A lack of utility tariff consistency and cost transparency in the UK is adversely affecting the country’s public houses, according to pub company Enterprise Inns.
Andrew Wilson, Enterprise’s business process transformation manager, made the claims in front of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Energy Costs, reports The Publican’s Morning Advertiser.
Wilson said that while government statistics show that between 2007 and 2012 electricity prices for small businesses rose around 30 percent and gas prices for small businesses rose 65 percent, energy company policies have exacerbated the problem for pub owners and managers, which are also known as landlords or publicans.
The lack of tariff consistency and cost transparency in UK utility bills has rendered it “almost completely impossible” for landlords to make meaningful price comparisons, Wilson said.
The problem is particularly bad for pub landlords as they typically have limited time and resources in which to deal with these issues, Wilson said.
Making it easier to switch suppliers would be one way to help level the playing field, Wilson said. making it possible for a supplier switch to occur in a “matter of days rather than weeks” would help in this regard, Wilson said.
Photo credit: Pint of beer on a bar in a traditional style pub via Shutterstock