Salon in Salisbury pays £5,000 in energy costs as bills continue to rise
Energy bills account for 40% of business costs for some salons
A Salon owner in Salisbury has told us that her quarterly energy costs are beyond £5,000, with Uswitch for Business research suggesting energy bills account for as much as 40% of business costs for salons across the UK.
Molly Cook owns the Hair Extension Cave on Silver Street was forced to spend days searching for the best energy deal possible – and still had to negotiate with companies to do so.
“Our bills every three months are about five or six grand, which is crazy. That could pay another wage. Especially with the price increase as well, they’re just getting higher and higher, which is just crazy,” Molly told us.
With more than a third of Salons raising their prices Molly had to spend days searching for a deal that would help her business and her customers.
Molly explained: “I took a few days comparing every single energy price that there was. I spoke to a few brokers. I got the best price, and then I played them off against each other.
She added: “In the end, I got a really good deal, but that deal still isn’t that good because I had to change when the energy prices were at their highest. The energy bills are crazy, but it’s the best deal I could get at the time.
“It did lose me a lot of money having to take the time off, but it has saved me money in the long run.”
Molly would have been “fine” had she been in a fixed contract from a few years ago, and the nature of her business means reducing energy use is difficult.
“We are a luxury salon, so we have to have the heating on. People are coming in and spending so much money with us and we cant have them sat there cold. We have blankets for the customers and electric heaters to put on the customers rather than where we are.”
However, Molly has found a clever way of getting financial support for bills.
“If you have a business, you can register as a ‘warm space’. That means people who are cold can come in, and that takes a lot of money off your energy bills – I think I saved about £600 last month,” Molly said.
And while Molly has been doing everything possible to reduce her own costs, her customers have been doing the same.
Two in five people are choosing a less expensive treatment, according to Uswitch data.
Molly told us: “My customers used to come and have their hair extensions done and then they’d have a treatment, but I can see people cutting back – they will say to me ‘I can’t afford it this month, can we just do my hair extension?’”
“It is affecting the business in so many ways.”