- Energy management tools at a glance
- Energy management and building energy software
- A practical way to start managing energy
- Do you need an ESOS assessment?
- Bills, meters or building controls?
- Common energy waste the software finds
- Getting buy-in from the people in the building
- My advice on choosing energy management software
- Frequently asked questions
The best energy management software starts with good data: your bills and meter readings in one place, checked and compared across sites. Multi-site businesses should look for bill tracking and benchmarking, building owners for HVAC optimisation, and anyone reporting on sustainability for tools that turn energy use into emissions numbers auditors can follow.
You can't cut energy use you can't see. Most businesses only look at energy when the bill arrives, by which point the waste has already happened. Energy management software brings bills, meters and building systems together so you can spot the site, the building or the hour where energy is going and nobody's using it.
This list covers utility data platforms, building controls and sustainability reporting tools. If you're starting small, my guide to sustainability upgrades for small businesses has easy wins, and here's more on going green as a business.
Energy management tools at a glance
Here's what each tool is, what it's good for and whether its own site names a free plan, a trial or neither. The list is alphabetical and in no particular order.
| Tool | Type | Good for | Free plan |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arcadia | Utility data | Multi-site utility bills and data | No |
| BrainBox AI | HVAC optimisation | Heating and cooling energy | No |
| EnergyCAP | Utility bill tracking | Bill accuracy and benchmarking | No |
| EnergyElephant | Energy and carbon | Smaller organisations starting out | Trial only |
| GridPoint | Building controls | Multi-site equipment control | No |
| IBM Envizi | Sustainability data | Energy and emissions reporting | No |
| Measurabl | Real estate ESG | Property portfolio performance | Trial only |
| Spacewell Energy | Building analytics | Multi-site energy analytics | No |
| Stark | Energy data | UK half-hourly and sub-meter data | No |
Energy management and building energy software
Arcadia
Best for: Businesses with many sites and utility accounts who want bills, energy buying and sustainability data brought into one place.
BrainBox AI
Best for: Commercial building owners whose biggest energy use is heating and cooling, and who want AI to adjust HVAC settings automatically.
EnergyCAP
Best for: Organisations with large numbers of utility bills who want every bill checked, tracked and benchmarked across buildings.
EnergyElephant
Best for: Small and midsize organisations who want meter data, energy reports and carbon reporting without a large enterprise rollout.
GridPoint
Best for: Owners of many sites who want equipment such as HVAC, refrigeration and lighting monitored and controlled from one dashboard.
IBM Envizi
Best for: Large organisations pulling energy and emissions data from many sources into one record for sustainability reporting.
Measurabl
Best for: Real estate owners and managers who want energy, water and emissions data across their buildings in one benchmarked view.
Spacewell Energy
Best for: Businesses and public bodies who want metering, analytics and savings tracking across many buildings in the cloud.
Stark
Best for: UK organisations who need reliable meter and half-hourly data before they can make sense of where energy is going.
A practical way to start managing energy
- Gather twelve months of bills for every site and meter, so you have a baseline.
- Connect smart or half-hourly meter data where you have it, so you can see use by the hour.
- Compare similar sites and look for the ones using far more than the rest.
- Check out-of-hours use, because heating, cooling and lights left on overnight are common waste.
- Set a target, make one change at a time and measure the result.
Do you need an ESOS assessment?
GOV.UK says organisations that qualify for the energy savings opportunity scheme must carry out an assessment every 4 years. The assessment includes an audit of the energy used by their buildings, industrial processes and transport, and is designed to identify measures that save energy.
If your business qualifies, energy software makes the assessment far easier, because the building, process and transport data is already collected. Check the qualification criteria on GOV.UK, and choose a tool that can export the data your assessor will ask for.
Bills, meters or building controls?
Bill tracking tools are the easiest start: they check every invoice, catch errors and show trends across many sites. Meter analytics go deeper, showing when energy is used during the day. Building control tools go furthest, adjusting heating, cooling and equipment automatically.
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Most organisations start with bills and meters, then add controls in their biggest buildings once they know where the waste is.
Common energy waste the software finds
- Heating and cooling running at full output overnight and at weekends.
- Two sites of a similar size using very different amounts of energy.
- Billing errors, such as estimated reads that were never corrected.
- Equipment left on in empty rooms.
- Heating and cooling fighting each other in the same space.
Out-of-hours use is usually the quickest win. It needs no new equipment, just a schedule someone checks.
Getting buy-in from the people in the building
Energy savings often depend on people: closing doors, switching off equipment and reporting heating that won't turn down. Share simple results with the teams in each building, such as each month's use compared with the same month a year earlier, so they can see the effect of what they do.
Friendly competition between sites helps too. When teams can see how their building compares with similar ones, they start spotting waste you'd never find from a dashboard.
Celebrate the first saving publicly, however small. A named team that cut its overnight use gives everyone else a reason to look at their own building with fresh eyes.
Do you make energy management software? Tool makers can ask to be considered for a featured place on this list.
My advice on choosing energy management software
Start with the data you already have. Twelve months of bills in one place will show you more than any fancy dashboard built on missing meters, and it tells you which sites to look at first.
Then make sure someone owns the results. Energy software shows you the problem; savings only happen when a named person changes a setting, a schedule or a habit.
Reporting on sustainability as well? That side is compared in my comparison of ESG reporting software.
Frequently asked questions
What is energy management software?
It's software that collects energy bills and meter data, shows where and when energy is used, and helps you reduce waste across buildings or sites.
Who needs energy management software?
Multi-site businesses, building owners, facilities teams and anyone reporting energy or emissions for sustainability purposes.
What is ESOS?
ESOS is the UK's energy savings opportunity scheme. GOV.UK says qualifying organisations must carry out an assessment every 4 years.
Can energy software control my building?
Some tools connect to building systems and adjust heating, cooling or equipment automatically. Others focus on bills and meter data.
Do I need smart meters?
They help a lot, because hourly data shows when energy is wasted. Bill data alone still shows trends and errors across sites.
