Glasgow Hot Food Favourite Goes Cool On Its Energy Costs

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Roddy and Farooq pose for Edinburgh PR story

ONE of Glasgow’s best known hot food businesses is encouraging other small firms to seize the chance to turn the heat down on their energy bills.

Award winning take-away Cafe India, on Great Western Road, is now looking forward to saving hundreds of pounds a year and improving cash flow after a visit from an ‘energy doctor’ provided a range of top tips on how it can save on energy costs – including getting a smart meter.

Many small businesses like Cafe India struggle to keep track of how much they spend on energy, and which equipment or activities are causing unnecessary waste.

But with the help of a smart meter, business owners can ensure their gas and electricity costs are being tightly monitored.

Energy consultant, Roddy Hamilton from The Carbon Trust, provided his top tips for the business to cut down its energy use, and in addition to suggesting getting a smart meter, made some tailored suggestions to help Café India to reduce unnecessary costs.

Roddy Hamilton advised that to ensure bills are not running up, employees should be encouraged to switch all equipment off between closing time in the afternoon and reopening in the evening.

Additionally he suggested installing time switches to control appliances automatically, fitting affordable Perspex panels or secondary glazing to existing single glazed window frames to retain heat and to replace fluorescent tubes with LED lighting to reduce power and increase light quality.

Café India manager Farooq Siddique said he is keen to keep overheads down and feed as much profit as possible back into the business to ensure the best quality for its customers.

Farooq said: “For a small business like ours, little amounts can make a huge difference to cash flow every month. We are extremely busy so it’s not easy to keep on top of bills and monitor the monthly payments, so if we had a smart meter we wouldn’t have to worry about this.

“Roddy’s visit helped open our eyes to some of the smaller, cost effective changes we could make to help us save money on a regular basis which we’ll be able to monitor closely once our smart meter is in place.”


Click here to view the full image gallery from when Roddy Hamilton, the energy doctor, visited Café India. Roddy provided Farooq Siddique, Café India manager, great insights on where the company could save prices on its energy bill.


Many small businesses (with fewer than 10 employees) are eligible for an upgrade to a smart meter from their energy supplier. They provide accurate readings directly to suppliers, bringing an end to estimated bills, and show customers what they are spending in pounds and pence, in near real time, ultimately allowing people to manage their energy costs better.

The Carbon Trust is an independent, expert partner of leading organisations around the world, helping them contribute to and benefit from a more sustainable future through carbon reduction, resource efficiency strategies and commercialising low carbon technologies.

Roddy Hamilton said: “When you have the right information and you pay attention to it, it’s simple to find ways to take control of your energy use. Many microbusinesses feel they can’t make energy efficiencies, because they think they have to invest lots of money into new equipment to make a dent.

“But with the help of a smart meter, it’s easy to identify what is using the most energy, at what times, and take action – big or small – to cut down. Every penny saved on energy is a penny saved on the bottom line.”

John MacNeil, Head of Policy and Communications Scotland at Smart Energy GB, said: “As Roddy has shown, knowledge is power when it comes to saving energy. It can be hard for business owners to know where to start when they want to cut their energy costs – especially when they can’t see how much they’re using, and at what times.

“Many small businesses are eligible for an upgrade to a smart meter from their energy supplier. They will give small businesses, firstly, confidence that they are only paying for what they use – and won’t get any unexpected bills at the end of the year. And secondly, the visibility they need to make changes to the way they use energy. Contact your energy supplier about getting a smart meter installed.”

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