Rising energy costs ‘will force thousands of corner shops to close’

theguardian.com:

Thousands of corner shops will be forced to close due to surging energy costs unless the government steps in with emergency support, a trade body has said.

The Association of Convenience Stores (ACS) has written to the chancellor, Nadhim Zahawi, saying that without financial support its members will be driven out of business. “We will see villages, housing estates, neighbourhoods and high streets lose their small shops,” the letter says.

The trade body, which represents 48,000 local shops employing 405,000 staff, said energy bills had surged to an average of £45,000 for smaller members, a figure more than double what store owners had been paying before renewing their contracts in recent months.

Collectively, it said its members were facing energy bills worth £2.5bn, and needed a support package worth at least £575m to stay afloat.

“The government needs to understand that this is an emergency. Thousands of convenience stores will be forced to make extremely difficult decisions in the face of tens of thousands of pounds of additional energy costs in the coming months, which at best will include cancelled investments, reduced staff hours and increased prices in stores, pushing up inflation even further,” it said. “For some, however, the cost of energy will make the business unviable, and so they will be forced to close unless action is taken to provide meaningful support.”

The rescue package outlined by ACS would include an emergency price cap on electricity for small businesses, and a freeze on further increases in business rates, which ACS also said should be scrapped between October and March.

“We cannot overstate the urgency of the situation faced by our members. These are highly resilient businesses selling a wide range of