Cost of running a kiln

[Ilona]

I recieved my joint electric and gas bill and was shocked at the amount they wanted to put my direct debit up by, from £85 to £206 a month.

I got straight on the phone and was asked questions like, have you started using any new equiptment etc, I owned upto the kiln the oxy ect and started to panic. The consumption people then came back to me and said that nothing was out of the ordinary and then did a spreadsheet and worked everything out looking at the peaks and troughs, and could tell if there was any problems with the meters.

All in all my providers have been fantastic and spent a week looking into everything and I have only needed to make a small increase of £15 so I am thrilled.

The best thing of all is that I know I can switch the sc2 on anytime now without the worry that it is costing a fortune

[mad bunny]

That's good to know.  I could feel the panick setting in reading this.   

Do you have your SC2 on all the time your torching or do you batch anneal?

[Ilona]

I have it on all the time I am beading, approx 3 to 4 times a week.

I just started to batch thinking it would save me money, but if it hasn't really made any difference I might as well just switch the kiln on when I want to play.

[flowerjasper]

that must  have been a shock   
so why  the huge rise in payments asked in the first instance?
then they can reduce it to £15 extra... what are they playing at?
a letter to customer services may reduce your costs even further.
sandy x

[Dragonfire Glass]

that was one heck of an increase - no wonder you were shocked!

[Redhotsal]

This sounds familiar - I have a constant battle with my utility supplier (Eon). They've just upped my direct debit from £100 to £135 a month. Granted I work from home and run a kiln for eight hours a day but you must also factor in the HUGE increase in the cost of gas and electricity.

If you are running a "standard" household - (3 bedroom semi), I was told that it cost an average of £120 a month for both utilities. Seems an awful lot to me - I am officially on the "Fuel Poverty" list.

The company I was with before were notorious for undercharging people - saying that I should only pay £70 a month, for example, whilst knowing full well that I was using a lot more. They would then send out a bunch of estimates before sending a shocker ('scuse the pun) when the meters were actually read. They purposely make their utility bills almost impossible to decipher so you are constantly confused as to what you're using and what you're supposed to be paying for.

Turned out I was over £450 in debt, even after a succession of exotic sounding call centre operatives tried to sort out the situation. I'm sorry but I don't do that much debt on a bead maker's wage so I took 'em to Power Watch who were absolutely savage and mauled the offending company. I got a substantial part of the bill written off. I don't feel guilty about that - the power company in question was cynical and exploitative in their handling of both me and a lot of their other customers - especially pensioners.

Power to the People. Hehe.

[flowerjasper]

good on you sal!
dont get me started on standing up for your rights !!
s x

[Vicki]

we've just switched from EDF to southern electric, they sent a statment for the fist 2 months & I owed £26, which I payed out of my business account....I'm going to make sure every quarter they have an actual reading & I will pay the difference with my bead money...we pay £40/month electric...I don't want to get behind because big amounts seem to happen quickly   the cost of living is getting scary right now