Bills & payments FAQs
Farm Nightsaver is generally the best tariff, offering 7 hours of low-cost electricity every day from 1am to 8am (2am to 9am in summer). Dairy farms typically use 20-30% of their consumption at the low rate. If you can switch more to the low rate you will make bigger savings. For example a 150 cow herd using 45,000 units a year and 30% low rate would save around £600 a year compared to Farm Popular. Some dairy farms with ‘three times a day’ milking or ‘robotic’ systems may be better off switching to our Weekender tariff. This offers low cost electricity from 8pm to 7.30am on weekdays, plus all weekend. However, the day rate of Weekender is much higher which needs to be taken into account.
Pay your bills by Direct Debit and get 4% discount. Switch to online billing with an online account and get an additional 2% discount. (Discounts apply to quarterly-billed business and farm tariffs only. Online billing discount only available to Direct Debit customers. Other discounts apply for monthly-billed users)
The big users of electricity on a dairy farm are vacuum pumps, refrigeration equipment, water heaters, water pumps and automatic scrapers.
This is the method by which water is used to precool milk which can reduce cooling costs by 50%.
The vacuum pumps can be controlled by variable speed drives to optimise outputs. There can be up to 80% energy savings but long payback due to short running times.
The waste heat from milk cooling is used to preheat water for washing; this can cause savings of
around 50%. If possible heat all water using the
cheaper night rate.
Lag all water pipes and tanks and check thermostat settings to ensure that water is not boiled.
Replace standard light bulbs with Compact Fluorescents; and tungsten halogen floodlights with high pressure sodium lights. Switch off all lights (including fluorescents) when not required.
Regular cleaning of fans can help achieve savings of around 10%. Ensure that ducts allow the smooth passage of air – battens and obstructions can decrease efficiency by 20%.
Solar water heating can provide up to 40% of your annual hot water requirement. Generate you own electricity and take advantage of government ‘green’ incentives. To find out more about renewable generation here.
