Stoke-on-Trent ceramic firm sees energy costs rise £400k

Wade Ceramics uses a lot of energy such as in their kilns when they produce their ceramic bottles

Rising gas prices are having a "brutal impact" on a ceramics firm, according to its boss.

Wade Ceramics, based in Stoke-on-Trent, saw its energy costs rise £400,000 in 12 months.

The firm has passed on some of the additional costs to its customers but managing director Paul Farmer said they would lose business if they added the full amount.

"We have got to weather the storm at the moment," he said.

Ceramics firms are generally energy-intensive industries because of the amount of power needed to fire their kilns.

Mr Farmer said Wade also needed power in their two factories for equipment such as 13 robots as they produce their porcelain jugs and bottles for industrial customers.

"One good thing is all the workforce are aware of the issue and switching off lights when they can and so on," he added.

Managing director Paul Farmer said the firm had to "weather the storm" and hope the energy situation improves

But with wholesale gas prices rising sharply over the last few months, Mr Farmer said the firm, which has a turnover of about £10m, is "sitting tight and hoping" for the situation to improve.

"We can pass some of the cost on but not all. If we put prices up, even by 10-15%, we would start losing business," he said.

The firm has explored investing in alternative energy sources like solar power but said it could take years to pay back the costs.

The British Ceramic Confederation has urged the government to do more to help the ceramics industry with volatile energy prices

Mr Farmer added he was disappointed that, while offering energy bill discounts totalling £350 to households on Thursday, the chancellor had not announced anything for industries.

A trade body, the British Ceramic Confederation (BCC), said ministers needed to do more to help the industry with high and volatile energy prices.

"The increased costs are damaging current and future UK investment," Jon Flitney from the BCC said and urged the government to work with the industry to replace gas with hydrogen, bioenergy or electricity.

The Treasury said it would continue to listen to businesses on how to manage the costs of energy.

In the House of Commons, Stoke-on-Trent North Conservative MP Jonathan Gullis urged the chancellor to meet with all the city's MPs to discuss solutions to help local ceramics firms.

In response, Rishi Sunak said he would be happy to hold meetings on the issue.