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Church energy: Efficiency tips, tariffs and costs
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Average church energy consumption
The Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers benchmarks a medium church to use 170 kWh of energy per square metre of floor area a year. For a 400 square metre parish church, that is around 68,000 kWh per year, and close to 90% of it is gas for heating.
Understanding and minimising your business energy consumption is the first step to controlling church energy costs.
Church electricity consumption
Lighting is the largest electrical load in a church heated by gas or oil, because the nave is lit from height across a large open volume. Where the church runs storage heaters or pew heaters, heating overtakes it. A typical church uses 20 kWh of electricity per square metre a year, putting a 400 square metre church at 8,000 kWh.
| Electricity use | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Heating | Storage heaters, pew heaters and fan heaters, in churches on electric heating |
| Lighting | Nave, chancel, aisles, porch and any external floodlighting |
| Sound and audio visual | Microphones, amplifiers, induction loops and projectors |
| Kitchen, office and organ | Water heaters, kettles, fridges, parish office equipment and the organ blower |
Church gas consumption
Nearly all of a church’s gas supply goes on space heating, with a small amount on hot water where a vestry or kitchen runs off the same boiler. A typical church uses 150 kWh of gas per square metre a year, because the whole volume is warmed from cold before each service rather than topped up across a working day. That puts a 400 square metre church at around 60,000 kWh of gas a year.
| Gas use | What it covers |
|---|---|
| Space heating | Boiler feeding radiators, underfloor pipework or warm air in the nave and any attached hall |
| Hot water | Vestry, kitchen and toilets, where these run off the same boiler |
Source: CIBSE Energy Benchmarking Dashboard
Improving energy efficiency for churches
The section below identifies five common ways churches can improve energy efficiency.
Source: Historic England guidance on heating historic places of worship
Warm the pews rather than the air
Electric pew heaters warm people where they sit, so a service does not need the whole volume of the nave brought up to temperature. Historic England recommends them where only a small area of the building is in use, either to supplement background heat or to provide a short burst of it.
Boost heat before services
Historic England advises keeping churches at a background temperature of 8C to 10C all winter, then boosting the heat before a service. Switching the system off in between forces the building through cold to warm swings, which encourage damp and put stress on roof timbers.
Time the heating to the diary
A church diary changes every week with weddings, funerals, choir practice and hall lettings, so a timer set to a fixed weekly pattern will heat an empty building. Reset it against next month’s bookings, and use business energy monitoring to check the heating goes off when the building empties.
Draught proof
Large single doors, open bell towers and gaps under old timber doors let warm air out of the nave. Fit heavy door curtains and brush seals, and keep the inner porch door closed.
Use the smallest space
A midweek group of eight does not need the nave heated and lit. Move small gatherings into a side chapel, vestry or hall, and split the heating and lighting onto separate switches so each space can be run on its own.
Energy costs for churches
Energy tariffs for churches fall under the non-domestic energy regulations provided by Ofgem. This means churches are not protected by the energy price cap.
Church energy bills come down to three things: the business electricity prices and business gas prices on your contract, the energy consumption the building uses, and the fixed charges on the meter. Below, we cover the key factors that impact your church energy bills.
Finding a competitive tariff
A church that passes its contract end date without agreeing a new deal is moved onto out-of-contract rates, which are typically the most expensive rates a supplier offers. Our experts can compare business electricity and compare business gas prices to find a competitive tariff.
Consumption and efficiency
Following the efficiency steps above reduces how much energy the building uses, which directly lowers kWh consumption. Lower consumption reduces your business electricity bill and business gas bill, regardless of the unit rate you pay.
Standing charges
Fixed daily fees are paid regardless of how much energy you use, including through the summer months when the building is barely heated, and they vary significantly by region. A cheap unit rate does not always mean a cheap overall contract, so check business electricity standing charges and business gas standing charges to see the full picture.
Best energy tariffs for churches
The right contract for a church depends on when the building is used and how much of the year it needs heating.
A church is a charity, so VAT on energy bills is charged at 5% on energy used for non-business activities. These are the contract types that usually suit churches.
Fixed rate contracts
A fixed business energy contract locks your unit rate for 1 to 3 years, protecting you against rising wholesale prices. Your bills will still vary with the seasons, because a fixed contract fixes the price per unit and not how many units you use.
Multi-rate tariffs
A multi-rate meter charges different rates depending on the time of day, with electricity overnight costing less than electricity during working hours. Churches running electric storage heaters benefit most, as these draw their power overnight at a cheaper rate.
Green energy tariff
Green business energy tariffs match your usage with certificates from renewable generators, with no changes needed to the building. Electricity is certified with renewable energy guarantees of origin and gas with green gas certification.
Renewable energy options for churches
Going greener doesn’t have to mean paying more. Below are the renewable options typically most suitable to churches in Britain.
Solar panels
Commercial solar panels work best on a roof that faces south and stays unshaded, which for most churches means the hall rather than the church itself. You will usually need planning permission, and a listed church needs consent from its denomination before anything goes on the roof.
Battery storage
Commercial solar batteries store the electricity your panels generate during the day so you can use it later. This suits a church particularly well, as most solar is generated midweek when the building is empty and needed on Sunday mornings and at evening services.
Solar PPA
A solar PPA lets a third party fund and own the system while the church buys the power it generates at an agreed rate. Working out the ROI on a solar investment shows whether owning the panels outright would pay back sooner.