A Stirling small business owner who faces spiralling energy bills of £5,000 per month fears he may be forced to close due to crippling costs.
Martin Bunga owns the Smooths Laundry and Ironing Service in Springkerse.
Mr Bunga, 35, has run and operated the business since 2018 and offers laundry services, including bedding for some of the city’s hospitality venues, such as holiday lets, B&Bs and hotels.
But the energy price hike has seen his monthly bills jump from around £3,000 to £4,000 during busy times. However, he fears that for August, this could rise to almost £5,000.
Mr Bunga said: “If the bills keep rising, we will have to increase our prices and that means that the holiday lets and hotels who use us will also have to increase their prices and it all gets passed back on to the customer.”
Mr Bunga says that the cost of operating the high-grade industrial laundry machines, including washing machines and dryers, at the firm’s Glen Tye Road base could continue rise to an exorbitant amount.
He added: “It’s very scary and stressful for everyone.
“Closing the business is a big possibility.”
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Smooths currently has four full-time members of staff and also employs seasonal staff when needed.
In a survey of members of Make UK, the industry body for manufacturers and engineering companies, one in eight companies said that energy price increases had become “business threatening”.
It is thought that nearly 400,000 companies in the UK stopped trading during in the first waves of the Covid-19 pandemic and the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) believes the “cost-ofdoing-business” crisis, exacerbated by
rising energy bills, could result in many if not more expiring over the next year.
Pubs, restaurants and music venue leaders have warned that there will be mass closures without support. The industry bodies UK Hospitality, the Night-Time Industries Association, the Music Venue Trust, the British Institute of Innkeeping and the British Beer and Pub Association said that thousands of jobs were at “grave risk”.
Energy prices for businesses have risen over the past year and, unlike consumer energy bills, there is no price cap on commercial energy costs.
- Are you a small business owner with concerns over out of control energy costs? We’d like to hear from you. Contact us at Chris.Marzella@reachplc.com
