The British Independent Retailers Association (Bira) welcomes the government’s announcement that it will help cut energy bills for businesses. Having campaigned tirelessly for clarification from the government for almost a year, the Association, which helps represent independent businesses, has said the decisive action has been much needed.

The announcement by the government has outlined plans to help cut energy bills by working with suppliers to reduce wholesale energy costs and rises in bills that businesses have seen. This is in addition to the Energy Price Guarantee for households.

The government has promised to provide a discount on wholesale gas and electricity prices for all non-domestic customers. This also includes UK businesses, the voluntary sector and public sector, whose current gas and electricity prices have been inflated. This is to be applied to fixed contracts agreed on or after 1 April 2022. It will also apply to energy usage from 1 October until 31 March 2023 and will run for six months. Savings will be automatically applied to bills and first seen in October.

Commenting is Bira’s CEO, Andrew Goodacre

“It will be a relief to all independent retailers on the high street as they can now focus on the very important final quarter of the year. Our focus also now turns to helping the government determine which businesses are vulnerable due to the energy increases, as we feel indie retailers fall into this category. Bira has been very vocal in asking for the details of this support and independent retailers can look forward to lower-than-expected energy bills.

“We now want to turn our focus on determining the businesses classed as vulnerable as we know they will receive longer-term support. Rather than individual businesses, we need to show that the high street is a collection of businesses that support each other to make the place successful. No high street wants to see lots of empty shops, so we need to focus on the vulnerability of the ‘place’.

“We now turn our attention to Friday’s mini budget and urge the government to take decisive action to restore consumer confidence and consumer expenditure. Furthermore, we need longer-term plans to address other taxation issues impacting businesses, especially business rates.”

In a survey conducted at the end of August to Bira members, 65% of business owners had said the original predicted price rise would force them to reduce the number of staff they had or reduce wages. Meanwhile, 40% were considering limiting opening hours, while 23% were looking to permanently or temporarily close their business once the proposed price hike came in October.