Energy costs represent one of the biggest slices in the expenditures pie of any given business, be it small, medium or large sized companies, a well planed energy management plan can help save money and reduce end costs.

With that mindset, the objective of this article is highlight energy management solutions that can help businesses save thousands of pounds and reduce their carbon footprint at the same time.

First step is to choose the right energy supplier, one that offers an energy contract that will best suit your business needs. As the UK energy market grows more complex, the independent advice offered by energy brokers and consultants can help you choose the right energy supplier. The catch here is to find an energy consultancy firm rather than trying to do the job in-house.

A ‘fresh pair of eyes’, with relevant experience of achieving tangible results in other organisations, can often uncover areas for significant improvement that may not have been previously identified.

With climate change concerns, oil prices on the raise and increasing government support, incentives and commercialization, renewable energy prices are falling year after year, despite the fact that renewable energy technologies are sometimes criticised for being unreliable or unsightly, the market is growing strong.

Right now in the UK there are a wide range of green energy suppliers offering a comprehensive portfolio of green energy products, which are both audited and certificated, that can help your business saving money and reduce its carbon footprint.

After choosing the ideal energy supplier, a business needs an advance metering system that provides accurate information on the amount of electricity being used.

Smart meters can do just that and even more, smart meters enable costumers to choose flexible electricity tariffs over set periods as well as improve accuracy of forecasting energy demand at different time of the day.

Conserving energy is important, not only because it saves you money, but because it will have a real impact on the environment.

To meet the EU Emissions Trading Scheme and Climate Chance Agreements the government has launched the Carbon Reduction Commitment (CRC), the UK's first mandatory carbon trading scheme, with the aim of reducing he level of carbon emissions currently produced by the larger 'low energy-intensive' organisations by approximately 1.2 million tonnes of CO2 per year by 2020.

While the scheme doesn't officially start until April 2010, many organisations will need to make preparations before that date to ensure that they comply with all legal requirements and fully participate in the scheme.

As an incentive to install AMR meters, and in recognition for good energy management undertaken prior to the start of the CRC scheme, there is a mechanism called the Early Action Metric which rewards participants who install voluntary half hourly electricity AMR and gas AMR by 31st March 2010.

In addition to this, another Early Action Metric is to obtain the Carbon Trust Standard certifications which will also rewards participants who obtain this standard by 31st March 2011.

The term Wholesale Energy Purchasing is a term well known to big corporations that consume at least 50GWh per annun. But by combining the energy consumption of a number of business in a portfolio arrangement, called the energy basket, whole energy purchasing has become a really to small and mid-sized business across the country.

How does it Work?

Again you will need the help of an energy consultancy firm. The Energy Consultancy firm will add your company to these so called energy baskets, this portfolio of companies can then trade as a national company allowing it to trade these combined commercial energy requirements as a commodity in the wholesale market, bringing the advantages of the wholesale market to much smaller organisations.