‘Cows won’t be milked till midnight’ in new power tariff

A SENATOR has warned that cows will not be milked until after midnight under new energy efficiency rules.

Fine Gael’s Tim Lombard has warned that a special tariff on evening-time power would have a serious impact on the €5billion dairy industry.

In a Seanad debate on energy, he warned: ‘I have listened to the regulator, representatives of EirGrid and everyone else regarding the key issues with energy generation. They spoke about of having a special tariff between 5pm and 7pm in the hope that industry and households might change their approach.’

The Senator warned that in rural areas ‘we milk cows between 5pm and 7pm. We cannot milk them at 2pm or midnight’.

It would ‘be totally inappropriate to apply a special tariff to 6,500 dairy farmers between 5pm and 7pm every evening’.

He said: ‘During the hearings I attended in Leinster House a few weeks ago, it became obvious that the regulator never even considered it’.

Mr Lombard issued a plea to Energy Minister Eamon Ryan ‘to intervene personally to ensure that people milking cows are not caught by a tariff increase of 12.5%. Otherwise, there will be lads and ladies working at midnight to milk cows or else milking cows at 2pm’.

He warned: ‘This is a practical solution that the Minister needs to address. It affects 6,500 farm families and would mean another surcharge on an already expensive electricity cost.’

Mr Lombard added: ‘it has already got to the point that farmers are now investing in generators because they think it might be the cheaper option for evening milking. I do not think that is appropriate.’

He added: ‘We will have this cohort of society who cannot change their processes and workload working at midnight.’