04 March 1999 MACHINERY RINGS COULD SAVE MILLIONS MILLIONS of pounds are waiting to be saved if farmers are prepared to use machinery rings for negotiating with the power companies, reports

_The Herald_. The paper says the newly set-up Borders Machinery Ring has achieved savings of £46,000 on a total bill of £270,000 for its 27 members. For a farm with an annual bill of less

than £12,000, discounts of 17% have been won. Savings are higher for farms with bills in excess of £12,000. The scheme is run by Greenknowe Energy, a brokerage able to negotiate with any

electricity supplier in the UK. Deals have been struck so far with Scottish Hydro Electric and Independent Energy UK. Greenknowe is advising customers not to strike deals for more than two