BUSINESSES struggling with energy costs face another winter of discontent this year as high costs and supply shortages threaten to continue.

Alan Hall, regional director of manufacturers' organisation the Engineering Employers Federation, said he feared there would be business casualties if the situation continued.

Two businesses in the Bishop Auckland area, in County Durham, have temporarily ceased production over the winter because of spiralling energy costs.

One of them, glass manufacturer Potters Ballatini, in West Auckland, will start production again next month after a three-month shutdown.

Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman has raised the issue with Government ministers after Potters, and another manufacturer in her constituency, Weinberger, had to turn their furnaces off during the winter.

Elementis, in Eaglescliffe, Teesside, (see story below) blamed energy prices for the closure of its kiln, with the loss of 114 jobs, and Terra Nitrogen in Billingham recently resumed ammonia production after it stopped because of high prices.

Last night, Mr Hall said: "Energy costs are unashamedly at the top of every manufacturers' agenda.

"Energy costs are a high element of many manufacturers' cost base anyway.

"What most manufacturers have come across in the past three to four months is that suppliers they have been dealing with have raised costs by as much as 100 per cent. That is where they are at severe risk.

"As we come into the warmer climes of the past few days, the risk has disappeared because supply is not so much of an issue.

"And, although the Government has been taking the issue seriously now, the measures taken won't be in place for this autumn-to-winter period, so we are likely to face the same problems again then - another winter of discontent for manufacturers.

"I don't want to be a prophet of doom, but there is a serious risk that we could see casualties in the wake of energy costs if they continue at high levels.

"Casualties not just in terms of businesses, but also jobs."

Ms Goodman last week raised concerns with industry and energy ministers ahead of the Budget, saying that increased costs had hit businesses hard.

Yesterday, she said: "I have raised the matter with the DTI ministers and raised the matter with energy ministers.

"They want to see action on a European level. Our producers are at a relative price disadvantage on the European stage."