How can restaurants reduce their energy bills? We have provided our top 10 tips.

1. Kitchen Layout

Make sure your refrigerators are not next to your ovens as it would have to work extra hard to hold it's temperature, wasting energy. Many restaurant kitchens miss this simple trick.

2. Fix Leaks

Repair leaking taps and pipes as soon as possible to avoid hot water loss and running up an expensive water bill.

3. Chef Preparation

Make sure your Chef's are organised and defrost frozen food the day before. This avoids having to put frozen food under a tap to defrost. When defrosting food in water it is going to rank up a heavy water bill.

4. Choose the right Fridge

When buying new refrigerators, choose AA++ rated units as they have the lowest running costs.

5. Clean & maintain your equipment

This is a simple tip. Make sure your equipment is cleaned and serviced regularly so that the equipment isn't working harder than it needs to be. Try using a water filtration system to prevent calcification and mineral deposits in equipment that uses water. Make sure ventilation hoods are regularly cleaned and maintained as dirty fans can affect the efficiency of the system.

6. Use energy-efficient lighting

Replace your light bulbs with LED and CFL light bulbs. These are some of the light bulbs which use less power. Don't forget to replace these in your bathrooms and seating areas as well as your kitchen. The average 60 watt LED bulb lasts between 10,000-25,000 hours. Traditional incandescent bulbs are cheaper however only last for just 1,000 to 2,000 hours.

7. Contact your utility company

Your utility company can provide you with an assessment of how much energy you use as well as how much it's costing you. Once the information is provided you can then set your business realistic goals and start implementing an energy conservation plan. If you think you can get better pricing get quotes from other energy suppliers.

8. Heating

Turn down the thermostat in your restaurant. Just one-degree reduction in temperature will help reduce your energy bills and the customers won't notice. If you use air con make sure all the windows and doors are closed so that the air con is being used effectively.

9. Upgrade your controls with ECMs

Restaurants can use as much as 40% of their energy when they are closed. Refrigeration savings can be enhanced by the replacement of standard pole motors with ECMs (electronically commutated motors), which reduce energy consumption by 35%.

10. Don't Leave Appliances On Standby

Dishwashers & microwaves will sit there eating up your electricity when left on standby. Get into the habit of turning them off at the plug when not in use. This applies to all other appliances in your restaurant.