A healthcare site does not get the luxury that most estates rely on when it comes to cutting energy use, since lights, heating and equipment cannot simply be switched off overnight or over a quiet weekend when the people depending on them are never actually away from the building. For most organisations, an energy reduction plan starts with reducing hours, whether that means an empty office after 6pm or a closed floor on a Saturday, but a round the clock care setting has no equivalent to reach for.
A UK provider of residential and mental health care found a way around that constraint by targeting how much energy the building drew per hour rather than how long it operated, installing voltage optimisation to trim waste at the point of use instead of cycling load off and back on. The building kept running exactly as it had before, on the same schedule and with the same equipment, while what it consumed to do so came down.
Recorded on site rather than modelled in advance, the result came to a 5.61 per cent reduction in energy use, translating into 33,580.7 kWh saved, 6.95 tonnes of CO2 avoided and a cost saving of 8,462 pounds, all without a single change to how the site was occupied or run.
That distinction carries more weight in this sector than most, particularly with ESOS Phase 3’s second progress update due 5 December 2026 and Phase 4 qualification landing on the same date, since every energy manager submitting a public figure needs a plan their board can stand behind. Most sectors can point to reduced occupancy or shorter operating hours to justify part of that figure, but a care setting cannot make that claim and does not need to when the saving itself holds up without touching occupancy or care standards at all.
Powerhub Solutions delivers voltage optimisation, refrigeration, energy management and Pulse, an energy management system built for ESOS and SECR reporting, across more than 3,000 UK sites.
Book a free site assessment at powerhub.solutions to see what a verified saving looks like on a site that cannot afford downtime.
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This article appeared in the October 2026 issue of Energy Manager magazine. Subscribe here.
