When the ethanol programme started in the late 1970s, the mills used low pressure boilers (mostly 22 bar) to supply their steam and power needs. These mills could not obtain a long-term price for the surplus power generated and therefore had no incentive to invest in more energy-efficient systems. At the same time, due to investment subsidies and high oil prices that pushed up the price of ethanol, the new ethanol industry did not need the revenue that the surplus electricity would have generated. Furthermore, selling power surpluses would have meant entering a whole new business in a very regulated and, at that time, mostly Government-controlled environment.