Store Chains
In fashion, footwear, electronics, beauty and homeware stores, most of the electricity goes to lighting and HVAC. There is no refrigeration to keep running, so a closed store should draw almost nothing. That makes every drift easy to see.
Overnight
A closed store should draw almost nothing
Unlike a supermarket or a restaurant, a clothing or electronics store has no refrigeration that must run overnight. Once the doors shut, only security, tills and network equipment remain. That load is a few kilowatts at most.
This is why the overnight load reads so clearly in a store. When the base rises above what it should be, the cause is usually simple: a window display left on, signage burning until morning, or an air conditioning unit that never switched off.
- Closed-hours load calculated separately for each store
- The expected base comes from the store’s own history
- Hours above the base are wired to alerts
When an analyser is fitted to the store’s distribution board, the HVAC, sales floor lighting and window circuits are metered separately. “Something is on overnight” then becomes “the window circuit is on”, and the store manager knows exactly what to switch off.
A Store Day
24 hours · average kW3.2avg night kW
+23.0kWh excess · per night
09–20 open closed hours expected overnight base 1.5 kW load above base
Billing
A high-street store and a centre store are not checked the same way
A chain buys electricity for its stores in two different ways. A high-street store has its own supply, its own meter and its own bill. A store inside a shopping centre usually buys through the landlord: consumption is recharged from a landlord sub-meter or apportioned through the service charge.
On the high street, bill validation works directly. The bill is recalculated from the half-hourly record and compared line by line. Where the store has an agreed supply capacity, peak demand is checked against it, because paying for excess capacity and paying for capacity you never use are both avoidable. The panel also shows how much of the store’s load falls in the DUoS red band, whose hours vary by network operator.
- High street: the supplier’s bill recalculated from half-hourly data
- Shopping centre: the landlord’s recharge compared with your own sub-meter
- Months where the gap passes the threshold land on a list
A store in a centre checks the recharge against its own board meter every month. If the gap is small, the matter is closed; if it is large, the store has a month-by-month record to take to the landlord. How the centre side meters and recharges is covered on the shopping centres page. For the supply side, see agreed capacity charges and checking a half-hourly bill.
Landlord Recharge Check
monthly · one store| Month | Landlord recharge kWh | Own sub-meter kWh | Gap % |
|---|---|---|---|
| July | 14,820 | 14,360 | 3.2 |
| August | 15,940 | 14,110 | 13.0 |
| September | 12,600 | 12,250 | 2.9 |
| October | 11,480 | 10,320 | 11.2 |
Format
An outlet and a flagship are not measured on the same scale
One brand can trade from very different stores: a small high-street unit, a store inside a centre, an outlet and a flagship. Ceiling height, window width, lighting density and opening hours all differ.
The panel compares stores per square metre and keeps each one inside its own format group. A flagship using more than an outlet is not a finding. A flagship using more than other flagships is.
- Format group chosen in the store definition
- Comparison by kWh/m² and by opening hours
- Stores that drift from their group marked on the map and the list
The estate map shows each area manager their own region. “Which centre store drifted from its group this month?” can also be put to Enver, the AI assistant. The answer comes from the measurement record and names the data it rests on. Comparison and portfolio views across the whole chain are covered on the retail page.
Format Intensity
area × unit consumptionunit consumption kWh/m²·month
9,60014,20022,80018,400
↔ total sales area m² ↕ unit consumption kWh/m²·month clearly above format average
Windows
Window lighting and signage follow the store's hours
The most visible part of a store’s lighting is the window and the signage. Switched by hand, they come on too early or go off too late. Across a hundred stores nobody can follow that one by one.
The remote control module puts window lighting, signage, sales floor lighting and HVAC on a central schedule. A store inside a centre follows the centre’s opening hours. On the high street, signage comes on at sunset through an astronomical timer rather than at a fixed hour.
- Centre hours and high-street hours on separate schedules
- Signage and external windows on the astronomical timer
- Sunday hours, bank holidays and sale days set as exceptions
In the run-up to Christmas and during the sales, stores trade late. These days go into the schedule as exceptions. When the season ends the schedule returns to normal on its own, so the longer hours do not quietly become permanent.
High-Street Store Schedule
Christmas trading week- Mon
- Tue
- Wed
- Thu late opening
- Fri late opening
- Sat
- Sun Sunday hours
trading hours astronomical timer · 105 h open per week
Alerts
Each alert reaches the person who can fix it
Who solves a problem in a store depends on the kind of problem. The store manager switches off a window left on overnight. The area manager follows a drift that keeps coming back. A faulty HVAC unit or a falling power factor is for facilities management.
The alarm centre assigns recipients by role, so two alerts from the same store can go to two different people. Notifications arrive by email and WhatsApp, and each message gives the measured value, the threshold and the store name.
- Recipients by store, area and facilities role
- Notifications by email and WhatsApp
- A second message when the issue clears
Maintenance sits on the same panel. HVAC filter cleaning and distribution board checks go into the maintenance plan, and completed work is recorded against it. With plan and done side by side, the stores that are falling behind show up on the list.
Store Notifications
WhatsApp- Yesterday
- Out-of-hours load · High St 14 Power two hours after closing is 4.6 kW; expected overnight base 1.5 kW. Window and signage circuit on. Store: High St 14 · 22:04 Open panel
- Back to normal · High St 14 Overnight load 1.4 kW, below the base. Excess load lasted 6 h 10 min.
- Today
- Power factor · High St 22 Power factor 0.91, target 0.95. It falls while the store is closed. Store: High St 22 · 09:05 Open panel
Which modules work in a store chain
| Module | What it does here |
|---|---|
| Energy Consumption | Overnight base load, format comparison by kWh/m², estate map |
| Bill Validation | High-street bills recalculated from half-hourly data, capacity and tariff checks |
| Remote Control | Central schedules for windows, signage, lighting and HVAC |
| Power Quality | Power factor and harmonics after an LED refit |
| Energy Performance and ISO 50001 | Baseline before a refit, before and after comparison |
| AI Assistant | Sourced answers to “which store drifted from its group” |
| Standby Power | Readiness tracking at flagships with standby power |
Refits, new stores and ESOS
Store lighting is renewed every few years: a new concept, new spotlights, a new window. The effect of the refit on consumption is rarely measured, because nobody recorded the store before it.
The Energy Performance module sets the store’s baseline before the refit. Consumption after the refit is compared with that baseline at the same opening hours and similar weather, so the difference comes from measurement rather than an estimate. A newly opened store is compared with others in its format during its first months, and a fit-out that is off standard shows up early.
After a move to LED, power factor and harmonics are worth watching too. LED drivers change the character of the load, and a site on a half-hourly supply pays reactive charges when power factor falls below 0.95. The amounts are usually small, but they are easy to avoid once they are visible.
Many store chains are large enough for ESOS. For Phase 4 the qualification date is 31 December 2026 and notification is due by 5 December 2027. The audit must cover 95% of total energy, and ISO 50001 is the alternative route. The panel’s half-hourly record covers the electricity part of that evidence, store by store. The ESOS Phase 4 guide sets out the details.
Frequently asked
Our centre stores have no bill of their own. Is monitoring still worth it?
Yes. A meter on the store's board is compared month by month with what the landlord recharges. Overnight load, window and HVAC behaviour show up from the same metering, and a centre store has no other way to see them.
Why is overnight load so telling in a store?
A clothing or electronics store has no refrigeration to keep running. Once it closes, only security, tills and network equipment should draw power. Anything above that base is usually a window, signage or HVAC circuit left on.
How do you compare an outlet with a flagship?
Per square metre and by opening hours, with each store kept inside its own format group. A flagship using more than an outlet is not a finding; a flagship using more than other flagships is.
Can window lighting and signage follow the centre hours?
Yes. In the remote control module, centre stores follow centre hours and high-street stores their own. Signage comes on at sunset through the astronomical timer. Sunday hours, bank holidays and the Christmas season go in as exceptions.
How is pricing set?
Chains have an annual per-store price, and modules are multiplied by the number of stores. Details and a configurator are on the pricing page.
Let us measure what is happening on your site.
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