Southampton food shop Rice Up hit with monthly electricity bills of £2,500

Dorothy Martin, director of wholefood store Rice Up in Hanover Buildings, says she doesn’t know how the business will be able to keep going after receiving electricity bills of £2,500.

The 75-year-old, who has been running the business for six years, has seen her electricity bills almost quadruple in recent months.

Her struggles resonate with thousands of residents across Southampton, many of whom rely on the city's networks of food banks.

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Dorothy said: “We have seen a massive increase in the price of electricity.

"It was normally around £700 a month and has now gone up to £2,500. It hasn’t even doubled; it has quadrupled in price, it’s just ridiculous."

Even though she has taken measures to save energy, Dorothy is still being charged huge amounts.

“We have already been using less electricity, we have stopped using four fridges and yet we are still paying over £2,000 in energy.”

Over the past few weeks, the shop has also seen an increase in prices, which means its own prices have had to go up, leading to fewer customers.

Inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent earlier this week, according to the Office of National Statistics.

An increase in food costs is behind the latest hike with the annual inflation for these now running at 12.7 per cent.

“We have noticed the price of flour has gone up 40p in the last five weeks, as well as the price of teas, and plant-based milk. Overall, there have been significant increases across the board.” 

Asked about the future of the business should energy prices continue to soar, Dorothy said "I don’t know how we're going to survive".

Over the last year, the business has not seen the affluence of customers it once had before the pandemic, with August being the worse month this year so far.

Dorothy hopes trade will increase come September as children go back to school and students, who make up a big part of her customer base, return to the city.

The Daily Echo has also been running a campaign called Your Money Matters to raise awareness of the impact of the cost of living crisis in Southampton and offer practical help to readers through giveaways, competitions and deals.

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