Enterprise Inns teams up with Carbon Trust

Enterprise Inns is hoping to help its tenants slash energy bills by up to 30% through a new link-up with the Carbon Trust.

The pubco is to pilot a new web-based service, which allows licensees to accurately measure energy consumption at their own pub and learn how to manage and reduce it effectively.

The service will provide tailored advice to pub retailers to enable them to develop their own energy management plans.

It will be trialled by 40 Enterprise Inns pubs over a six-moth period. The Carbon Trust estimates that each licensee could save around £2,400 in the trial period — a potential cost saving of around £100,000 in the pilot group.

On that basis, if the scheme was rolled out across the entire Enterprise estate, it could deliver cost savings of around £11m a year — cutting the UK hospitality sector's carbon footprint by almost 1%.

"One of the largest operating costs for a pub is energy, at an average of £16,000 per annum," said Linda Kibble of Enterprise Inns.

"Pub retailers frequently ask us for advice on where they can make the biggest energy savings.

"We believe the outcomes of this pilot will shape a service that will benefit all retailers, not only by offering advice and useful tips but by giving retailers confidence to invest in technology that will help them increase their operating profit.

"We expect this programme to deliver energy cost savings of between 10 and 30% at each retailer which would generate a significant increase in operating profit."

Dominic Burbridge, sector manager for hospitality and leisure at the Carbon Trust, added: "There is a huge opportunity to cut energy costs and carbon emissions in pubs across the UK. All it takes is the knowledge of what to do and the motivation to do it."

Tips from Carbon Trust​

• Lowering room temperatures by 1 degree can reduce annual heating bills by as much as 10 per cent

• Heating timers are also useful for pubs so that the building reaches optimum temperature just as people arrive and begins to cool down close to closing time

• Lighting is another key area where energy costs can be reduced by as much as half while still providing the right atmosphere for customers