Newbury publican fears for the future following massive energy price hike

A TOWN centre publican is having to cut his opening hours following an astonishing, £5,000 monthly hike in an energy bill.

And he has warned the trend for eye-watering fuel costs could send some local businesses to the wall.

Newbury licensee Warwick Heskins said his monthly electricity bill at The Spare Wheel in Market Place leaped from around £1,800 to £6,800.

Mr Heskins said his supplier flatly refused to renew his fixed rate contract after he inadvertently missed a deadline and insisted on imposing a much higher, 'standard' rate.

But even after shopping around, he was unable to find any provider willing to offer a fixed rate deal in the present economic climate.

He eventually found a provider who offered to charge around £4,000 per month.

Mr Heskins said: "That is still going to be touch and go as to whether the business can remain viable."

Meanwhile the move to the new supplier will take up to six weeks, meaning he is forced to pay the highest tariff until then.

Mr Heskins said he had been faced with three options: to close the business and walk away; to close for six weeks and make some team members redundant; or to reduce opening hours and take a personal financial hit.

He said: "I've gone for option three.

"This was triggered because I got a bit behind with my paperwork – I couldn't live with myself if that meant I had to make redundancies among the fantastic team I've built up.

"I thought my fixed rate contract was for two years but it was only 18 months."

The supplier had told him that, unless he notified them by a certain date, he would "automatically default to our standard variable tariff".

They then flatly refused to budge.

Mr Heskins said: "We will also now only be opening the Spare Wheel from Thursday to Saturday until the new electric supplier comes on line.

"I will also have to invest more money into the company to keep it going during this time.

"While this will keep the business open, it does mean I'm unable to invest in other planned projects which will now have to be put on hold.

"Please make sure your readers check their contract details – both commercial and domestic – to make sure they don't find themselves in this position."

He added: "It's a very worrying situation, not just for me but for others in the industry where profit margins are small.

"Bills are going up and up and I fear not everyone will survive it."