New research has found that London pubs and restaurants could be facing an energy rise of almost £4,500 when government support is slashed in the spring. With the looming rise in costs, energy bills are set to be the biggest threat to pubs and restaurants nationwide, those in the city the worst affected with 260 facing a staggering bill increase of £5,278. With the new Energy Bill Discount Scheme, support on businesses energy bills is capped at £5.4 billion over the year of its operation, significantly reduced from the £18.4 billion over the last 6 months of the previous aid, which could prove fatal businesses who aren’t equipped to handle the extra costs. In light of the lengthy and dire situation ahead for UK firms, SaveMoneyCutCarbon, the UK’s leading sustainability and money saving platform, offers a free 30-minute carbon mentor call for those seeking guidance on a strategy for sustainability, advice on where to start, what ROI to expect, budgets, and what could be achieved through green initiatives.
Across the board, the energy crisis has eaten into a majority of businesses’ profit margins, with SMEs across the country facing an average bill increase of over 250% in the last year alone, according to Cornwall Insight. In addition, a report by the Federation of Small Business found that 53% of small businesses will stagnate, decline or fold in the next 12 months. This is even more concerning when you consider that 53% of SMEs in the UK are not doing anything to monitor their energy efficiency, and are likely spending far more than they may need to on energy costs. SaveMoneyCutCarbon, explain that shopping around and switching tariffs to reduce energy bills has become obsolete.
The British Chambers of Commerce project that less than half (43%) of UK firms are expecting profitability in the next 12 months, whilst 1-in-4 hospitality and leisure businesses fear closing this year due to the inability to afford energy costs, according to eEnergy. In the wake of this setback, a new study from SaveMoneyCutCarbon has found that over half (51%) of employers in the UK still don’t know where or how to start reducing their carbon emissions. This is supported by research from Ecologi, which found that 42% of SME owners in the UK believe that it’s important to be sustainable, but struggle because of a lack of guidance.
