The food and beverage industry juggles a range of energy-intensive processes, from pasteurisation and fermentation to refrigeration and high-temperature baking. Yet, many plants have historically lacked clear visibility into where their energy is going. Today, achieving transparent energy flows through digitisation has become crucial for identifying inefficiencies, cutting costs, and meeting green targets. Companies need “energy intelligence”: using technology to gather and analyse energy data so they can optimise consumption and cut costs.

Energy inefficiencies in food and beverages

The food and beverage (F&B) sector has unique energy profiles and pain points. Dairies run pasteurisers and chillers around the clock, breweries heat tonnes of mash and cool the brew, and bakeries operate industrial ovens. These processes create opportunities for hidden inefficiencies, such as running all equipment at once (causing demand spikes), leaving idle machinery powered on, overusing utilities during cleaning cycles, and uncoordinated scheduling that concentrates load in peak tariff hours.

Increasingly, companies are realising that even minor operational tweaks can yield significant results. For example, optimising cleaning schedules or installing sensors to shut off idle equipment can reduce waste immediately. Staggering the start-up of heavy machinery can avoid costly peak charges, and shifting energy-intensive tasks to off-peak times cuts costs without affecting output. These kinds of changes are much easier to identify with real-time data.

A detailed digital twin analysis of one large brewery showed approximately 70% of its energy consumption was tied to heating and cooling processes, which guided major efficiency improvements[i]. Armed with such intelligence, F&B businesses can focus on the worst energy offenders first. One example is Heineken’s Connected Brewery initiative, which connected 3,500 brewery machines to the cloud to monitor energy use in real time. This digital oversight helped minimise downtime and cut the breweries’ carbon footprint, significantly improving operational efficiency[ii].

Cutting carbon and meeting new regulations

Beyond operational savings, transparent energy management is essential to meet environmental targets and comply with evolving regulations. Corporate Sustainability Reporting Directive (CSRD) requires large food and beverage companies to report their Scope 1, 2, and 3 emissions in detail, which means tracking everything from fuel burned on-site to the electricity used in processing, as well as the carbon footprint of ingredients in the supply chain. Investors and customers are also demanding hard numbers on sustainability.

The EU’s latest climate and energy policies directly impact the F&B sector, which is responsible for approximately 30% of EU carbon emissions (~11% from manufacturing alone). Under the “Fit for 55” package, part of the European Green Deal, the EU aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. The updated Energy Efficiency Directive (EED) (EU 2023/1791) also now requires large companies to conduct energy audits every four years and prioritise “energy efficiency first.”. Having detailed data on energy flows makes it much easier to find those opportunities during audits and prove the improvements afterwards.

From data to action: Advanced energy management solutions

The advent of advanced Energy Management Systems (EMS) is what makes this new level of transparency possible. These digital platforms turn raw energy data into actionable insights. E.ON Optimum is one example of a cloud-based EMS purpose-built for managing and reducing customer energy use. It works by tapping into data flows from a site’s existing meters and sensors to collect real-time data across a huge range of data classifications, including electricity, gas, water, steam and even CO₂ outputs. The software then allows the user to visualise consumption in intuitive dashboards, breaking down energy use by production line, process, or even shift. The system also tracks metrics like cost per unit or per site and the carbon footprint of operations, helping companies link energy efficiency to financial and sustainability performance. Optimum provides granular visibility into energy use by activity and asset in formats tailored to different teams, from engineers on the factory floor to sustainability managers.

E.ON Optimum also automatically compiles carbon metrics by source and activity, providing verifiable data for sustainability reports. One manufacturer using Optimum was able to automate much of their sustainability reporting, including wastewater metrics and carbon calculations, which saved time for their staff while ensuring accurate disclosures.

A cloud-based EMS such as Optimum allows multiple production sites to be monitored centrally with real-time access from anywhere. It also reduces the IT burden on manufacturers, with no complex local servers to maintain, and makes it easier to roll out updates or new features across the enterprise. For food and drink companies, the benefits include faster onboarding of new sites, one unified source of truth for energy data, and automated anomaly detection that flags issues humans might miss. The platform is already trusted by more than 60,000 customers, including major UK companies across various sectors, and E.ON offers it in modular packages so that smaller plants up to large multi-site firms can find a fit-for-purpose solution.

To find out more about optimising energy efficiencies and implementing sustainable energy sources, download the whitepaper below.

[i] Opinion: The F&B industry needs to go faster, aim higher and deliver together to meet its decarbonisation targets

[ii] Sustainability and AI in Action: How Heineken is Achieving Net Zero