Leicester café owner fears closure over £45,000 bill rise

Janet Gillbanks says she fears continuing to operate is unsustainable

A café owner has said she fears she will be forced to close her business due to an electricity bill rise of £45,000.

Janet Gillbanks, who owns Five Fox Lane in Leicester, said her bill was set to jump from £10,000 a year to £55,000.

She described the increase as "frightening" and said there was "no way" she would be able to find the extra money.

Unlike households, businesses are not covered by the energy price cap.

'Unsustainable'

Mrs Gillbanks said her current electricity deal - which sees her pay 15.6p per kWh - runs out at the end of September.

She said: "It's frightening. This is a small business that has been breaking even, after we reopened following Covid, and there is just no way we can find another £40,000 or £45,000 for electricity.

"I want to carry on going but it is just unsustainable."

She said she used a fridge, a freezer, coffee machines, blenders and ovens during the day.

"There are things we could look at doing to reduce our energy use - the dishwasher is constantly on here and we could get the marigolds out and wash up more by hand," she said.

"We could reduce our opening hours to get the bills down but that means we'd have fewer customers.

"But all the things we can think of will save us about £5,000 a year and that's not going to help.

"We have already had to increase our price because our suppliers did but we'd have to charge £5 for a cup of coffee and who is going to pay that?"

Mrs Gillbanks has seven employees at the café and said: "They are all really worried about their jobs and I don't want to have to let anyone go.

"I'll keep going for as long as I can but the only real solution I can see is to close.

"It's so sad but everything is such a mess."

Follow BBC East Midlands on Facebook, on Twitter, or on Instagram. Send your story ideas to [e-mail].