Aberdeen Chinese takeaway hit with £10k gas bill

Royal Crown faces closure after a hike in gas and electric prices

A Chinese takeaway in Aberdeen has been hit with a £10,000 gas bill - 10 times more than what they would usually owe.

Owner Martin Tang's quarterly gas bill for Royal Crown usually amounts to about £1,000.

His electricity bill is normally a similar price, but this quarter it totalled more than £4,000.

Energy supplier SSE has contacted Mr Tang to try and work towards a solution, as he fears the business could close as a result.

Mr Tang said the price hike could leave staff jobless and claims the business is losing money whenever they cook.

The takeaway has been serving Aberdeen locals since the 1980s.

'Shocked me to my core'

Mr Tang has been involved in the business as a manager and then owner for 18 years.

He told BBC Scotland he will not be able to pay what his energy supplier is charging.

He said: "It's always around a thousand or slightly above a thousand.

"But this one I recently received on Saturday was like a bombshell, on top of the new electric bill I received last week which was £4,000.

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"As a small business, there is no way I can find that extra £12k to cover this quarter.

"I already have high blood pressure, this actually shocked me to my core."

The takeaway only opens five nights a week and Mr Tang said he will open this week just to use up fresh stock and then say goodbye to his customers.

He said: "Every time I turn on a burner to cook something, I'm losing money.

"This is enough to kill off my business.

Martin Tang says Royal Crown faces closure

"There's nothing I can do.

"Imagine me telling a customer their chicken curry is now going to be £28.

"There's just no way around it."

Royal Crown employs three full-time and two part-time members of staff who face unemployment if the takeaway is forced to close.

'Impossible task'

Mr Tang said: "That's the saddest thing I feel, because I've been in the catering business for a long time, my family's been in this business for a long time.

"We tried to build up a good business and now it's in my hands.

"I'm basically looking at an impossible task."

Mr Tang also said his regulars have been coming in less as people are unsure what they can afford to spend due to their own rising household bills.

He said: "I received an email listing different kind of contracts and it still adds about £45,000 to £50,000 a year onto the electric and gas combined together.

"As a small business, I am not able to find that kind of money."

An SSE spokeswoman said: "As a responsible business, SSE Energy Solutions is committed to engaging with all customer queries.

"Our customer services team are working closely with the customer towards what we hope will be a satisfactory resolution."

After publication, SSE told BBC Scotland Mr Tang had been offered a reduced contract rate of approximately £6,000 per quarter.

SSE blamed the inflated amount on variable rates which are applied automatically when a customer's contract expires.

However Mr Tang said this was still too expensive and triple his usual amount of about £2,000 per quarter.

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