One-quarter of UK Financial Managers Say Energy Costs Are 'Not My Job'

The “it’s not my job” syndrome is alive and well in the United Kingdom.  In fact, based on the results of a recent poll, as many as 14 percent of firms nationwide do not assign responsibility for managing energy costs—and even in those that do, nine percent of managers say it’s of no concern to them or it’s not their responsibility.

Indeed, although energy typically is one of the highest costs of doing business—and represents a major source of avoidable waste and potential savings—less than 20 percent of U.K. employers hold finance managers accountable for electricity monitoring and management. Instead, the task often falls within the job description of such non-financial stakeholders as office managers (19 percent); facilities managers (24 percent); energy managers or champions (14 percent); and reception or security staff (seven percent).

The survey, commissioned by Newcastle-based Zeco Energy Ltd. and performed by London-based OnePoll, questioned 500 financial decision-makers throughout the United Kingdom, including managers in public and private organizations.

“Overall, the results indicate that awareness of the financial impact of unnecessary energy consumption is clearly impacting the corporate agenda, which is good news,” said Zeco Energy Founder and Managing Director Jon Kent, “yet without clear responsibility and management buy-in, initiatives to reduce energy waste are likely to fail.”

More than half of businesses polled (51 percent) said they were either “extremely” or “very” concerned about their energy bills; and 26 percent were “fairly” concerned. Yet, having the right attitude about energy usage was not directly correlated with the likelihood that a firm will either assign responsibility or take successful action. 

Significantly, those in the financially-pressured public sector were more worried than professionals in the private sector, with 61 percent of the 195 public-sector organizations polled expressing a high degree of concern, compared to just 44 percent of the 305 private-sector firms.

What’s more, where energy reduction policies are in place, the poll found them to be “highly inconsistent.” As many as 60 percent of organizations had taken some form of proactive steps to reduce unnecessary usage, including:

• Awareness campaigns (21 percent),
• An energy management policy (28 percent),
• Incentive schemes (8 percent), and 
• Penalties (three percent).

However, as many as 22 percent simply relied on staff to keep energy waste to a minimum, without empowering them with information about the biggest causes of waste in the organization or incentivizing them to get into better usage habits.

As for actual monitoring, slightly more than one-quarter (26 percent) of firms rely on energy bills to track energy usage, 20 percent use a building management system, 10 percent say they use analytics technology to break down their usage, and another 19 percent use an energy monitor. Fully 12 percent were unsure if and how energy was monitored and tracked at all. 

According to Zyco, the fact that the energy measurement and cost covers the whole building means that even businesses that analyze on their energy rates or track fluctuating prices have little opportunity to really understand where and how the energy is being wasted.

Significantly, four in 10 professionals believed that greater visibility of energy usage within specific areas of the organization would help them to reduce energy costs. The same number also identified the ability to assign budgets to defined key performance indicators as being a crucial driver of essential behavioral change.

When asked the reasons why they would not consider installing a more comprehensive business energy consumption monitoring solution, 20 percent responded that it would be too time-consuming, 16 percent said that the data would be too difficult to understand and interpret, and another 16 percent said that they did not believe there were software or hardware tools available that would be capable of supporting the depth of monitoring that they would require. Other respondents replied that it was not a business priority (12 percent); too complicated (eight percent), or costs too much (eight percent).

To provide full disclosure, Zeco Energy had a business interest in compiling these survey results. The company has developed Zeco Energy Manager a scalable cloud-based solution that, it claims, “enables organizations to identify and stop energy waste before it occurs; generating substantial cost-savings and delivering a fast return on investment (ROI).”

By using wireless sensors and other easy-to-install energy management hardware, Zeco Energy Manager gives users the power to automatically switch off areas of the business that are using energy, such as lights and other equipment, outside of normal business hours, using an iPhone (News - Alert) or iPad .

Zeco Energy Ltd was formed under Newcastle Science City’s Innovation Machine program, which provides entrepreneurs with financial backing and support. Newcastle Science City is a partnership scheme comprising Newcastle University, Newcastle City Council, and Newcastle Science Company.