The owner of Jaan's BBQ in Blackburn revealed that his energy bills have doubled as the new price cap from October was announced.

Saad Waseem is the owner of a small independent restaurant in Charlotte Street, Blackburn, which employs a small team of around eight waiters and kitchen staff.

He fears that unless help is provided he may have to let staff go as he would be unable to pay them.

The 23-year-old restaurant owner received an estimated energy bill from his gas and electricity provider E.ON stating an increase from £800 a month to an estimated £1,500 per month.

Saad shared that this 87.5 per cent increase was a “huge concern” for his small independent business which he founded three years ago.

Lancashire Telegraph: Jaan's BBQJaan's BBQ (Image: Jaan's BBQ)

He said: “We’ve already been paying extra costs because of wholesale prices increasing, but it’s even worse now with this increase.

“I can’t afford to reflect this in the menu prices because we already had to do this because of Russia and Ukraine.

“Our customers don’t visit as regularly so I’m just going to have to reduce our profit margins for now. We definitely can’t keep increasing, because our customers are struggling with their own bills too.

“We used to have regulars come in maybe four, five times a week and we rarely see them now. We have a couple coming in once a week – maybe but it’s not the same.”

Even before the energy bill crisis, Saad’s business took a hit when wholesale prices increased.

Twenty litres of oil used to cost him £19.99, and in April the price rose to £26 which caused a knock on effect on the menu prices.

He continued: “It affects everything, if I can’t afford to pay workers then that means I might have to get rid of some of them. It’s hard.”

Ofgem announced a new price cap of £3,549 which will come into effect for households from October.

However, the amount will be significantly higher for businesses as the Ofgem price cap only applies to domestic properties.

Saad continued: “The government need to intervene to reduce the bills or offer some sort of grants.

“I just want them to help businesses, because if there’s no small businesses like us then there’s no market and if there’s no market there’s no money.”

Phil Foster, Founder & CEO of Love Energy Savings commented: “The current energy crisis is having a devastating effect on organisations both large and small, but we are definitely seeing a bigger impact on smaller businesses in sectors such as hospitality like Saad’s restaurant. 

“The reality is that the price of purchasing electricity has skyrocketed, similarly to the majority of wholesale goods from food to transport as supply chain issues and the Ukraine crisis have taken hold. This is having a particularly harsh impact on businesses, which have no price cap on their per unit cost, and is resulting in massive leaps in their bills.

“What we need to see now is a responsible level of government support for the energy industry that provides equitable relief across the sector and safeguards in place to ensure that these cost savings are applied fairly to ensure lower bills for end users, whether they are domestic consumers or businesses."