A North East business has hit out at energy providers after being quoted £44,000 to power their facility.
Riley’s Fish Shack in Tynemouth might have become a popular name with customers across the North East for its choice of fresh fish and other produce, but the owners of the much-loved venue have now expressed concerns over how they will survive financially during winter.
As the name suggests, the business might only be a small shack based on King Edwards Bay in the seaside town, but British Gas has reportedly quoted the humongous bill amount – as energy prices continue to soar for homeowners and businesses alike.
Read more: Alston fish and chip shop The High Plaice closing due to cost of living crisis
Heading into winter, the cost of energy is reportedly at an all time high to power homes and businesses.
Despite the Government announcing a new package of energy bill support back in September 2022, many business groups warned it is just a “short-term fix”.
Ministers said the new scheme could roughly halve the price paid for wholesale gas and electricity by non-domestic customers, which include schools and charities.
The Government will foot part of an organisation’s bill if the wholesale price of gas and electricity stays above a set level.
Riley’s Fish Shack. Picture: NORTHERN ECHO (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)
The support will work differently depending on what kind of energy tariff an organisation is on.
Ministers said the support will approximately match the per-unit price households will pay to cover the wholesale price of their energy from the start of October.
But unlike the two-year household support scheme, businesses will only be helped for six months from the start of October.
However, this ‘trickle’ down by the government clearly hasn’t helped Riley’s fish shack after they took to social media platform Instagram at the end of last week to berate British Gas for their quoted energy bill.
The £44,000 bill that Riley’s Fish Shack received. Picture: RILEY’S (Image: NORTHERN ECHO)
Sharing a screenshot of a business account that had minus £44,000 in, the business added the message: “@britishgas are you for real?! I’ve decided to join in this ‘share your bill on social media’ game – can anytime beat this?
“Needless to say, there’s not enough in that account to cover it!!!”
After sharing the energy bill amount, many people in the comments were outraged about what energy companies were putting independent businesses through, with one commentor saying: “That is outrageous,” while another simply added: “disgusting”.
British Gas has been approached for comment.
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