Pubs told to switch off beer fridges to save money on energy bills as prices surge

Ed Miliband tells pubs to switch off beer fridges to save money on energy bills

Miliband has launched an advice tool aimed at hospitality businesses, which he hopes will ease the burden of rising costs in the struggling sector.

Through this tool, firms are encouraged to reduce unnecessary electricity use by turning off bottle fridges overnight and to monitor hotspots such as extraction systems, ovens and lamps.

The secretary’s advice comes as fears mount that more pubs are being pushed to the brink, due to the Middle East conflict which has sent energy prices soaring.

As per a Telegraph analysis last weekend, the spike in energy bills will heap an extra £169m a year onto pubs’ costs.

Wetherspoons chief Sir Tim Martin has said that businesses would have no choice but to push up prices.

According to businesses, they are being quoted energy rates around 30pc higher than in February, before the US and Israel launched their first strikes on Iran.

While oil prices have risen from $73 (£55) a barrel before the strikes to hover around $100.

On Tuesday, industry leaders said that the UK government tool would not save pubs from the “eye-watering bills” that were crippling hospitality businesses, as landlords ridiculed the suggestions as “groundbreaking stuff”.

According to chief executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, Emma McClarkin, “there are a host of appliances that you simply cannot turn off, many for health and safety reasons, so it is not just help with reducing eye-watering energy bills that the beer and pub sector needs the Government to help with, but the overall cumulative costs of doing business, including disproportionate tax bills.”

However, she added: “With the typical pub making just 12p profit on every £5 pint, it’s essential for landlords to save money on their energy bills wherever they can, with the added bonus of reducing their carbon footprint.”

According to The Department for Energy Security and Net Zero, the government-funded carbon-reduction tool had already saved trial participants £48 a week and hopes to expand the trial to 525 additional businesses.