Are you paying too much for your electricity?

A NUMBER of UK quarrying companies are suffering from the high price of fixed energy tariffs made back in September 2008, with many paying over 50% more than the current market rate, according to rental firm Aggreko, specialists in temporary power and temperature control solutions.

Aggreko believe that alternative sources of energy, such as gas-powered generators, could provide cheaper, more flexible electricity. Quarries that use at least 1MW of continuous power, have access to an industrial-scale gas supply and are paying over 6p/kWh for their electricity, could be making significant savings on their current tariffs, says the company.

Aggreko, who have recently installed natural gas-powered generators for a UK manufacturing business, which has confirmed savings of up to 50% on its fixed tariff, say one of the sectors that could benefit the most from switching to gas generators is quarrying.

Jeff Short, central area sales manager at Aggreko, said: ‘A number of high-volume energy users were caught out in September 2008, by signing up for fixed-rate electricity contracts, some of which are as high as 12p/kWh. These users urgently need to explore alternative power sources, as the savings could amount to many hundreds of thousands of pounds per year.’  
 


Aggreko’s gas generators can operate in most industrial environments. Although each set produces 1.1MW, they can be operated in parallel to produce up to 100MW if required, making them suitable for a wide range of operations.
 


‘Traditionally, plant engineers were wary of using gas generators due to their servicing and maintenance needs,’ said Mr Short. ‘As our solution is based on rental agreements for a minimum of three months, there is no major capital investment required.

‘All of the servicing and maintenance is managed by Aggreko as part of the rental package. This makes our gas generators an attractive and flexible alternative to high-fixed-cost energy sources. There is no investment needed in buildings as the generators are housed in freestanding, waterproof ISO containers.’
 


For further information contact Aggreko on tel: 08458 247365; or email hire@aggreko.co.uk