THE boss of a Darlington café has spoken of the huge “negative impact” the energy price cap increase will have on his business if prices continue to rise.
Catalin Cirimpei, one of the directors at Influence Café in Darlington, along with his wife Mariana, said the business was safe for another year-and-a-half but he wasn’t sure “what is going to happen after that.”
The energy price cap increased yesterday by 54 per cent putting pressure on the already unbearable cost-of-living squeeze that many are feeling.
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Recent figures, analysed by The Northern Echo, revealed that some homes in the North East could see average energy bills soar as high as £1,157 – almost double what it was four years ago.
Mr Cirimpei said the priority was ensuring his staff had the support to pay the bills and the extra costs that they’re going to have.
He said: “As a business, we’ve been lucky enough that we signed a contract four-months ago before everything started to explode.
“So we are safe for another year-and-a-half I would say, but I’m not sure what is going to happen after that.
“We do take into consideration that there may be another increase soon, probably in November, so we’re doing our best to make sure our staff has the support to pay the bills and the extra costs that they’re going to have.”
"We’re probably going to go from £500 deal to being quoted over £1,200, and it will eat from our profit. So to be able to survive that you either need raise the prices or anything else, it would affect us at some point.”
The business is now trying to reduce energy where it can and trying to be “as economic as possible.”
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Mr Cirimpei said he understands the Government is currently offering support to domestic households but would “love” to see support given to commercial businesses.
Mr Cirimpei said: “They’re doing something for the domestic rates, I don’t know what exactly, but I would love to see on the commercial side a bit of support to be honest.
“If you think about it, we need to make sure the staff are getting paid on time, to be able to survive any price increase, but at the same time we need to make sure we have the right profit.
“The right income from the business to be able to provide that for them, therefore if people don’t spend the money because of the price increases for example.”
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“So yeah, you just need to have nerves of steel at the moment.”
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