Business and energy: firms feel the pain of surging prices

Is a windfall tax really the answer to the acute pain of energy costs?

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Ovo Energy has got in early as a contender for “PR fail of the year”, said Ben Wright on Telegraph.co.uk. Its handy list of tips for householders facing a big jump in their energy bills includes: eating porridge, buying woolly socks, and finding “extra heat” by keeping the “oven door open after you’ve finished cooking”.

The situation for many households is likely to be acute when the energy price cap rises in April. But businesses – to which the cap has never applied – are already feeling the pain of surging prices, said the FT. “Energy-intensive industries”, such as ceramics and steel, have been warning for months of “potential shutdowns if ministers do not intervene”. Now the UK’s 5.5 million small businesses are sounding the alarm. Having survived the pandemic, some are being pushed to the brink by a “fivefold” increase in tariffs as old contracts expire and suppliers go bust.

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