Yorkshire Coast businesses make changes to keep energy costs down
There's going to be a lower price cap from July
Businesses on the Yorkshire Coast say they are having to make changes in order to keep energy prices down.
Ofgem says the energy price cap will fall from almost £3,300 to just over £2,000. It means the annual bill for a dual-fuel household will be cut by £426.
The regulator admits many families will still be struggling with energy costs next winter though.
Lois Kirtlan is the owner of Hetty and Betty restaurant in Whitby and she said: "I actually locked in for a long term deal when we took over. Our tariff will actually end in July, so bearing in mind our price was set five years ago, it's quite a leap. Our standing charge is going from 34p to £4 a day.
"I'm aware that there are other businesses in Whitby where their rates have gone up exponentially. It's been a bit of a nightmare for them and I think the affect that that's had is that there are now a number of businesses that we would never have expected to come to market that are current up for sale because they cannot maintain these levels.
"We are sort of 80 percent electric and the only things that run from gas are our fryers. We have a gas stove and once we've baked our scones and other baked products in the morning, we turn the stove off and still our standing charge has risen hugely.
"On our fryers we would have one specifically for allergies and we would have one for non-allergy and because of the price increase, what we've done is actually got a smaller fryer and we don't keep that on. It does affect our customers if they do come in with an allergen it takes us slightly longer because we have to wait for that fryer to get to temperature before we can cook in it.
"If we can lower the domestic bills then that will inevitably help us because it increases our footfall. If our footfall rises then we can cope with the rising bills. I think for me we need to reduce those domestic bills. It would be a big help in terms of footfall for us."
The Chancellor says he 'does not have a crystal ball’ but he is not ruling out further support schemes if there is an Autumn rise in the energy price cap.