The case studies are Marion and Kay.

Kay lives in the town of Ballina. There are 4 people living in house, Kay, her husband, daughter in secondary school and a son post secondary school. They have electric cooking and heating is a combination of back boiler and oil, and they have the usual household appliances. Kay is with the ESB and her bills are typically up at the €300 mark.

Marion lives in the country outside Castlebar. There are 2 adults and 3 kids (national school), living in the house. Marian has an electric oven, gas hob and heating is back boiler and oil. Marian is with Airtricity and her bills are typically €150 to €200.

Progress: The meters have been installed in the case study homes for the initial data collection. Based on measurements taken, Marion could expect her bill to be about €140 and Kay could expect her bill to be about €210 (in both cases every 2 months).

Marion's biggest contributor to her bill was the use of lighting whereas in Kay's case lighting was not a significant part of her bill. The cost associated with Marion's lighting appears to be driven primarily from the use of 50W Halogen spot lights in the kitchen which are required to be on for extended periods, particularly in the winter months. The first step is to consider replacing with 35W IRC versions, which give a 30% saving in the energy consumed while giving a comparable amount of light. The second thing to consider is whether all eight are required or if some can be left off without impacting on functional lighting levels in the area.

In Kay's case her major cost drivers were cooking and the clothes dryer. Things to consider to reduce energy consumption related to cooking would be to consider cooking multiple items together e.g. when doing a roast, can potatoes and veg be roasted too (to avoid turning on additional rings on the hob) or can a steamer be used such that potatoes and veg can be cooked over one ring. Regarding the dryer the key is to reduce the amount of work the dryer has to do by minimising how much water the dryer needs to extract from the clothes. There are a number of options to consider - can the clothes tolerate a faster spin, thereby getting more water from the clothes before going into the dryer. Can the clothes be hung for a little while to allow them partially dry before going into the dryer. Marion has the ideal setup where she has a covered clothes line where the clothes can be hung regardless of weather and the dryer only has to be used to finish them off. As a result the cost associated with Marion's dryer was minimal.

In Marion's case by switching to 35W spotlights, her bill could potentially reduce by about €10. Kay's savings will depend on which steps she feels are reasonable to implement. Her focus on week one was solely on the dryer. The spin speed was increased on the washing machine which meant the clothes dryer had less work to do. This single step reduced the load on the dryer which ultimately would save about €8 on the bill. Kay will now focus on the cooker to see what changes she is comfortable with implementing there to realise additional savings.

The Ardilaun Hotel is a 4 star hotel in Galway city, offering luxury accommodation, dining, business facilities and leisure centre for young and old. When considering energy costs in such an environment it is imperative that any changes do not impact on customers comfort and overall experience. Savings were identified, requiring no capital investment, that gave a return on investment of the powersavvy process of just 2.5 months. Additional areas where investment would be justified were also identified, with priority given to investments with a short ROI.

Result: The Powersavvy process identified that almost 50% of the electricity was being consumed in the leisure centre, and by focusing on the heavy consumers of power in that area, some simple operating changes were identified that had no impact on the customer experience, and yet cut power consumption on those pieces of equipment by almost 50%.

The Turner Print Group has been operating since 1836, adapting new technologies as they became available in order to better serve their customers. As the technology evolved the energy demands also increased. The Powersavvy process identified the equipment that represented the highest energy load, as well as giving an understanding of how that equipment consumed power in different settings. This allowed some simple changes to be made which could optimise energy consumption. The analysis also quantified energy wastage from equipment being left powered on during non-production hours.

Result: The Powersavvy process identified opportunities for savings, that did not require any capital investment, that represented 18% of their electricity costs.

The Bay Leaf provides an extensive menu throughout the day. When considering their energy costs it was imperative that neither the food quality nor customer experience were compromised. The first step revealed that the kitchen equipment accounted for only 24% of total consumption. Additional analysis identified changes with usage of lighting and implementation of tighter controls on hours of operation of certain appliances (including items left powered overnight), that would yield significant savings. No additional investment was required to realise the savings.

Result: The Powersavvy process identified opportunities for savings of over 30% on The Bay Leaf Restaurant electricity costs.