Small businesses in Ballarat have been forced to evaluate how they use power and gas in the face of rising utility costs.
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An Australian Competition and Consumer Commission report from September this year shows electricity costs for small businesses have risen between 80 and 90 per cent in real terms in the past ten years.
According to Energy Consumers Australia, a typical annual electricity bill for a small to medium business in Victoria is $9,500.
While households feel the pinch of increasing power costs, local businesses have also had to find ways to save.
Co-owner The Unicorn Cafe in Ballarat, Hugh Dreher, said the rising price of keeping the lights on has been a challenge for the business.
“Electricity is the biggest one, gas isn’t too bad, it’s still a lot more but power is the big expense,” he said.
“Worrying about bills with prices going up makes the job a bit more difficult to manage everything.”
“I think our bills have gone up 100 per cent in the last five years and about five per cent of our overall turnover goes towards turning the lights on.”
The rising cost of power has caused Mr Dreher and his business partners to be more conscious of their power use and to look into ways to offset their power bills.
“We are more conscious about leaving things on to minimise how much power we draw,” he said.
“We are looking to solar panels for the environment and for the cost as well, it’s worth of being more conscious of the way we do things.”
The increase in power prices has caused a shift in thinking at The Unicorn.
“Five years ago it was the last thing we were worried about because it was just a by-product of turning things on, now we need to do something about it.”
Along with looking into installing solar panels, the owners of The Unicorn have made other changes to reduce their electricity consumption.
“Other changes we’ve made are things like LED lights and making habitual changes into trying to use less power,” Mr Dreher said.