How to calculate Gas Load

[MrAaaKaa]

Hello there,
I will be taking on a lease of a shop that will be operating as a takeaway/small restaurant in the UK.

I have been told that not only will the the Gas meter need to be uplifted from U6 to U16, but that the capacity of the incoming pipe into the shop also needs to increased. This unfortunately requires the services of the Utility companies (or national grid)

My requirements for my takeaway equipment is 156KW peak hourly gas load. With that in mind how would I calculate what my Estimated Annual Gas Load in KWh?

Is it as simple as calculating:
156KW * 12 * 360 = 673,920KWh? (where 12 is the estimated number of opening hours per day and 360 is the estimated number of days open per year)

Or is that an over estimation as the equipment will only hit 156KW peak power during certain time of the day?

Apologies in advance if this is an overly entry-level question as I am quite new to this. So any help/advice would appreciated.

Thanks.

 

[Agile]

Only you can guess what your business is likely to need.

But I would suggest hardly 10-20% of the maximum peak load. Probably far less than that!

Also work out the annual consumption and see what the cost of that is likely to be.

My guess would be that most Indian takeaways probably have gas bills of £4000 to £12,000 and no more than that!

A busy gastro pub I know with 4 cooks in the kitchen used about £12,000 pa. but have converted to electricity and save about 45% of that cost. ( They have about 3 porters/washer ups! ).

You presumably need that info to go on the application form and they use that to calculate the demand on the gas supply etc. Its not very significant to you.

Your calculation of 674,000 kWh pa would cost about £33,000 pa. Since many small cafes and takeaways are trading below the VAT limit it becomes obvious that their typical gas bill cannot be more than about £3000 for them.

Last Saturday I did a small repair for a landlord and tenant who had between them 60 years of catering experience as both employees and proprietors. They were both adamant that it was very difficult to make much money in that business but very easy to lose a lot too. They both agreed that less than one in three were still in the same hands two years later.

Tony

 

[MrAaaKaa]

Hi Agile,
thanks for your input - it really helped.

I think I will proceed with estimating at 25% peak load, which could still be an over estimation, but probably more in the ball park. Therefore:

156KW * 12 * 360 = 673,920KWh * 25% = 168,480KWh.

Based on your assessment that 673,920 KWh would cost £33,000, then 25% of that would be around £8,250 which fits into your view that most Indian takeaways probably have gas bills of £4000 to £12,000.

This all could be wrong but its only as estimate at the end of the day.

Cheers.

 

[Agile]

Whilst I don't know about this but so seriously overestimating gas consumption could well mean you have to pay higher installation charges.

I do hope you are taking business advice on this project as it seems to me that you are installing massive equipment with no proven trade. I fear that you are seriously over estimating the business.

I love eating out and closely follow restaurants and see just how little trade so many have.

I also hope your ventilation system is capable of removing 156 kW of heat !

That's 10 times the heating requirement of a large house!

I come across so many who have lost money with restaurant projects. I was told last Saturday about someone who lost £200,000 in two years. My customer took it over for 15 months as he wanted somewhere to play his music and sing but even with his entertainment it would still only just cover the expenses.

Both of them were saying that with their experiences they would only advise working as an employee rather than a proprietor because of the likelihood of losing so much as an owner.

A lady I knew lost £90,000 setting up a café in Kensington and ran out of money before it had even opened. Mad in my view to take a lease for a café when there was no gas supply and adding one cost her £15,000.

Tony