THE chief executive of Love Energy Savings has warned that the rising wholesale prices of gas is likely to hit small and medium businesses - SMEs - hard.

Phil Foster, Love Energy Savings Bolton boss, said: “While the media has been awash with warnings and advice as to how the rising wholesale prices will affect households, there has been little to no advice given to SMEs as to how they will also be affected.

“Whether you run your small business from home or from a commercial premises, the rising wholesale prices are still likely to affect you, especially for heavy energy users. Energy bills can get very expensive very quickly.

“This is especially concerning for those SMEs who struggled to survive the various lockdowns and need to be mitigating the cost of all overheads as much as possible.”

Mr Foster said there were a number of steps that SMEs can take to protect themselves from the October price hikes.

There is generally a 12-month renewal window on business energy contracts. Mr Foster advises people to lock prices in early for an extended period at the start of the renewal window.

If a business energy contract is almost over, get a free market comparison from a business energy specialist, and if the business energy supplier goes into administration businesses will be migrated to a new supplier.