In smelting plants, various media, e.g. natural, process and industrial gases, are used or produced in the large-scale installations. Co-ordination of the media used in the smelting plant seldom takes place, or only for individual media. Moreover, off-gas flows with exploitable heat potential are only partially used. The aim is to closely link the individual generation and consumption structures to achieve integrated energy management in the steelworks. A management system with functions for forecasting the expected consumption and generation of media across multiple facilities will enable energy-efficient and cost optimised used of media.