Why more Restaurants are turning to Community Solar
Overview: Restaurants face rising costs on all fronts, and with energy use far exceeding the average commercial building, volatile electricity bills are a threat to already-thin margins. Community solar offers restaurants a simple way to reduce electric costs by 10–15% with no upfront investment, no construction, and no impact on daily operations.
Since 2020, the restaurant industry has faced several unique and persistent challenges. Between rising rent, higher insurance premiums, and ongoing inflation, restaurant owners are being asked to make the same impossible decision over and over again: quietly absorb higher costs at the expense of margin or increase prices and risk a lower customer base.
For many restaurant owners, this pressure builds further when the monthly electric bill arrives. According to the US Energy Information Administration, restaurants consume roughly 3x more energy per sq-ft than the average commercial facility, resulting in 63% of operators reporting that rising utility costs are a significant challenge for maintaining stable profits. With ventilation, refrigeration, lighting, and climate control always running, rising electricity prices hit restaurants disproportionately. As these costs continue to climb, evaluating community solar may be one of the most impactful decisions you make to take more control of your electricity costs.
Figure 1: Annual Energy Consumption Density by Industry. US Energy Information Administration
Why Community Solar works for Restaurants:
Community solar is a partnership structure that’s perfect for businesses like restaurants with high energy consumption per square foot, long hours, and high exposure to electricity prices.
Community solar allows restaurants to partner with a local, already operating solar farm in their electric utility. The solar farm will send energy to the grid on your restaurant’s behalf, which reduces your bill in the eyes of the utility, all with no upfront costs to you and no install onsite.
Want to learn more? Visit our What is Community Solar page
Why high energy usage is an advantage for Restaurants:
When considering a community solar partnership for your restaurant, it’s important to understand that your savings scale with your electricity usage. Unlike onsite solar which is limited by the physical footprint of your property, community solar partnerships are sized based off the amount of electricity you consume, resulting in potentially greater benefits. In practical terms, this can translate to electricity cost savings of 10–15% for most businesses. For restaurants, where single-digit profit margins are increasingly common, this level of savings can have a meaningful impact on profitability.
An important note here as well is that as electricity prices may rise in the future, so do savings. The reason being: by subscribing to community solar, you are guaranteed a fixed discount (i.e. 10 to 15%). No matter how high your bill is, you’ve locked in long-term savings for your business.
Low risk, high simplicity:
Community solar programs are created by state governments and purposefully designed to be simple, removing barriers for businesses and homeowners to participate. The goal? Provide options to access cheap & clean energy to those that either can’t or don’t want to pursue onsite renewable energy.
As a result, your business has an option to predictably save with:
No upfront costs or onsite construction
No impact on guest experience, daily operations, or service
Flexible contracting options
Discover your potential to save
For restaurant owners, the hardest part is often knowing where to start. Fortunately, we’re here to help!
Share a recent electric bill with our team to:
1) Confirm your eligibility for community solar
2) Estimate your potential savings
3) Match you with a leading community solar provider to provide those savings
There’s no obligation to enroll and no commitment required.
If you’re a restaurant owner looking to stabilize expenses without sacrificing quality, staffing, or guest experience, community solar offers a rare opportunity: meaningful savings delivered simply without operational changes. Reach out today to learn more about what community solar could mean for you.
