Mid and East Antrim

This Council is in serious trouble. The energy transition will remove £5 million, or over 6% of its rates base from fossil fuel plants. Mid and East Antrim Council did not know this figure, nor did it know the income from renewable energy projects which the NI Department of Finance advised it was ~£1,952,544pa. This figure is less than 2% of their rates and not enough to make up for the losses on fossil fuel plants they will see over the next decade.  (see NI Council revenue league table here) Only County Mayo has such a steep hill to climb in terms of managing its rates base going forward,

In its internal operations, it did not own PV or wind farms but did have some PV, thermal or heat pumps deployed internally that saved 617,986kW pa or about £105,000pa in 2021 prices. It also had income from methane extracted from a municipal dump. None of this appears to be part of an organised plan to transition the Councils operations to the ‘New Economy‘  or appear to have a plan for reducing energy costs.

Their District’s location near Belfast would make them an ideal year-round provider of energy to the city.  When the transition in energy sources is complete in N.I., there will be an average of ~£20 million pa in rates for each of the 11 Councils in N.I. from renewable energy projects.  But Mid and East Antrim also do not have a plan to realise their share of what will be the fastest growing area in rates income over the next 10 years and thus unlikely to reap the full benefit of the transition in savings and in additional income.

We have learned a lot these last 2 years. We now know the full potential of Councils in Northern Ireland to benefit their ratepayers in dealing with Climate Change. These powers are considerable, even though they are not as extensive as Councils in Britain and the Republic of Ireland.  N.I. Councils have, collectively MORE power than the Northern Irish Regional Assembly at Stormont in Belfast.  SEE HERE for the 2023 template where we are more thoroughly and extensively vetting councils. 

How do we know this information?

In Northern Ireland, we found that the Department of Finance was very helpful, providing a full breakdown of rates by council on each type of renewable energy project. Here are the 3 freedom of information replies we got from them.

1. Rates for every type of renewable energy project by Council
2. Rates for fossil fuel generators by Council (no nuclear in NI)
3. Overall rates for each Council area.

Council’s Reply

See Mid and East Antrim’s reply; Council’s response.

Data Summary

See the breakdown summary of the Council here:

NOTE – The fossil fuel plants in this District are rates at £4,932,312 pa. This can be expected to vanish in the next 10 to 15 years.