When a business owner wants to save money, they will often lower their marketing costs, make salary cutbacks, or reduce stationery expenses. While these tactics can increase your company’s profit margin, there are other ongoing costs you might overlook that could cost a substantial sum every year.

As your business will depend on gas, water, and electricity each day, you should look for ways to reduce your monthly consumption. Read the six tips below for advice on how to lower your company’s energy bills:

1. Perform an Energy Audit

Identify exactly how much money you can save on utilities each year by performing an energy audit. The professional assessment will review how much energy you are using and the actions you could take to reduce your consumption. A few changes to your energy usage could lower your utility bills and help you to run a greener organization.

2. Fix Any Leaks

If you have one or more leaks in your roof, doors, or windows, it could cause your workplace’s temperature to plummet. It can not only create an unpleasant environment for your employees, but you might be forced to turn up the thermostat, which can increase your utility bills.

It is, therefore, important to identify any leaks that could be damaging your company’s finances. For example, you could hire a commercial roofing specialist to inspect your roof and make the appropriate repairs. You also could install energy-efficient roofing materials to cool or insulate your premises; » view page for more information.

3. Use a Programmable Thermostat

Take control of your workplace temperature 24 hours a day with a programmable thermostat. It will allow you to set different temperatures for your premises during the working day, evenings, and weekends. So, you can optimize the temperature to lower your energy usage and, in turn, your utility bills.

4. Replace Your Lightbulbs

It’s time to ditch incandescent lightbulbs, as they could be costing you a considerable amount of money throughout the year. Making the switch to either CFL or LED lightbulbs could lead to much smaller energy bills every month. While they often have higher upfront costs, you’ll save much more money in the long-term and adhere to your environmental responsibilities.

5. Use Motion Detectors

Motion detectors could also lower your business expenses. Lights will turn on when a person enters an area and they will switch off if they detect no human activity. You also will not need to worry about turning off the lights when leaving the premises, as the motion detector will do so on your behalf. Plus, they could serve as a deterrent should a trespasser gain access to your property.

6. Turn to Cloud Computing

Many large and medium-sized organizations often depend on server rooms to continually operate their servers. Not only can they take up much space, but they will also require air conditioning to keep the systems cool, which can cost a pretty penny.

If your operations depend on a server room, it might be wise to switch to the cloud to slash your overheads, free up space, and enjoy improved data security. You’ll not only make great utility savings, but it could prevent the need to employ IT consultants or staff.

By Eddy

Eddy is the editorial columnist in Business Fundas, and oversees partner relationships. He posts articles of partners on various topics related to strategy, marketing, supply chain, technology management, social media, e-business, finance, economics and operations management. The articles posted are copyrighted under a Creative Commons unported license 4.0. To contact him, please direct your emails to [email protected].