Electricity prices paid by meat companies are on track to double in just one year.
ANZCO Foods and Silver Fern Farms have both warned their electricity costs have doubled, although SFF has negotiated cheaper rates for the coming season.
ANZCO chief executive Peter Conley said rates have increased significantly over the past two years and it is closely watching its electricity use and seeking savings where possible while still operating all sites.
“We are managing our assets and production capability as normal and haven’t reduced production as a result of the higher electricity costs,” Conley said.
Brenda Talacek, the chief operating officer at SFF, said rates doubled between 2022 and 2023 but the company has negotiated lower charges for 2024. However, these are still materially higher than in 2022.
She said the company has focused on reducing electricity use.
As part of its Streamline programme to improve its business operations, SFF has introduced initiatives to reduce electricity use which include putting freezers into sleep mode during weekends and other periods of non-use.
This alone saved $172,000 in electricity costs this year at its Te Aroha site.
“We’ve also been replacing sterilisers with more energy efficient ones at our Belfast site, which has saved over $80,000 in the past year from heating water for processing.”
SFF has a policy of halving coal emissions over the next two years and exiting the use of coal completely by 2030.
In 2022-23 it installed heat pumps at three South Island plants.
While it replaces coal furnaces, the new system uses waste heat from its refrigeration units to heat water, a task previously performed by coal.
Wayne Shaw, manager of processing and safety at Alliance Group, said the co-operative is not impacted as it has long-term supply contracts.
Disclaimer: This article was first published on Friday, August 16, as a teaser for the Power in Crisis special report.
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