What is an energy audit?

A detailed map of where your energy spend goes — and where it doesn't need to

An energy audit is a structured, site-specific assessment of how your business uses electricity, gas, and heat. A Registered Energy Auditor visits your premises, analyses your billing data, and inspects your significant energy-using equipment to build a precise picture of your current consumption.

The result is a written report that pinpoints inefficiencies, ranks improvement opportunities by payback period, and sets out the grants available to fund the work — giving you a clear, costed roadmap from day one.

IS 399 SI 426 SSEA SEAI Registered
🔎

What the audit covers

  • Full analysis of your electricity and gas bills — costs, usage trends, day/night profiles
  • Site walk-through of all significant energy-using equipment
  • Benchmarking against sector norms
  • Identification and costing of energy-saving opportunities
  • Payback calculations for every recommended measure
  • Guidance on SEAI, LEO and EXEED grants available to you
  • Sub-metering recommendations to support CSRD reporting
SEAI Support

Up to €2,000 back from the SEAI towards your audit cost

The Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland's Support Scheme for Energy Audits (SSEA) provides a €2,000 voucher to eligible SMEs — making a professional energy audit very low cost or free.

€2,000
SEAI SSEA Voucher

Who qualifies?

SMEs registered in the Republic of Ireland that are tax-compliant and spend at least €10,000 per year on energy (excluding transport) are eligible — provided they have not previously received an SSEA voucher. Very large energy users already obligated under SI 426 are not eligible for this particular grant.

📋

Step 1 — Get in Touch

We will give you screenshots of every step in the SEAI on-line process.

📅

Step 2 — Send us 12 months of energy bills and answer some basic questions

We will then come to you to conduct the site visit and write up the report.

⚡

Step 3 — Implement & save

Your audit report maps out which improvements to prioritise and which additional grants (EXEED, BEUS, LEO) can fund the capital works.

Beyond the SSEA, larger capital projects may qualify for the EXEED Grant (up to 40% of capital costs), the Business Energy Upgrades Scheme (BEUS), the Support Scheme for Renewable Heat (SSRH), or Enterprise Ireland / LEO grants such as GreenStart and GreenPlus.

Sectors we serve

We audit across all commercial sectors

Every sector has its own energy fingerprint. Our auditors are experienced across manufacturing, food production, hospitality, retail and the wider business market.

🏭

Manufacturing & Industry

Large motor drives, compressed air systems, steam boilers and process heating are typically the biggest opportunities. Our IS 399 and SI 426 audits address all of these with a structured energy savings register.

🍴

Food & Beverage

Refrigeration, steam cooking, vacuum cooling, compressed air and cold storage are examined in detail. We have audited large food processing facilities and identified savings running to hundreds of thousands of euro per year.

🏛

Hospitality & Hotels

Heating systems, kitchen equipment, laundry, air handling and guest-area controls all feature in a hotel energy study. We also advise on sub-metering strategies required for CSRD compliance.

🏙

Retail & Commercial

Lighting, HVAC, refrigeration and building fabric are typically the focus for retail and commercial premises. The SSEA voucher is well suited to this sector.

🍽

Pubs, Restaurants & Venues

Gas cooking, bar refrigeration, heating and hot water are examined with a focus on practical, fast-payback improvements — solar PV, induction cooking and sub-metering feature regularly.

📈

Any Business Spending €10k+ on Energy

If your annual energy spend exceeds €10,000, you are likely to benefit from an audit — and you may qualify for the SEAI €2,000 SSEA voucher to offset the cost.

Recent audits

What our audits have found in the field

Every audit is different, but the savings are real. Here are four examples from recent work carried out by our SEAI-registered auditor, Fergus Wheatley.

Hospitality · SSEA Audit

Gastropub, Howth, Co. Dublin

791 m² · Accommodation & Food Services · Audit date: March 2025

A full SSEA energy audit was carried out at this busy tavern and function venue. The audit identified nine practical improvement measures spanning heating, solar, metering and building fabric.

€16,650 annual saving 56% emissions reduction 41 tonnes CO2/yr
  • AC systems for space heating — €4,000/yr saving, replaces gas-fired heating in bar and offices
  • Solar PV on flat roof — €3,750/yr saving, 4.3-year payback
  • Sub-metering — €2,500/yr saving, payback under 1 year
  • Gas hobs & grill to induction — €4,000/yr saving in kitchen energy
  • Building fabric — boiler pipework insulation, attic and flat roof insulation

Grants available: SEAI Non-domestic Microgen, Building Fabric Grant, LEO Energy Efficiency Grant

Manufacturing · IS 399 Audit

Animal Feed Mill, Co. Kilkenny

Large industrial facility · Annual energy spend: €2m · Audit: December 2024

An IS 399 Energy Efficient Design Management audit of a 24-hour, 5-day-a-week animal feed manufacturing facility consuming 6 million kWh of electricity and 480,000 litres of LPG annually.

€1.9m total energy spend Four priority saving areas
  • Motor controls improvement — €25,000/yr electrical saving, payback under 1 year via VSD optimisation and Kaizen management
  • Steam trap investigation & management — €11,500+/yr heat saving; steam systems often run at efficiencies below 50%
  • Compressed air leak survey — €17,500/yr saving, payback under 1 year; ultrasonic investigation not carried out in many years
  • Pellet formation controls — €25,000/yr saving by improving moisture sensing and cooling fan run times

The audit also identified an opportunity to recover heat from warm process air to pre-heat boiler feed water.

Food Processing · SI 426 Audit

Convenience Food Manufacturer, Co. Monaghan

Food manufacturer · Annual energy bill: €1,000,000 · Audit: February 2026

An SI 426-compliant energy audit of a food processing plant using 6 GWh of energy per year (2 GWh electricity, 4 GWh gas). Some inherited steam equipment was found to be significantly below modern efficiency standards.

€1 million annual energy cost 6 GWh/yr total usage 1,100 tonnes CO2/yr
  • Steam system overhaul — the largest saving opportunity; ageing boilers operating at well below optimal efficiency
  • Compressed air system — significant leakage losses identified
  • Submetering strategy — needed across steam, compressed air, hot water and space heating to enable CSRD reporting
  • EXEED grant pathway — up to 40% of capital costs available; energy credit also applicable

The audit sets out a grant-first approach: EXEED (up to 40% capital) + energy credit grants from suppliers, structured to fund the major works

Hospitality · Energy Balance Study

Boutique Hotel, Killarney, Co. Kerry

4-star hotel · 3,500 m² · 44 staff · February 2025

A comprehensive energy balance study of a four-star town-centre hotel. The hotel's energy cost per room was €4,600 per year — on the mid-to-low end for hotels, partly due to an already well-upgraded building fabric and a committed energy-aware staff team.

€4,600 energy cost/room/yr Multiple fast-payback measures
  • VRF system optimisation — switch bedrooms to Variable Refrigerant Flow heating (4.5:1 efficiency ratio); running cost less than half of boiler radiators
  • Kitchen induction upgrades — gas hot plates and grills replaced with induction technology; reduces kitchen ambient temperature as well as direct energy costs
  • Valve insulation — each uninsulated valve loses more heat than 1 metre of exposed pipe; payback typically under 1 year
  • BMS & CO2 sensors — air handling units currently on timeclocks only; adding CO2 sensors allows demand-driven ventilation with minimal capital outlay
  • Sub-metering for CSRD — low-cost OWL-type metering (from ~€100/meter) recommended as a first step towards mandatory sustainability reporting
How we work

From first conversation to costed savings plan

Our audits follow a structured process that balances rigour with practicality — you get a report you can act on, not one that sits on a shelf.

Initial review

We collect 12–24 months of electricity and gas bills, understand your operating hours and sector, and identify the main energy-using systems on site.

Site visit

Our SEAI-registered auditor visits your premises, walks through all significant energy-using equipment, and gathers the data needed to benchmark your performance.

Analysis & report

We model your energy balance from first principles, quantify each saving opportunity, calculate paybacks, and set out the grant funding available for each project.

Debrief & next steps

We walk you through the findings, prioritise the actions that make most sense for your business, and advise on how to structure grant applications to maximise your return.

Why choose us

Energy experts who understand both the market and the building

We are not just energy auditors — we are energy market specialists. That means your audit comes with procurement and hedging context that most audit providers can't offer.

🏅

SEAI-Registered Auditor

Our lead auditor, Fergus Wheatley (B.Sc. Engineering, MIEI, CEM), is a SEAI-registered energy auditor qualified to carry out SSEA, IS 399, and SI 426 audits — covering SMEs through to large industrial sites.

📈

Market Procurement Expertise

Because we are energy procurement specialists as well as auditors, we can show you what price you are paying for each unit of energy — and whether you are buying it well — as part of the same engagement.

💰

Grant-First Approach

Every audit recommendation comes with a clear view of available grant support. We have direct experience of the SEAI SSEA, EXEED and energy credit grant programmes, and we will help you structure your applications.

Get in touch

Request an energy audit

Tell us a little about your business and energy use. We'll confirm whether you qualify for the SEAI €2,000 voucher and outline the next steps.

By submitting this form your details are sent to our team at commercial@smartpower.ie. We will never share your information outside of the energy supply chain.