If you run a retail store in Australia, lighting is probably your second or third biggest operating cost after rent and wages. Depending on the type of retail — fashion, grocery, homewares — lighting can account for 30% to 40% of your total electricity bill. With commercial electricity rates sitting between 25 and 35 cents per kWh in most states, that adds up fast.

Smart lighting controls have matured to the point where they’re proven, the payback periods are reasonable, and the savings are real. But the question everyone asks is: how much will I actually save?

Occupancy Sensors: The Low-Hanging Fruit

Occupancy sensors detect whether someone’s in a space and adjust lighting accordingly. In retail, the obvious application is back-of-house — stockrooms, break rooms, offices, bathrooms. These spaces are empty for large chunks of the day, yet the lights stay on.

Installing occupancy sensors in non-selling areas typically saves 25% to 35% of lighting energy for those zones. For a mid-sized retailer, that might translate to $800–$1,200 per year. The sensors cost a few hundred dollars installed and pay for themselves within months.

Some retailers also use presence detection on the shop floor. If a section has no foot traffic for 15 minutes — say, a far corner of a homewares store on a Tuesday morning — the system dims to 50%. When someone walks over, it ramps back to full brightness in a second or two. Customers barely notice, but the meter does.

Daylight Harvesting: Bigger Savings Than Expected

Daylight harvesting uses light sensors to measure natural light entering the building and dims artificial lighting to compensate. If your storefront has large windows or skylights — and many Australian retail buildings do — this is where serious savings hide.

A well-tuned system in a store with decent natural light can cut lighting energy by 20% to 40%. I’ve seen standalone retailers in suburban shopping strips achieve 35% reductions because their shopfronts let in enough ambient light during business hours, especially in summer with daylight stretching past 8 PM.

The key word is “well-tuned.” A badly calibrated system will either dim too much (creating a cave that kills sales) or not enough (wasting the opportunity). You need proper commissioning by someone who understands both the tech and the retail environment.

Scheduled Dimming: Simple But Effective

Scheduled dimming is exactly what it sounds like. Full brightness during trading hours, reduced to 60% during restocking after close, dropped to security levels overnight.

For a retailer operating 10 hours a day but with lights running 14–16 hours, scheduled dimming saves 15% to 20% of total lighting energy. A Melbourne supermarket I worked with cut their after-hours lighting cost by 40% just by scheduling back to 50% brightness during night fill. The staff could see perfectly fine — they didn’t need retail-presentation lighting at 2 AM.

The Dollar Figures

A typical 400-square-metre standalone store might spend $12,000–$18,000 per year on electricity, with $5,000–$7,000 going to lighting. Combining all three control types — occupancy sensors, daylight harvesting, and scheduled dimming — you’re looking at a 30% to 45% reduction in lighting energy.

That’s $1,500–$3,000 per year in savings. Control systems typically cost $4,000–$8,000 installed for a store that size, giving you a two-to-three-year payback. After that, it’s pure savings for the 10–15 year equipment life.

For shopping centres, the numbers scale dramatically. A large Westfield or Vicinity centre spending hundreds of thousands on common area and tenant lighting can save significant six-figure amounts through coordinated smart controls.

DALI-2 and Smart Building Integration

Most modern control systems in Australian commercial buildings use the DALI-2 protocol (Digital Addressable Lighting Interface). It’s an open standard — your sensors, controllers, and LED drivers can come from different brands and still communicate.

DALI-2 also connects to building management systems (BMS). When lighting controls feed data alongside HVAC, security, and fire systems, you can optimise across everything. Some businesses are exploring AI integration, with AI consultants Melbourne building predictive lighting models that adjust based on weather forecasts, foot traffic patterns, and historical data. Early results from a couple of Melbourne shopping centres suggest another 8–12% energy reduction on top of standard smart controls.

Government Incentives

If you’re in NSW, the Energy Savings Scheme provides certificates for eligible upgrades. Victoria has the Victorian Energy Upgrades program. Both can offset 20–40% of installation costs through upfront discounts from accredited providers.

Is It Worth It?

For retailers spending more than $8,000 per year on electricity, yes. Start with occupancy sensors in back-of-house and scheduled dimming for after-hours. Then tackle daylight harvesting on the shop floor. Get proper commissioning. And make sure your electrician actually understands DALI-2 — a surprising number don’t.

No one’s cutting their lighting bill by 80%. But 30–40%? That’s achievable for most retail environments in Australia. At current electricity prices, those dollars add up quickly.