Energy Efficiency for Alberta Businesses: The Cheapest Kilowatt-Hour Is the One You Skip

Before you shop a rate, change equipment or put anything on the roof, there is a set of unglamorous fixes that reduce both halves of your bill at once and mostly cost very little. Efficiency is the least exciting part of an Energy Cost Audit and frequently the most profitable.

Last updated September 12, 2026.

Why efficiency beats a better rate

A hard-won rate negotiation might move your energy cost by a few per cent, and only on the energy half of the bill. Reducing consumption cuts the energy charge, the variable delivery charges calculated on it, and the riders and franchise fees calculated on those. Reducing peak draw cuts the demand charge as well. The savings compound in a way a rate change does not.

It is also permanent. A contract expires in a year or three. A properly commissioned control schedule keeps paying every month until somebody overrides it — which is why we care as much about who can change the settings as about the settings themselves.

The findings that come up again and again

Schedules that were never set. Rooftop units and lighting running seven days a week in a building occupied five. This is the most common finding in Alberta commercial buildings and it is free to fix.
Simultaneous heating and cooling. One zone calling for heat while the next calls for cooling, usually a control or sensor fault, always expensive.
Compressed air leaks. In a typical shop, a large share of compressor run time is serving leaks. It is measurable in an afternoon.
Lighting still on legacy technology. Metal halide high bays and T12 or T8 fluorescents in warehouses and shops, often with no occupancy control at all.
Make-up air running wide open. Commercial kitchens and shop bays heating outdoor air far beyond what the exhaust actually requires.
Refrigeration left to drift. Failing door seals, iced coils and defrost cycles all timed to the same hour.
Meters nobody has reconciled. Sites still paying fixed charges and an administration fee on a meter serving something that no longer exists.

Do it in this order

The order matters, because each step changes the right answer to the next one. Sizing a solar array or a CHP unit before you fix the schedules means sizing it to a load you are about to reduce.

Verify the bill: rate class, meter inventory, fixed charges.
Fix schedules, setpoints and controls. Mostly free.
Fix leaks, seals and maintenance items. Cheap.
Manage the demand peak. Free to moderate.
Replace the worst equipment: lighting, drives, controls.
Then shop the energy rate, with a load profile that reflects the new reality.
Then consider generation — solar or CHP — sized to what is left.

Most suppliers start at step six because it is the only step they get paid for. Because we review the whole bill rather than just sell the supply, we can afford to start at step one.

What you get from us

The Energy Cost Audit produces a written list of what we found, ranked by what it is worth against what it costs, with the free items separated from the ones needing capital. You can hand it to your own trades, or we can arrange the work through our network as part of the package. There is no obligation either way, and none of it requires you to change who supplies your energy.

Typical order of return

Fix	Cost	Reduces
Correct rate class or meter inventory	Paperwork	Fixed and delivery charges
Set HVAC and lighting schedules properly	Free	Consumption, and often demand
Stagger start-up to cut the peak	Free	Demand charge
Repair compressed air leaks	Low	Consumption and demand, year-round
Fix simultaneous heat/cool faults	Low to moderate	Gas and electricity together
LED and occupancy controls	Capital, fast payback	Consumption, and cooling load
Variable speed drives	Capital	Demand, consumption, power factor

This is one of the things we look at during an Energy Cost Audit, not a separate product you have to buy. If the numbers do not work for your site, we say so — that is a perfectly normal outcome and it costs you nothing to find out.

Book a free Energy Cost Audit

Send us one recent electricity bill and one natural gas bill. We review both halves — the
energy you buy and the delivery charges you are billed to receive it — and come back with a
written summary of what we found and what, if anything, is worth changing. No cost, no obligation,
and no requirement to switch anything.

Upload your bills — free Energy Cost Audit

Prefer email? Send your bills to
info@getenergy.ca, or call
(780) 665-4771, Monday to Friday 9 AM–5 PM.

Common questions

What is the cheapest way to lower a business energy bill in Alberta?

Almost always control settings rather than rates. HVAC and lighting running on a seven-day schedule in a five-day building is the most common finding in Alberta commercial buildings, and correcting it costs nothing. Rate shopping normally comes later, once the load profile reflects how the site actually runs.

Should I shop my energy rate before or after efficiency work?

After. Efficiency changes your consumption and your load shape, and both affect what contract is right and what price you can get. Shopping first means signing against a profile you are about to change.

Does efficiency work require switching retailers?

No. Everything in an efficiency review sits inside your own building and can be acted on while you remain under contract with any retailer.

Do you charge for the efficiency review?

No. It is part of the free Energy Cost Audit. You get a written, prioritised list whether or not you ever buy anything from us.

Other things the review can act on

More for Alberta businesses

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Get Energy is an Alberta competitive retailer and energy broker serving
residential, small business, farm and commercial consumers. Get Energy is a tradename of Utility
Network & Partners Inc.