Laundry Load Shifting Saves Sheraton Kampala UGX 36 Million Per Year

Background

Sheraton Kampala Hotel is one of Uganda's most prominent five-star properties, operating extensive facilities including guest rooms, conference and banqueting spaces, restaurants, kitchens, and a large industrial laundry operation that processes linens, towels, and uniforms for the property around the clock.

Like most large hotels, Sheraton Kampala's electricity bill is a significant operational cost — and one that management knew was worth scrutinising. The challenge was that without sub-metering, it was impossible to identify which specific operations were driving costs or during which hours.

What We Did

Orijtech Energy installed smart energy meters at key points throughout the hotel's electrical infrastructure, including dedicated metering on the laundry equipment feeds, kitchen systems, HVAC, and common area loads. The data was captured in real time and visualised on the Orijtech Energy dashboard, broken down by tariff period: off-peak, shoulder, and peak.

The tariff period breakdown was particularly important. Uganda's commercial electricity tariff — structured by UEDCL — applies significantly different rates depending on the time of day. Peak-hour consumption is the most expensive; off-peak consumption is the cheapest.

What the Data Showed

The dashboard made immediately clear that a significant portion of the hotel's laundry operation was running during peak tariff hours. Industrial laundry equipment — washers, dryers, and ironing equipment — draws substantial electrical load. Running this load during the most expensive hours of the day was adding materially to the bill every single day.

The laundry operation had no operational reason to run during peak hours. The scheduling was a legacy of historical routines rather than an active decision. Shifting the bulk of laundry processing to off-peak and shoulder hours — when the same electricity costs significantly less — required only a change in shift scheduling.

Outcomes

The scheduling change was implemented quickly and required no capital investment. The saving was realised immediately and recurs every year.

UGX 36 million saved annually — from a scheduling change informed by energy data.

This case demonstrates one of the most consistent patterns Orijtech Energy sees across hospitality clients: large, flexible loads running at the wrong time of day. The equipment is correct. The process is correct. Only the timing needs to change — and energy monitoring is the only way to see it clearly.

"We had no idea that the timing of our laundry operations was costing us this much. Once the data made it visible, the fix was straightforward."