independent professional look at what it is you're choosing, because I can tell you we have a lot of clients that use solar in a variety of different ways, and few of them actually reduce their overall spend.

Entegra has certified energy managers on staff who can help you think through your total costs with, for example, using solar energy. There’s the cost of the panels and maintenance costs that need to be added in.”

Q: How can operators train their employees on energy consumption and conservation?

“Behavior modification is one of the best low- or no-cost things that you can do to create internal energy champions. It's great.

You can do things like treasure hunts. This has been around for a long time.

Groups go at night sometimes to see what's still on or check during the day to see what's turned on.

It's a quick way to really reduce usage, and you can find two to three, even 5% savings that way.”

Entegra’s new whitepaper, Controlling rising energy costs: An operator’s guide, gives you a more comprehensive roadmap for hospitality operators to manage and control their energy costs effectively.

Call us at 833-955-1490 or contact us to get more information about putting Entegra’s business performance improvement services to work for you.