Energy is a major operating cost for many manufacturers, but it isn’t always obvious where energy is being used inefficiently or whether the business is paying a competitive rate for what it consumes.
A structured energy audit can help you identify waste, understand where demand is highest and prioritise practical ways to control manufacturing energy costs.
Use this energy audit checklist for a manufacturing plant to review your business energy contract alongside production machinery, compressed air, heating, cooling, lighting, working patterns and energy data.
For further practical guidance on reducing industrial consumption, the Carbon Trust also provides a manufacturing energy efficiency guide.
Before you start your manufacturing energy audit
Gather the information you need before walking the plant. This will give you a baseline against which you can compare your findings.
- Gather recent electricity and gas bills.
- Find your annual electricity and gas consumption.
- Access smart meter or half-hourly data where available.
- Find your current business energy contract details.
- Check your electricity and gas contract end dates.
- Review production schedules.
- Review shift patterns.
- Check equipment operating hours.
- Gather relevant maintenance records.
- Note any recent changes to machinery, output or operating hours.
Review your business energy contract
Does your energy contract still suit your manufacturing plant?
Reducing consumption is only one part of controlling manufacturing energy costs. You should also check whether the price and terms of your current gas and electricity contracts still suit the way your plant operates.
- Check your electricity contract end date.
- Check your gas contract end date.
- Review the notice requirements for each contract.
- Check your electricity unit rate and standing charge.
- Check your gas unit rate and standing charge.
- Consider whether energy consumption has changed since the contract was agreed.
- Check whether production hours or shift patterns have changed.
- Review contracts across multiple sites for different renewal dates.
- Check whether you are approaching your renewal window.
- Compare business energy rates before agreeing a renewal.
- Make sure you understand the charges and terms of each option.
- Schedule your next business energy contract review.
Business Utility Hub tip: An efficient manufacturing plant can still spend more than necessary if its business energy contract is no longer competitive. Business Utility Hub monitors business gas and electricity prices daily and helps manufacturers compare suitable energy contracts.
Establish your energy baseline
Review your current energy consumption
- Check your annual electricity consumption.
- Check your annual gas consumption.
- Compare monthly energy use across the last 12–24 months.
- Identify months with unusually high consumption.
- Compare energy consumption with production output.
- Check whether energy use changes significantly between shifts.
- Identify your highest-demand periods.
- Review overnight energy consumption.
- Review weekend energy consumption.
- Check whether consumption increased after machinery or production changes.
- Identify seasonal changes in energy use.
Check your meters and energy data
Are you collecting enough energy data?
- Check meter readings are accurate.
- Confirm your electricity supply details.
- Confirm your gas supply details.
- Review smart meter or half-hourly data where available.
- Identify unusual consumption spikes.
- Investigate persistent energy use outside working hours.
- Consider submetering major machinery or production areas.
- Make sure someone is responsible for reviewing energy data regularly.
Walk the plant outside normal production hours
- Inspect the plant before production starts.
- Repeat the inspection after production finishes.
- Check which equipment remains switched on overnight.
- Check which equipment remains operational at weekends.
- Look for machinery left idling.
- Check lighting in unoccupied areas.
- Check extraction and ventilation systems.
- Listen for compressed air leaks.
- Check heating and cooling in unused areas.
- Identify equipment that could be automatically switched off.
Review working patterns
Does your energy use match your production schedule?
- Map normal shift times.
- Compare shift times with electricity consumption.
- Check energy use between shifts.
- Review weekend consumption.
- Identify equipment started significantly before production begins.
- Identify equipment left running after production ends.
- Review seasonal production changes.
- Consider whether production changes have altered your energy profile.
- Check whether your business energy contract still reflects current usage.
Review industrial heating
- Check heating operating hours.
- Compare heating times with shift patterns.
- Identify heated areas with low occupancy.
- Check thermostats and heating controls.
- Review temperature settings.
- Inspect boilers and heating equipment.
- Check heating maintenance schedules.
- Look for heat loss around doors and loading bays.
- Investigate whether waste heat from production processes could be reused.
- Check whether heating remains active when the plant is closed.
Audit heating, cooling and ventilation
Review cooling and refrigeration
- Identify major cooling and refrigeration loads.
- Check operating temperatures.
- Review operating hours.
- Inspect seals and doors.
- Check condensers and filters.
- Review ventilation around cooling equipment.
- Identify equipment running unnecessarily.
- Review maintenance records.
- Investigate whether heat generated by cooling equipment could be recovered.
Audit lighting and the building
Check lighting across the plant
- Identify areas where lighting remains on unnecessarily.
- Check lighting during daylight hours.
- Review lighting in storage and low-traffic areas.
- Consider whether sensors or timers would be suitable.
- Identify older lighting that could be replaced with more efficient alternatives.
- Check whether dirty light fittings are affecting performance.
- Review external lighting operating hours.
- Consider dividing lighting into more controllable zones.
Check the building for energy loss
- Inspect external doors.
- Check loading bay doors.
- Identify draughts.
- Inspect windows and seals.
- Review insulation where accessible.
- Check whether doors are regularly left open.
- Review automatic door controls.
- Identify areas where heating or cooling may be escaping.
- Check pipework and equipment insulation.
Act on your findings
Prioritise your energy-saving opportunities
- Identify simple changes that can be implemented quickly.
- Prioritise maintenance issues causing unnecessary energy consumption.
- Identify operational changes that could reduce energy waste.
- Separate low-cost improvements from projects requiring investment.
- Rank actions by potential impact and cost.
- Assign responsibility for agreed actions.
- Set realistic deadlines.
- Record your baseline before making significant changes.
- Monitor consumption after improvements are introduced.
- Compare results against your original energy baseline.
- Include energy efficiency when planning future capital expenditure.
Repeat the audit
When should you review your manufacturing energy use again?
Carry out another audit following:
- Major changes in production output.
- Installation of new machinery or production lines.
- Changes to shift patterns.
- Site expansion.
- Unexplained increases in energy consumption.
- Major maintenance projects.
- An approaching business energy contract renewal.
- Significant changes to manufacturing processes.
Larger organisations should also check whether they meet the requirements of the Energy Savings Opportunity Scheme.
Final manufacturing energy audit checklist
Before finishing your audit, make sure you have reviewed:
- Your business energy contract and renewal dates.
- Energy bills and overall consumption.
- Meter and consumption data.
- Out-of-hours energy use.
- Shift patterns and production schedules.
- Production machinery.
- Electric motors and drives.
- Compressed air.
- Heating.
- Cooling and refrigeration.
- Ventilation and extraction.
- Lighting.
- Building heat loss.
- Energy-saving opportunities.
- Responsibilities and next actions.
- When the next audit should take place.
Reduce consumption, then review what you pay
Business Utility Hub specialises in business gas and electricity for manufacturers. We monitor energy prices daily, compare suitable contracts from trusted UK suppliers and manage the switching process from start to finish.
