Bosses at a Cumbrian pub claim they face an £80,000 hike in their electricity bill – while a climbing wall is fighting for its survival as energy prices continue to soar.
Ye Olde Fleece Inn in Kendal took to social media after its bosses were told by its electricity firm that its normal annual charge of £44,000 would jump to £124,000 from October.
It tweeted: “The massive increase in fuel costs will cause a large number of businesses to go bankrupt this autumn, this will change society and the way we live for a long time. It’s pretty scary…pubs won’t be able to operate. It’s an increase for us of over £80,000 a year.”
And Cumbria’s KendalWall Lakeland Climbing Centre said they were turning out the lights to save cash as they faced a 400 per cent rise in utility bills.
We have just been quoted £124,000 for our electricity bill from October ….
— Ye Olde Fleece Inn, Kendal (@fleecekendal) August 22, 2022
This is NOT sustainable for small business, what is the answer ? pic.twitter.com/fwVce9BQ6D
Finance director Kate Phillips said: “I’m sure we as a business are not alone in wondering how on earth to tackle our rising costs without also losing loads of our customers.
“We are worried about the year ahead. In previous recessions we have always been okay as our customer base has not been squeezed on living costs – they have been able to choose to continue climbing indoors weekly and perhaps forgo a meal out/pub visit etc.
“This year, many of our customers will be struggling to make ends meet and climbing may become the ‘luxury‘ they cannot afford. We had a ‘battle fund’ in reserve before COVID, but the last two years have wiped that out, so we are in a less strong position to weather a downturn than we would otherwise have been.”
Kate added that it was not just rising energy costs that they were bracing themselves for this winter.
She said: “Our utility bills are going up by over 400 per cent this autumn – there’s no cap on business energy charges unlike the domestic ones.
“Gas is also going up 300 to 400 per cent, we’ve just installed better ventilation systems which all use energy, costs will be up a lot even with the fixed electricity rates, and we suspect our suppliers there might be at risk of folding.
“The cost of all our trade supplies for our climbing equipment shops was going up before the cost of living crisis – Brexit to thank for that – now its hard to keep up with the revised pricing. Our café/snack outlets are seeing smaller and smaller margins as the cost of food supplies is rocketing.”
KendalWall posted on Facebook earlier this week to tell customers membership prices would rise, but they added they were doing everything they could to keep them below the current inflation rate.
The post said customers may have to ask for the lights to be turned on and asked them to bring a warm jacket when visiting the centre as they budget to make ends meet throughout the winter.
Kate said: “We made a decision to increase prices by an average of only seven to eight per cent as we felt to increase by the same as our increase in costs or by inflation, would simply put too many people out of the climbing they love, and our turnover and our climbing community would both suffer as a consequence.
“Many folk will sacrifice a lot to be able to climb because the physical and the social aspect of the activity is really important to their wellbeing.
“We have brought in a loyalty card scheme and a ‘Magic Time’ discount entry time so that the folk struggling to afford to climb might be able to find cheaper ways of using us.
“I hope we can help without crippling our business but it will be a tight balancing act this winter, probably our hardest challenge in the 26 years we’ve been trading.”
More than half – 54 per cent – of small businesses fear rocketing energy bills could force them to close, according to a report by SME Insights and insurer Simply Business.
UK-wide, small businesses employ around 16 million people and are extra vulnerable to bill increases. This is because they are not protected by energy watchdog Ofgem’s price cap.
They are also not entitled to government support and on top of this, many pay 20 per cent in VAT on energy bills — whereas most domestic households pay five per cent.
The Federation of Small Businesses is now calling for the Government to step in and extend the price cap to Britain’s smallest firms.
While some UK councils offer general hardship funds for firms in financial difficulties, there is also no specific help for energy bill hikes.
Is your small business being affected by the rising energy prices? Let us know by emailing us at [email protected]
