Member Article

UFO’s & Small Business

So here it is, 2012 at last, a fresh start: Argentina’s making noises about Falklands Flags on ships, the unions are balloting for strikes, there’s a recession and Mrs T’s in the news… “plus ca change…”.

No need to worry about this year’s New Year’s Resolutions – they’ve been nationalised for the Olympics, the Government has decided we’re all going to eat more healthily, drink less and get involved in sport … any sport, so long as we do something.

The economy’s tough, in fact probably even tougher this year than last and access to finance remains high on the small business hit list.

Yet, there’s something else on the horizon that’s having an impact on the many small and micro businesses that all are agreed are to be the drivers of the much needed economic recovery and employment prospects. It’s effects are usually spoken of darkly in terms of family and personal finances, one of the reasons why we were able to spend less in the shops this Christmas, why we are now buying more budget line groceries; but little is mentioned about how it effects business.

What is this UFO, (Unidentified Financial Obstacle)?

The North East Regional FSB recently conducted a member survey, which had a high response rate and over 40% said that the utility bills were now a significant factor, especially if taken together with the increased cost of fuel.

On December 6th, Nigel Mills, Conservative MP for Amber Valley, briefly mentioned this factor in a debate in the House of Commons on The Economy. The Government has rightly identified this as significant for energy intensive industries, but it also needs to correct the oversight of how much these costs impact on very many small and micro businesses, many of which start life as home based enterprises.

Every extra £1 spent on the rising gas and electric costs is a £1 less available to invest in and grow the business and therefore delays the expansion that will result in new employment opportunities.

We hear the “big 6” and their anguish over variable and difficult to predict wholesale energy prices, (though increases always appear easier to factor in to customer prices than reductions which take a bit longer).

We welcome EDF’s announcement of a 5% cut in gas charges from February and wait with interest to see what the others do to follow.

What would make a real difference is some proper CSR and customer service injected into this sector and real transparency on billing:

This is something that both the Coalition and Opposition should be able to agree on.

How can you justify a charge you can’t explain? Saying that the split charging rates are a long standing way of costing is not an explanation, and I would welcome some real dialogue between the energy companies, business organisations and government as soon as possible.

We certainly need something to be done soon for the sake of ordinary households and the many small businesses that support them.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ted Salmon .