Your energy bill arrived this morning. £2,400 for the month. You wince, pay it, and move on. That's the routine.
Here's what most restaurant owners don't realize. Between £500 and £700 of that bill is pure waste. Money spent on nothing. Energy consumed by equipment running when it shouldn't, cooling spaces that don't need it, heating empty rooms.
After tracking energy usage across 200+ independent UK restaurants, we identified three patterns that show up again and again. Fix these, and you're looking at £400-800 back in your pocket every month.
1. Kitchen Equipment Running 24/7
Walk into your kitchen at midnight. How many pieces of equipment are still on? Prep fridges? Display cases? Water heaters?
Most kitchen equipment doesn't need to run overnight. But someone forgot to turn it off five years ago, and it's been running ever since. Nobody notices because nobody checks.
The numbers: A commercial fridge running unnecessarily for 12 hours costs about £45 per month. Most restaurants have 3-5 pieces of equipment in this situation. That's £135-225 wasted monthly.
Quick win: Do a midnight walk-through this week. List everything that's on. Ask yourself what actually needs to be running. Turn off the rest. Set phone reminders if needed.
2. HVAC Systems Fighting Themselves
Your heating turns on at 6 AM to warm the dining room. Your walk-in freezer is working overtime to stay cold. They're in the same space, fighting each other.
Terrible placement of cooling and heating equipment creates invisible energy battles. Your AC cools the kitchen while your ovens pump out heat. Your heating system tries to warm a space right next to a massive cold storage unit.
The numbers: Poor HVAC coordination can inflate energy costs by 15-25%. For a restaurant spending £2,000 monthly on energy, that's £300-500 in waste.
Quick win: Can't move equipment? Zone your HVAC differently. Don't heat spaces next to freezers. Don't cool spaces next to ovens. Adjust thermostats to reflect where equipment actually is.
3. Peak Hour Energy Rates (That You're Ignoring)
Most UK energy providers charge different rates throughout the day. Peak hours (typically 4-7 PM) can cost 3x more than off-peak rates.
When do most restaurants do their highest-energy activities? Exactly during peak hours. Prepping for dinner service, running all equipment at once, maxing out ventilation.
The numbers: Shifting just 30% of your energy-intensive tasks to off-peak hours can cut £200-400 from your monthly bill.
Quick win: Check your energy bill for time-of-use rates. If you have them, shift prep work earlier. Run dishwashers after 8 PM. Do deep cleaning overnight. The work is the same. The cost is not.
What This Actually Looks Like
A café in Edinburgh was spending £1,800 monthly on energy. After tracking their usage for two weeks, we found three fridges running 24/7 unnecessarily, HVAC heating a space adjacent to cold storage, and all equipment prep happening during peak rate hours.
Changes made:
- Turned off two display fridges from 11 PM to 6 AM (they're restocking at 6 anyway)
- Rezoned the heating to skip the cold storage wall
- Shifted equipment testing and deep cleaning to after 8 PM
New monthly bill: £1,240. Savings: £560 per month. No new equipment. No complicated changes. Just paying attention.
The Real Problem
Most independent restaurants have no idea where their energy actually goes. You get a bill. You pay it. You assume it's correct.
But energy companies don't break down your usage by equipment or time of day. The bill shows one number. That number includes both necessary costs and pure waste, and you can't tell them apart.
That's why GreenPulse exists. We show you exactly where your money goes. Which equipment costs what. When you're paying peak rates. What's running when it shouldn't be.
Spring 2026, we're launching in Scotland. If you're tired of guessing why your energy bills are high, join the waitlist.