Holiday traffic is excellent for sales, but brutal on energy bills. Grocery stores use a lot of energy; about 196,000 Btu per square foot per year (that’s roughly 57 kWh/ft²/yr) for a 50,000-square-foot store. Extended hours, packed refrigeration cases, frequent door openings, and overnight prep push those numbers even higher during the holiday rush.
Use the grocery energy savings calculator below to get a quick estimate of your potential savings in percentage and dollars. Then review the quick guidance and our other resources for high-impact moves across refrigeration, schedules, lighting, and bill review. See how proper energy management can drive massive utility savings.
See how much your grocery store can save
Enter your total annual utility spend and answer our quick questions. Estimate values to the best of your knowledge if exact numbers are not handy. Results show estimated savings percentages and dollars, along with a new annual spend.
How much can your grocery stores save?
Discover how energy initiatives can lead to significant savings
Your potential savings
Potential savings (%):
Potential savings ($):
New annual utility spend:
How we calculate your estimated energy savings
The percentage shown is your estimated savings relative to your current annual utility spend. The dollar figure applies the savings percentage to your input to project a new yearly spend. Savings reflect common grocery opportunities, such as:
Tightening schedules and setpoints
Improving visibility with interval data and benchmarking
Tuning refrigeration and lighting controls
Choosing a rate schedule that minimizes demand charges
Prioritize quick operational wins before moving to capital projects with verified payback. As you execute, track your results through the holidays. You can validate progress against actual utility bills and interval data with EnergyCAP Utility Management. Reduce utility bill chaos that’s costing your store more than you might think.
What your answers say about your current usage
Your answers point to where you are most likely to find energy savings: not setting HVAC equipment back during unoccupied time and not reacting to drifting refrigeration setpoints. Limited benchmarking with ENERGY STAR® Portfolio Manager® or gaps in interval data mean blind spots, leading to overnight load, holiday creep, and simultaneous equipment starts slipping through.
If your budget is tight, start with operational fixes first. Standardize opening and closing procedures with checklists, verify setbacks, and monitor the BAS for failing or mis-calibrated sensors. Next, target low-cost measures with quick payback: LED relamping, EC fans, door heater controls, and door retrofits for chronic high-load aisles. Use your results to size the opportunity, then validate with meter data and monthly bills to keep the savings real.
Achieving real grocery store energy savings
A national grocer used EnergyCAP Smart Analytics to plan and verify upgrades during a store revamp. Focus areas included refrigeration packs, EC fans, LED canopy lights, new freezer units, and case doors. With site and appliance-level visibility, the team confirmed meaningful savings and reduced grocery store utility waste in near real time.
65% reduction for some lighting groups
68% reduction for refrigeration
Alerts and tailored reports flagged load and schedule drift
Before-and-after tracking validated results for finance and operations teams
These results illustrate what is possible with disciplined operations, targeted projects, and continuous monitoring. Your estimate helps size the opportunity; metered data proves it.
How your grocery store can reduce energy usage
Your holiday load is unique, and every dollar counts. Using our grocery energy savings calculator to translate practices into estimated savings, you can prioritize quick wins, size capital needs, and pursue rebates with confidence.
When you’re ready to turn estimates into verified results, request a demo of EnergyCAP Utility Management to see how portfolio rollups, Powerviews, and bill audit workflows help you track savings and prove outcomes.
FAQ
How much electricity does the average grocery store use?
Many grocery stores fall in the 40–70 kWh per square foot per year range, but it varies by size, hours, and equipment mix. That puts a 50,000-square-foot store roughly around 2–3.5 million kWh per year, with holidays pushing usage higher.
How do I calculate EUI for my store using the past 12 months of bills?
To find your electric EUI, total the last 12 months of electricity use in kWh and divide by your gross square footage:
Electric EUI (kWh/ft²·yr) = total kWh (last 12 months) ÷ gross ft²
For site EUI, convert each fuel to kBtu—electricity (kWh × 3.412), natural gas (therms × 100), and any other fuels—add them, then divide by gross square footage:
Site EUI (kBtu/ft²·yr) = [kWh × 3.412 + therms × 100 + other fuels in kBtu] ÷ gross ft²
What are common refrigeration retrofit options?
Common energy-saving retrofit options for refrigerators include:
Case doors on open cases
EC fans for cases and walk-ins
LED case and canopy lights
Anti-sweat controls
Floating head/evaporator setpoints
Variable-speed drives
Optimized defrost schedules
Night curtains
New gaskets and door heaters
What are good low-cost lighting upgrades for grocery stores?
Good low-cost lighting upgrades for grocery stores can include:
LED relamping on the sales floor, and in offices and stockrooms
Occupancy sensors in back-of-house and restrooms
Daylighting and time-of-day controls
Tuned schedules for extended holiday hours
Delamping overlit aisles
Maintenance, like cleaning lenses and replacing failed lamps
