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Electricity Bill for a shop and Water Rates

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Binky | 11:52 Wed 21st Sep 2005 | Business & Finance
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Can anyone give me an idea of the cost of electricity for a small commercial premises (shop) over a year?  I only need an estimate.
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I'll happily do some rough calculations for you but some more information might help!

What type of lighting will there be? - Just a couple of fluorescent strips or loads of display lighting?

What else will be drawing power? - Are you going to have rows of freezers, for example?

Some things (e.g. freezers) need to be on all the time. Other things (e.g. lights) only have to be on when you're trading. So what will your trading hours be? (If you're planning a 24/7 convenience store this could make quite a difference).

You provide the information and I'll do the sums!

Chris
Question Author

Thanks for the kind offer.  It is a shop, with one room at the front and one at the back.  Strip lighting.  Will be occupied and using electricity from 08:00 to 19:00.  Will be using three industrial style grills for toasting buns.  Will be running three industrial still fridge/freezers as well.  A rougth calculation would be brilliant!

Binky: Just a quick note -

I've been busy throughout Thursday but I should have some time on Friday to work out some figures. This is just to let you know that I've read your response and I'll honour my promise to give you the information you require.

Chris
(Split into 2 parts to get round the 2000 character limit):

OK, here are some figures. (I'll tell you how I've worked them out so that you can modify them if necessary):

Lighting: 4 x 100W strips in each room should be plenty bright enough - probably more like an operating theatre!. I'll also assume that, like many shops, all of these lights are left on throughout all opening hours. So that's 0.8kW running for about 3400 hours per year (I've assumed 6 day trading). That's 2720 kWh at about 7p each, giving a total of �190.

Grills: I've assumed that these run at 3kW each and are left on throughout all trading hours. (Reduce my figures, pro rata, if this isn't the case). So that's 9kW for about 3400 hours = 30600 kWh. At about 7p per kWh, that's roughly �2140. (The clear message here is obviously to turn those grills off when you're not using them!).

Fridge/Freezers: The power consumption of these can vary enormously. I'm working to a total of 9 kWh consumption each day for 365 days per year. (That figure of 9 kWh is more likely to be be too high than too low). That's 3285 kWh at 7p each. Approximate total =�230.
(2nd bit):

Heating: We've not mentioned heating. Obviously, if you've got gas-fired heating in the premises you can ignore this bit! Let's assume that you won't require any heating from May to September. Now, while I'm not suggesting that you'll be using domestic fan heaters, the power output of these heaters gives us some reference points relating to the heat output required during the remaining months. I'll assume that during March, October and November the heat output equivalent to one 3kW fan heater in each room will provide sufficient heating. So that's 13 weeks of 66 hours at 6KW = 5148 kWh at about 7p each. Approx total = �360. During December, January and February, I'll assume that you'll require double this heat output (i.e. the equivalent of 2 fan heaters in each room). Hence double the cost = �720. Therefore your total heating bill comes to �1080.

You might have one or two additional electrical items (e.g. a cash register or a kettle for the staff tea!) but these can be ignored for the purpose of these calculations.

I've estimated the cost of each kWh at 7p but, on most tariffs, the first couple of hundred units (roughly) per quarter are charged at a higher rate. This will add about an extra �60 per year to your bill.

Adding all of the above figures together gives a rather daunting total of �3700 but please remember that I've assumed that you've got very bright lighting and (more importantly) that you've got those grills switched on throughout all trading hours. (The grills contribute nearly 60% to this estimate). If I was putting a figure into a business plan, I'd use �2500 as my annual estimate (or �1500 if the premises aren't heated by electricity). With careful economies you might even be able to knock �500 off these figures

I hope that these figures help. Just ask if you need further assistance.

Chris
Question Author

Many, many thanks, Chris!

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