UK manufacturers could significantly reduce their energy bills in 2026 by powering down production machinery when factories are not operating, according to new analysis from FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics. The study estimates that manufacturers wasted as much as £408 million in 2025 by leaving machines running while facilities were closed.
Drawing on machine-monitoring data and sources including the Department for Energy Security & Net Zero, FourJaw found that idle machinery in UK factories consumes up to 1.8 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity each year. This represents around 0.64% of the UK’s total electricity usage—enough to power approximately 500,000 homes annually.
The analysis points to a widespread failure to isolate machinery between shifts as a key driver of unnecessary energy consumption. FourJaw estimates the problem primarily affects around 180,000 small and medium-sized manufacturers operating single-shift production schedules without formal off-shift switch-off policies.
The issue has become increasingly costly as UK manufacturers face electricity prices roughly double the EU average. FourJaw projects that manufacturers will spend about £14.7 billion on electricity in 2025, with more than half of that consumption used to run production machinery.
Chris Iveson, CEO of FourJaw Manufacturing Analytics, said the practice of leaving machines idling is rooted in outdated assumptions. “Manufacturers have traditionally believed it was better to leave machines running rather than power them down and restart them. Applied across all machinery, that approach is highly wasteful—especially given today’s energy costs,” he said.
Iveson noted that larger manufacturers have increasingly adopted machine-level monitoring systems, enabling them to compare the cost of warming machines up against hours of idling and choose the most economical and sustainable option. In contrast, he said, small and medium-sized manufacturers have the most to gain from simple switch-off practices. In a typical single-shift factory, idling energy use of around 50 kWh per machine per week can translate into roughly £450 of unnecessary annual spending per machine.
Regulatory pressure is also accelerating change. New requirements for manufacturers to calculate per-unit carbon emissions are driving greater use of machine-level energy and productivity data. According to FourJaw, companies are increasingly using this insight to optimize off-shift machine management, delivering both cost savings and measurable sustainability improvements.
