BICS weighted Scotland estimates: data to wave 68

Energy Costs

In Wave 68, businesses not permanently stopped trading were asked about reducing their energy costs – the specific question asked is shown below. 

Energy Cost question: What actions, if any, has your business taken to reduce energy costs in the last three months?

• changed to more energy-efficient electrical equipment
• reduced or simplified goods or services        
• reduced the number of days the business trades in a week by one day
• reduced the number of days the business trades in a week by two or more days
• reduced the number of hours the business trades in a week, but the number of days the business trades in a week remained as usual
• switched electrical equipment to standby or off more than usual when not in use
• switched energy suppliers
• temporarily closed a business site
• undertaken an energy audit
• other
• not sure
• business has not taken action to reduce energy consumption

 Figure 2: Switching electrical equipment to standby or off when not in use (26.4%) and changing to more energy-efficient electrical equipment (19.5%) were the actions most frequently reported by businesses in the period 17 October to 30 October 2022.  In Wave 68, 37.0% of businesses reported that they had taken no actions to reduce their energy consumption.

Source: Office for National Statistics – BICS – Weighted Scotland Estimates – Wave 68

Businesses were also asked what actions they plan to take in November 2022 to reduce their energy costs. Switching electrical equipment to standby or off when not in use was the action most frequently reported by businesses (25.7%).  An estimated 30.0% of businesses do not plan to reduce energy consumption in November 2022, and 26.3% of businesses were not sure.