Basingstoke ObserverA restaurant owner in Brighton Hill Basingstoke is concerned for his future as his gas bill now exceeds his rent payments.
Manik Biswas, owner of the Saffron Tandoori, has seen his gas bill increase from £1,800 in January to in excess of £3,000 in February, when last year his monthly bill for the same time was £400.
When Manik received his last bill, he called the gas company as he believed they had billed him for the year, not the month. He was incredulous to learn that it was for just a month’s usage.
Manik is now in the position of fearing for the busiest times of the year because more customers means more energy usage.
Manik shared: “This is ridiculous and what shall I do? It is not viable that I pay. Could you imagine this is the amount for this month when it’s quiet now but imagine when it’s peak period, like Christmas, it’s going to be more.
I’m guessing my bills are now going to be around £40,000 a year, this is going to be much more than my rent.�?
Manik is now appealing directly to the government for more help to save businesses like his, just like it did during the course of the pandemic with schemes like furlough and Eat Out to Help Out’.
He continued: “They looked after us but now it doesn’t feel like this, now it is really hopeless. There’s going to be thousands of people like me that are going to be in really big trouble. It’s not just gas, it’s things like cooking oil which have doubled in price and I cannot double my prices as I’ll lose my trade.If I increase my prices by 5% or 10% people will say that the prices have increased too much. We can’t do it like this.�?
