Soaring energy costs may lead to business shutdowns

Under pressure, 60 percent of surveyed manufacturers said the increased energy costs are now "business threatening", MakeUK said in the poll report

British manufacturers warned the soaring energy costs may lead to business shutdowns and called for the government to lighten the burden, according to a poll conducted by MakeUK, a manufacturing federation, published on Saturday.

The energy costs have spiralled out of control, with nearly half of surveyed enterprises reporting their electricity bills have doubled in the past 12 months and 53 percent of them expect the same fate in the coming year, according to the poll.

Under pressure, 60 percent of surveyed manufacturers said the increased energy costs are now "business threatening", MakeUK said in the poll report.

The report also warned that about 12 percent of manufacturers have already made job cuts and more drastic action such as wider redundancies and complete shutdowns will be needed if the expected price hikes of over 50 percent materialize in the next 12 months.

The federation said that the high energy prices are no longer just an issue for energy-intensive industries, but also cast a shadow over manufacturers of all sectors and sizes.

Therefore, it called on the government to scrap the Carbon Price Support, a levy only UK businesses pay, and consider introducing an Industry Price Cap to freeze energy bills at an agreed rate.

The government must step in to help struggling businesses, cashflow is already stretched to the limit, to pay what are now exorbitant energy bills by supporting sustainable factories and move further away from National Grid reliance, said Stephen Phipson, CEO of Make UK.

The soaring energy prices are also felt by families. The Financial Times reported last week that average household energy bills in the UK for each year will rise above 3,500 pounds in October and could exceed 6,000 pounds by April, compared with 1,971 pounds a year ago.