Electric Winter Fair for Farmers

21/11/2007

If you are a farmer interested in saving money off your energy bills, make sure you visit the NIE Energy stand at the forthcoming Winter Fair, Northern Ireland’s premier cattle event, on at the King’s Hall in Belfast on Thursday, 13th December.  
 
To get the Winter Fair off to an electric start and promote saving energy, NIE Energy is giving away several thousand free energy saving light bulbs from their stand at the Fair. Also on offer is a free NIE Energy tariff check, to advise farmers if switching tariff can save money off their electricity bill.  
 
Farm Energy Manager with NIE Energy, John McCay, said: “Even with the recently announced price increase, our Farm Night Saver option still continues to make sense. At current rates, customers on this tariff save on average 20%, or £600 off their annual electricity bill. This represents an annual saving of around £2 million to the sector.  
 
“I would be very keen to talk to any of the 2,500 customers still on the Farm Popular option, who are probably missing out on significant savings. There is no risk in switching tariff as if you don’t save, we’ll refund you any difference and switch you back. Although we’ve never had to do this as farmers have always saved!”  
 
NIE Energy will also have details on their stand of a number of energy saving schemes for farmers. The schemes include a grant of £500 towards the installation of plate heat exchangers, £400 grant towards the replacement of condenser units and up to £300 cash back for farmers if they put in cavity wall and loft insulation into their home, was well as other schemes.  
 
Recently many larger farms have installed a plate heat exchanger system, which transfers the heat from the milk to well water or mains water which is then used to wash down the milking parlour and also for cow drinking water. The NIE Energy subsidised plate heat exchanger reduces the cooling costs by some 50% as it pre-cools before the bulk tank. NIE Energy can give a grant of £500 towards the installation of plate heat exchangers, which brings the cost down from £1,400 to £900 and a payback period of around two years.  
 
Another energy saving option for dairy farmers is a NIE Energy grant towards the replacement of condenser units, which uses the R12 refrigerator gas, with new scroll compressor (R404) units. R12 gas is now no longer allowed and has a significant risk to ozone depletion and global warming. New units use modern refrigerator gases and are more efficient. NIE Energy is offering a grant of £400 towards these units, reducing the overall cost from £1400 to £1000 with again a payback of some two years.  
 
John added: “We hope that farmers take advantage of the energy saving schemes to ensure they are using as little energy as possible, to go about their business. They will also pay less if they are on the best tariff for them and also pay by direct debit.”  
 
Farmers who pay their NIE Energy bill quarterly can get 4% discount off every bill. On average, the saving will pay for two weeks worth of electricity every year. Monthly-billed NIE farming customers get 3% discount.  
 
NIE Energy staff will be on hand to offer advice on renewable energy on the farm and in addition, there will be a safety competition to win a set of binoculars and information about safe working practices around electricity equipment on the farm.  

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