Berry Silverman on tue 17 mar 98
All the posts about ITC, saving on fuel, setting up studios, brings to
mind a special program for saving on electricity costs that I found out
about quite by accident.
Here in Tucson, our local electric utility company has a time-of-use
program which allows for significant savings if you draw the bulk of
your power at off-peak times. This is not an uncommon feature for
residential areas, but they also have this program for commercial areas
-- completely unadvertised!
Peak hours here are 7-11 a.m., 6-9 p.m. in winter and 1-5 p.m. in
summer. Other areas will certainly vary. By signing up for this
program, and arranging my firing schedule to avoid these hours as much
as possible, I can take advantage of a special rate system that reduces
my electric rates by over 25%! Others of you out there might want to
inquire of your utility companies whether this program exists in your
area.
Berry in Tucson,
practicing thriftier firings
Martin A. Arkowitz on thu 19 mar 98
here in new hamp we also have time of day and i have been scheduling my elec
kiln firings during the cheap times! the peak hours cost 11cents per kwh and
5.5 cents during off peak. the elec. company was not very helpful about giving
me info re: off peak usage, but i persisted and have been on it for over 10
years. here our off peak hours are 9pm to 8am mon thru thurs and 9pm thu 8 am
fri thru mon morning. this means i have every weekend available for my ^8
glaze firings. i set it up so i bisque during the week and try to do glaze
firing during the weekend. when i look at my elec bill (this includes the
entire large house plus a rented 3 room apartment) i usually see twice as
much elec (kwh) used in the off-peak hours as we use in peak the hours. by the
way i dry our clothes in an ele dryer but only use the dryere during the
off-peak hours. Elec kiln users, speak to your elec company and persist- if at
first you don't succeed try again. they really are reluctant to tell us about
this way of cutting our elec charges.
eleanor arkowitz
hanover, n.h.
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