13 March 2023 , 14:25
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Some major UK supermarkets have been dimming lights across stores in a bid to cut rising energy costs.
Morrisons, Co-op and Waitrose have reportedly done this as the Government £400 energy rebate comes to an end this month.
Some Waitrose stores are operating on “half lighting” for the first two hours of trading on weekdays.
The upmarket chain is also said to be upgrading its fridges in a bid to make them 40% more efficient while Aldi is fitting see-through doors to maintain low temperatures with minimum energy usage.
Waitrose is also reportedly considering blinds across its fridges to keep cold air in at night, which is a measure already implemented by Morrisons.
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Sainsbury's has switched to LED lights in its stores, and also uses smart sensors to adjust their brightness depending on the level of natural light coming in.
According to a report by the Daily Mail, UK supermarkets alone use 3% of all electricity.
Co-op has previously said the initiative, which has been part of a trial since October last year, meant it could reduce electricity bills by up to £4,000 a year for a single store.
It's not just supermarkets though, retailers across the UK are making moves to try and curb their energy usage.
Currys has reduced the brightness of display TV sets in a bid to bring down its energy bill, which jumped to £8million in the year to the end of April.
Currys chief executive Alex Baldock previously told The Telegraph: “We’re doing things like dimming the brightness of some TVs when stores are less busy and turning out every other light and installing LED lighting across the network, all of which is self-help.”
Most Halfords stores now have LED lights and Superdrug is also following suit.
On average, an LED bulb uses around 80% less electricity than traditional fluorescent light strips or bulbs.
Iceland warned of the effect of sky-high energy prices in its annual report last July.
The frozen food retailer said that the “considerable uncertainty and volatility in global energy prices” meant it would "be unable to avoid a temporary reduction in our profits during the current year” unless prices stabilised.
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At the time, Iceland’s energy bill was around £70million in the year to March 2022, or around 2% of its sales.
Since then, the retailer has begun stocking more room temperature products and has invested in more energy efficient measures such as solar panels across its stores and warehouses.
Despite this, Iceland has been forced to shelve its new store openings due to their energy bills.
Mirror Money has approached Waitrose, Co-Op, and Morrisons for comment.