How can homeowners’ associations reduce their energy bills?

Welcome once again to the blog of Southern. One of the priorities we all have in our homes is to reduce our energy bills. This reduction represents significant savings for the household budget. However, we often overlook this when signing up for services or carrying out renovation work in our owners’ association.

For any residents’ association, energy costs are usually the largest expense. At present, we are keen to reduce costs as much as possible, and it is extremely important to take measures that will enable the association to save a significant amount of money.

Of course, the more cost-saving measures that are put in place, the less will be spent on community service charges and the more resources will be available for other expenses. Naturally, the necessary steps must be taken to implement them as soon as possible.

That is why it is highly recommended to put forward these new energy-saving initiatives, making the most of the community’s regular meetings. At these meetings, it is a good idea to suggest ideas and vote on which ones to implement.

The administrator should encourage energy saving

It is best to discuss these matters with the property manager responsible for your residents’ association so that they can be addressed at the management committee meeting and at regular meetings.

At Meridional, we are aware of this, and to make this task easier for our customers so that they can be well-informed going into their next residents’ association meeting, we have put together a series of suggestions that will undoubtedly help their residents’ association to save on energy consumption and thus reduce their energy bill.

Review the contracts

An easy-to-implement, simple and quick strategy is to try to consolidate energy supplies in communities where there are several suppliers, as this will enable us to secure better prices.

Another measure that is often overlooked is reducing the contracted electricity capacity. In many cases, our housing association’s contracted capacity does not match its needs; therefore, if it is higher than we actually require, the cost of our electricity bills increases considerably.

Use renewable energy

Current legislation makes it easier for owners’ associations to install photovoltaic solar panels to generate their own electricity and manage self-consumption. The increasingly popular trend towards reducing fossil fuel consumption means that renewable energy sources, such as solar power generated by photovoltaic panels, are a perfect complement to the electricity supply.

The best way to save energy is to introduce renewable energy. If the owners’ association is based in a building with a large roof, this would make it possible to install solar panels. Thanks to the new regulations, owners’ associations can now share the benefits of a solar panel.

More efficient boilers

Making good use of the heat energy emitted by communal boilers is of great importance in enabling a reduction in consumption and, consequently, significant financial savings.

 Communities that decide to take energy-saving measures may be eligible for grants, such as the Private Boiler Room Refurbishment Scheme. This scheme provides incentives for the installation of energy-efficient gas condensing boilers in the region.

Thanks to these grants and the savings made, not only does the user not have to pay any additional charges, but they also start saving from the very beginning and see a reduction in their electricity bill.

Remote management

Monitoring, controlling and optimising facilities is vital for gaining first-hand insight into our consumption figures. Consequently, understanding these figures will enable us to be aware of our actual energy consumption and the cost this entails for our community.

Maintenance companies that have evolved into energy service companies focus on energy savings by implementing energy monitoring systems capable of detecting energy alerts and, in this way, identifying and rectifying operational anomalies that lead to higher energy consumption.

Thermal insulation

A good opportunity to take steps to save energy arises when work needs to be carried out on the building’s façade. Since we are undertaking a project of this scale, what better time to improve the thermal insulation, given that the cost of scaffolding is usually one of the most expensive aspects of this type of work. By improving the building’s thermal insulation, you can reduce your energy bill by up to 50%.

If there are communal areas with air-conditioning units, care must be taken to ensure they are properly insulated and that the units are switched off when these areas are unoccupied. It should be borne in mind that for every degree by which the unit lowers the temperature, it will consume 8% more energy. In summer, the temperature should not be set below 24 degrees. In winter, on the other hand, it should not be set above 21 degrees.

You should also check that the air vents and fans are thoroughly clean. If they become clogged with dust, they can end up consuming twice as much energy and may even break down. To prevent this, simply clean the air filters and check the cooling systems regularly.

Luminous efficacy

 Installing LED lights and motion-detection systems can lead to electricity savings of up to 60%. You could also consider adjusting and reducing the brightness of lights in communal areas.

By dividing the lighting into floors and installing motion detectors that only illuminate areas where people are present, it will be possible to switch on only those lights that are in use, rather than those on other floors where there are no residents.

Use energy-saving light bulbs, which are more expensive than traditional ones but last six times as long and consume much less energy, between 75% and 80%. The use of induction lamps in hard-to-reach areas is also a measure that will help the owners’ association save money, as they have a long service life and require virtually no maintenance.

Outdoors, it is advisable to install timer switches so that the lights switch on and off as required by ambient light levels. Photocells can also be a solution for outdoor use.

In any case, prevention is better than cure That is why we always recommend carrying out regular maintenance on the facilities, as we explained in this blog post, which we’ve linked below.