Dairy industry: ice cream and frozen desserts
Industrial ice cream manufacturers, anticipate your summer peaks
Freezers, hardening tunnels, ultra-low temperature storage rooms, mix pasteurization, and hot water cleaning: energy in the ice cream industry is driven by compressors and spikes when the season begins. Sirenergies supports you in purchasing your electricity and gas, in sync with the summer rhythm.
.avif)
Key industry figures
Demand concentrated in summer, refrigeration that never stops
Ice cream sales happen over just a few weeks, but storage rooms stay cold all year round. One purchasing strategy is to align this profile with your electricity and gas contracts.
Share of ice cream sales generated during the summer period in France.
Ice cream revenue generated on June 21, 2025, alone, the peak of the year.
Average gas price paid by the industry in 2024 compared to 2019.
The energy profile of an ice cream plant
Sub-zero refrigeration drives the bill, summer sets the peak
The situation: very low temperatures, highly seasonal demand
The mix is pasteurized hot, matured at positive temperatures, frozen in the freezer, then hardened and stored in sub-zero conditions. France produces approximately 365 million liters of ice cream and sorbet per year (Chambres d'agriculture France, 2025). Electricity dominates: freezers, hardening tunnels, storage rooms, and condensers that struggle in high heat. Gas heats the mix pasteurization, the water for clean-in-place systems, and, for frozen desserts, the baking of biscuits. The annual peak falls in summer, when production lines run at full capacity in the hottest air.
Our role: aligning your contracts with your season
Your refrigeration engineers set the parameters; Sirenergies, an expert in energy procurement and data management, handles your contracts.
- Power: with the TURPE (public electricity grid usage tariff), a site on the HTA network or with a subscription above 36 kVA sets a power capacity per period, which is higher in summer.
- Procurement: volume tolerances and successive fixings to cover both the season and the storage base load.
- Gas: competitive tendering for the boiler room contract and review of the ATRD (third-party access to gas distribution networks) option.
.avif)
Your energy challenges
The 3 energy challenges for ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers
How do you pay year-round for power you only need in the summer? How do you purchase a volume that depends on the weather in June? How do you maintain stable storage temperatures when prices fluctuate hour by hour? These are the three energy questions faced by an industrial ice cream maker, and Sirenergies provides the answers through contract management, without ever touching your setpoints.
Energy-intensive deep freezing
Freezing and storage at -30°C consume significantly more energy than standard refrigeration in food processing facilities.
Energy audit for refrigeration systems
Sirenergies analyzes your contracts and load profiles to determine the true cost of your deep-freezing operations.
Strong summer seasonality
Most production is concentrated over just a few months, making a fixed annual power subscription contract particularly unsuitable.
Flexible contract adapted to seasonality
Sirenergies structures a modular power subscription contract, aligned with your actual production schedule.
Low-competition segment
This segment remains underserved by generalist energy brokers, who do not always incorporate seasonality into their approach.
Procurement and supplier tendering
Sirenergies puts our trusted partner suppliers in competition to secure a contract tailored to your seasonality.
Contractual and data expertise
Optimizing and managing contracts for your ice cream factories
From the freezer that freezes the mix to the hardening tunnel, and including the pasteurization boiler, Sirenergies handles both the electricity and gas for your sites. We use your production schedule as a starting point to build contracts that follow the season rather than being at its mercy.
Contractual and capacity audit
Review of your electricity and gas contracts, their expiration dates, and your subscribed power levels by period, with special attention to the summer months, followed by an annual analysis of excise duties and energy savings certificates (CEE) applicable to your site.
Purchasing strategy and competitive bidding
Consulting with suppliers regarding electricity for your refrigeration and gas for your boiler room, with volume tolerances adapted to the season and a pricing strategy chosen based on your budgetary exposure.
Distribution optimization (TURPE / ATRD)
Your factory's TURPE (grid access tariff) is reviewed first: tariff options and power levels by period, aligned with your summer peaks. Next comes the ATRD for your gas boiler room. We handle all procedures with the network operators.
Tariff modeling for seasonality
Simulation of your month-by-month budget based on several seasonal scenarios, from a rainy summer to a heatwave, to measure the impact on your electricity bill, power overruns, and volume variances.
Pilott software platform
Next-day consumption tracking for each site, price alerts for electricity and gas, budget forecasting, and contract centralization to monitor the seasonal ramp-up day by day.
Expert consulting dedicated to ice cream manufacturers
A dedicated consultant who knows your industry's calendar, monitors your markets and deadlines, keeps you informed of regulatory changes, and works with you to build an energy cost indicator per liter of ice cream produced.
Our platform
Pilott, simplified management to track your consumption
- Centralize the meters for your factories and storage warehouses
- Track the ramp-up of your freezers during the season with next-day data
- Receive alerts when electricity or gas prices cross your thresholds
- Simulate your energy budget season by season and manage your contracts in one place
Dairy industry
Explore other processes
Un autre secteur ?
Methodology and definitions
What is energy consulting for ice cream and frozen desserts?
In an ice cream factory, a portion of the electricity bill is determined the day you set your subscribed power capacity. Energy consulting for ice cream and frozen dessert manufacturers involves adjusting this capacity month by month to match the season, managing electricity procurement for freezing processes and gas for boiler rooms, and monitoring each site—this is the work of Sirenergies consultants, supported by the Pilott platform.
The context
Between 2019 and 2024, the average price of electricity paid by small industrial consumers rose by 92%, compared to 36% for large consumers (Insee Première No. 2095, February 2026). For an SME in the ice cream industry, purchasing strategy has a significant impact.
The levers
- Power levels adjusted according to TURPE (public electricity network usage tariff) periods: higher in summer, lower in winter.
- Daily capacity and ATRD (third-party access to gas distribution networks) options reviewed for the boiler room.
- Consumption, budget, and contracts tracked daily in Pilott, season after season.
What is your ice cream factory's summer peak actually costing you?
One year of load curves and your contracts are all it takes to calculate your seasonal costs. No obligation.
