Produced in Association with SERIES 24 / Module 03 The Business Case for Energy Management


The case for proactive energy management


By Gareth Veal, CEng PhD MSc MEI CEPH (Passivhaus consultant) ESOS lead assessor director, Efficiency Wise Ltd


M


any organisations carry a multi-million pound energy bill as a largely unchallenged overhead,


without realising what could be achieved with a more proactive approach. Let’s explore a typical case, some core themes, and see how ten simple questions might reframe how energy is viewed within your organisation.


Do you spend more on energy than on maintenance? This question helps to get people thinking about energy. It is often the case that the energy bill is bigger than, or comparable in scale, to the annual maintenance budget. We’ll reference a fictitious, but


in many cases representative, engineering maintenance (Hard FM) team. They have a total annual budget of ~£12m per year. Within this budget they have a ~£4m energy cost, plus ~£2m of water and waste costs. This sort of split is found in many


For details on how to obtain your Energy Institute CPD Certificate, see ENTRY FORM and details on page 24


organisations, including the NHS, universities, manufacturing facilities, school academy trusts, hospitality venues, and commercial real estate.


Note that, even if the energy budget is held elsewhere in the organisation, this is still a meaningful comparison because the engineering team control the equipment that uses most of the energy paid for. To tease out this context for your


organisation, ask the following questions:


1. What is the total annual budget


for your engineering maintenance / Hard FM team? 2. How does this compare to the


energy / ‘sustainability’ budget? What is your annual expenditure on energy, water, and waste?


Do you have at least one full time energy manager, with the right skills, sitting in the right part of the organisation? Many organisations have cut back on the energy manager role, e.g. making it part-time, perhaps also combining it with other duties, and/or cutting it to a junior banding and a low rate of pay. Our case organisation has a 0.5 FTE


energy manager in a relatively junior position within the sustainability team. They are not confident with numbers, data, or Excel and they only have


an ‘arms length’ connection to the engineering and maintenance team. The following questions are worth


exploring for your organisation: 3. Do you have at least one full time Energy Manager? If so, should you support this role with an Energy Analyst? Bear in mind that a part time energy manager is likely to cost you money, while a full time energy manager saves you money through the savings they generate. This is because the first ~30 - 40% of an energy manager’s time is taken up with compliance and data gathering activities. These build a foundation for action, but don’t directly save energy, costs, or carbon. Therefore, having a part time energy manager often means you pay half the salary for none of the energy savings. If you extend this role to being full time, then the Energy Manager can progress past the compliance and reporting requirements of the role and find time for proactive energy management. Furthermore, if your organisation spends a few million pounds on energy per year, it is likely beneficial to have an entry grade ‘Energy Analyst’ role, allowing a senior Energy Manager to


Produced in Association with


EIBI | SEPTEMBER 2026


21


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