With the wholesale cost of energy continuing to rise throughout 2022, and showing little sign of stopping, businesses could be faced with a much higher than forecasted energy bills in 2022 and beyond.
Making changes now to reduce your energy costs could pay huge dividends as your business sees out 2022 and moves into 2023. Here is how automatic doors can help you to achieve these reduced energy costs.
How Automatic Doors Can Help Businesses Reduce Their Energy Bills in 2022.
Automatic doors come with a range of benefits. Perhaps the most important for your business right now is their impact on energy bills. Between February 2021 and February 2022, an average small business has seen energy bill increases of 145% for electricity and 258% for gas. This increase is putting financial pressure on companies across the UK. The average price for an automatic door installation of £5,000 is becoming increasingly attractive to customers. And with an expected lifespan of 20 years, the investment could pay for itself many times over their years of use.
With people across the country feeling the strain of rising prices, the government has taken steps to reduce the burden for domestic consumers:
- In May 2022, The Chancellor announced a £400 payment for all households across the UK to help lessen the impact of the energy crisis.
- The energy price cap is in place to limit the amount that suppliers can charge for gas and electricity supplies.
Why small businesses face even higher energy costs
Despite measures being put into place to help the UK’s domestic consumers meet the cost of their energy bills, there have been no such action taken to support businesses.
Businesses are also not protected by the energy cap, and instead have their energy provided in an open market. In other words, there is only market competition regulating the price of energy for business owners.
Businesses owners aren’t in a position to switch off equipment that is essential to operations, or provide unsafe working environments by reducing building’s heating and cooling. Some companies have been able to use cheaper rates by moving operations to other times of the day, when costs are cheaper. However, this is not a viable for businesses that are required to continue running during peak hours.
With no government intervention on the horizon, it is clear that business owners will need to make changes of their own accord to reduce the impact of their rising energy bills.
Automatic Doors and Reduced Energy Use
Having doors open lets heat escape, which a premises must then replace through heating systems. These heating systems cost money to run, and will need to be used more aggressively the colder it is outside. However, the solution isn’t always as simple as keeping your swing door closed. There may be legal ramifications for businesses who don’t provide easy access for disabled visitors or employees.
With businesses required to provide equal access to all users, which a heavy swing door clearly does not offer, and needing to reduce heat loss through open doors, automatic doors can provide the solution needed.
A study carried out by Cambridge University, has shown that energy consumption can be reduced by up to 50% by having closed doors. An automatic door can give the benefit of keeping doors closed as much as possible, whilst also providing easy access for all users.
The energy saving from automatic doors will be different depending on which type of door is installed, however, with energy costs continuing to rise, it is not unreasonable to estimate that a typical business could save as much as they would make through a significant increase in sales – without ongoing spend on customer acquisition.
Some buildings may also benefit from multiple automatic door installations. For example, many school and NHS settings have a set of automatic doors to a lobby area, and then another set to the main building. This is primarily for on-site security, however it has the added benefit of providing an air-lock which further reduces heat loss. Perhaps your premises can benefit from this?
Do Automatic Doors have Ongoing Costs?
Any automatic door will require a power supply, which will naturally have a cost. However, as automatic doors work when sensing the approach of a person, they will only use energy when they are in use. This is much more efficient than heating a room with an open door!
Once installed, an automatic door will then require ongoing maintenance to stay operable. Some of this work can be completed by you or the building’s responsible person, which will save on costs. There will also be some maintenance work that requires a qualified engineer, however, like with most things prevention is cheaper than the cure. Keeping your automatic doors well-maintained will not put a huge dent in your bottom line, and they should last for years to come.
Automatic Doors for Saving on Costs
So not only do automatic doors help small businesses to save on rising energy costs, they also help businesses to stay accessible for all customers.
DT Services Ltd has over 20 years experience of installing and maintaining automatic doors and roller shutters for the commercial and industrial sectors. If you’re looking to install automatic doors and start reducing energy costs, get in touch and our qualified engineers will be happy to discuss your requirements.