Antrim and Newtownabbey council cuts energy bills by £220,000 through cost-saving measures
Energy cost-cutting measures have reduced Antrim and Newtownabbey Borough Council’s bills by £220,000, a report to councillors states.
A report to be presented at a meeting of the borough council’s Operations Committee, at Antrim Civic Centre, on Monday evening, also indicated a nine per cent decrease in energy consumption for the first three quarters of the 2025/26 financial year compared to the same period in 2024/25.
A series of improvements aimed at reducing costs, emissions, and fossil fuel dependency during the current financial year will be outlined as councillors prepare to strike domestic and non-domestic rates for the next financial year on February 9.
These include upgrades at Mossley Mill, Sixmile Leisure Centre, Ballyclare and Theatre at the Mill, Newtownabbey with modern heating ventilation air conditioning controllers, boiler replacements at Antrim Forum and refurbishment of Sixmile Leisure Centre’s biomass boiler, for example.
The report also states that the council’s estates services will “continue to prioritise the reduction of oil and gas use with projects such as proposed solar panels at Mossley Mill, LED floodlighting upgrades at Antrim Forum, Valley and Crumlin Leisure Centres, Allen Park, Antrim and Sixmile Leisure Centre, Ballyclare; expansion of energy monitoring to 15 sites and heating control upgrades at Valley Leisure Centre, Antrim Forum and Ballyearl Leisure Centre, Newtownabbey.
Previously, councillors were told that there has been a decreasing dependency on oil from 31 per cent in 2018/19 to four per cent in 2023/24 but gas usage has doubled from 31 per cent to 66 per cent during the same period,
During 2023/24, the council’s energy bill was £2.3m covering 58 facilities. The most expensive was for Valley Leisure Centre, Newtownabbey, at a cost of £351k, followed by Sixmile Leisure Centre, Ballyclare, £323k; Antrim Forum/Mossley Mill, £320k and Antrim Civic Centre, £146k.
However, during a recent round of rates estimates presentations, Richard Murray, head of finance, warned councillors that he anticipated the council’s energy costs to increase to approximately £2.7m during the next financial year.
He warned of risk factors outside the council’s control such as the “geopolitical” effect on energy prices.