Government must help with energy costs, businesses say

Fish merchant Nathan Godley says the hike in energy costs means he has to find an extra £70,000 a year to pay for bills

Businesses in Yorkshire and Lincolnshire have said the government "must step in" and help with soaring energy costs or firms will go bust.

Ofgem has announced the average household energy bill will hit £3,549 from 1 October but businesses are not covered by a price cap.

Fish merchant Nathan Godley said his bill would more than quadruple from £21,000 to £91,000 later this year.

The government has been contacted for a comment.

Mr Godley, who owns Premier Seafoods in Grimsby, said it would be "very difficult" to manage without government help.

"If I could magic an extra £70,000 out of the air I would have done it last year and had some fancy holidays," he said.

Mr Godley fears increased energy costs may have to be passed on to customers in order to survive

Mr Godley's business uses a number of walk-in refrigeration and freezing units, and displays need to be left on 24 hours a day.

He said he was facing pressure to pass on the costs to customers.

"If you do put the prices up too much then you're alienating the customers [who] have got bills to pay as well," he told the BBC.

"Without help, without the government stepping in and helping us independent, small businesses, then there will be trouble ahead."

Independent retailer Debra Pye, who owns an antiques shop in Hull, said she had been forced to take some of the lightbulbs out of her premises to cut costs.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service pressure was mounting on small businesses like hers because customers were scaling back on "small luxuries" amid rocketing living costs.

"Rising costs are affecting our customers as well. If you asked any other business they'd tell you the same thing."

Some of the lightbulbs in Debra Pye's antiques shop has had to be taken out to save money, she says

Ms Pye said other local businesses had recently closed.

"I don't think things have been this bad since at least around the time of the miners' strike in the 1980s," she said.

"The big retailers will be fine, it's the small guys like us who will suffer."

Lucy Wilkinson, who runs a tanning studio in Lincoln, said her annual energy prices had increased from £18,500 to £73,000.

The £54,500 hike resulted in two of her staff being made redundant in order to keep the business going.

Lucy Wilkinson said she did not know if her business could survive

Ms Wilkinson said a third of her income was going to be spent on electricity, leaving her no choice but to pass on the increase to her customers from September.

"I feel awful about my girls. I'm very scared. Are we going to lose customers? Yes probably," she added.

"I'm going to have to make cutbacks. I want to survive, being 18 years in the business, but I don't know if we can."