This research has addressed a quantitative approach for improving energy management through applying statistical techniques aimed at identifying and controlling factors linked to energy consumption rates at manufacturing plants. The paper presents analysis and results of multiple linear regression models used to establish the significance of a number of energy related management factors in controlling energy usage. Regression models constructed for this purpose proved the existence of statistically valid relationships between electrical energy consumption and maintenance and production management factors, namely, failure rate and production rate, where R 2 values of the magnitude of 65% were obtained. Furthermore, an economical treatment based on the derived regression models was formulated and demonstrated that effective management practices associated with proper maintenance, cost accounting and reporting systems can result in highly significant savings in energy usage. Practical Implications The results of this study represented a real-life example of using quantitative analysis techniques for controlling and improving energy consumption rates in an actual manufacturing setup using data collected from live records. One of the most important factors that were found to impact energy consumption in energy-intensive plants was the failure rate of production equipment. Repetitive failures of production machines lead to increased machine warming and re-startup energy, thus increasing energy consumed per unit of production. Since machine failure rates are highly dependent on the quality of the maintenance system in general, this study has uncovered a clear linkage between maintenance quality and energy consumption rates. In this context, maintenance policies should be designed based on, among other factors, energy consumption and energy costs. By using accurate cost data of related cost elements involved in a manufacturing system, production and maintenance managers will be able to set an "optimum" level of production line availability that minimizes the overall maintenance and energy consumption costs.