The Association of Convenience Stores has called for a small business energy price cap to help convenience stores fight the cost of living crisis.
Speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live this morning, CEO James Lowman said: “At the beginning of the year, typically, our members would be paying 15p per unit for electricity. They’re now being quoted upwards of 60p a unit. That’s more than quadruple the amount.
“We don’t like to catastrophise, but the sums just don’t add up. Something has got to be done to support them.”
Currently, there is no energy price cap for businesses, which would limit the rates a supplier can charge for their default tariffs.
“While big business are also very constrained, small business can’t hedge, buy ahead of time, and do the things that try to mitigate costs, and those costs are just not sustainable,” added Lowman.
“The energy bill for the convenience sector as a whole is £2.5bn now, and that will continue to go up. The most effective thing the government can do is introduce a cap on energy costs because that is the driver of this really acute emergency that is facing our members and lots of other businesses.”
Lowman also called for more support on business rates. Currently, properties with a rateable value of £12,000 or less are exempt entirely. For properties with a rateable value of £12,001 to £15,000, the rate of relief will go down gradually from 100% to 0%.
For example, if a rateable value is £13,500, the business will get 50% off its bill. If it is valued at £14,000, however, it will get 33% off.
“During the pandemic until now, there has been support on business rates,” continued Lowman. “At the moment, convenience stores are paying 50% of their normal business rates bills, but that could be extended to 100% and extended further into the future. That mechanism has been shown to be successful.”
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