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A small business owner says he may have to let one of his staff members go after receiving an electricity bill that had more than doubled compared to the same time last year.
Hazem Sedda, owner of Redfern Convenience Store in Sydney, took to social media on Friday, sharing a bill he had just received for the months of April, May and June 2023.
The bill was for $10,369, a significant increase compared to Sedda’s electricity bill for the same period last year, which was $4306.
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Sedda wrote that receiving the bill was a “staggering blow”.
“This drastic spike in costs is particularly concerning, especially considering the current winter season and the store’s deliberate avoidance of power-intensive appliances such as air-conditioning units,” he said.
Speaking to 7NEWS.com.au, Sedda said on average his electricity bills used to cost him about $3000 in winter and $5000 in summer.
To combat the rising cost of energy, he has been upgrading his store over the past few years, rewiring it, changing the lights to LED ones and installing new energy-efficient fridges and air conditioners.
“We wanted to save more electricity and that was the point of the change, the upgrade, to make sure that we have all the machines (that are) electricity friendly,” Sedda said.
“What’s the point of doing all that? And imagine if we didn’t do it, how much the electricity bill would be now.”
While he admits his energy use was a little bit higher this year compared to this time 12 months ago, he said it wasn’t enough to warrant such a significant increase in his bill.
“It’s shocking,” the convenience store owner said.
“If in winter (the bill is) $10,000 … that means in summer it’s going to be $20,000. That’s a massive, big jump. So the yearly electricity for a small business is gonna be like between $50,000 and $60,000 a year, which is a crazy amount of money.”
If his bills continue to be around the $10,000 mark, or higher, Sedda said he may be forced to let go one of his staff to cover the cost.
“Before when you open a business, you need to worry about the rent and the wages of the staff. Now it’s rent, wages and electricity are the three things that could kill your business,” he said.
“We might have to lose one of our staff to cover the electricity because we might survive without one of our staff, but we can’t survive without the electricity.”
Sedda said he intended to contact his electricity provider, EnergyAustralia to discuss the significant increase.
An EnergyAustralia spokesperson told 7NEWS.com.au that particularly large increases are usually due to a “marked increase in the energy consumption of the business.”
“Other drivers of large increases are when customers drop off discount plans. Where this occurs, customers should contact us, and we are happy to look at what discounts are available to help them with a better rate,” the spokesperson said.
“For customers who may be experiencing difficulty paying their energy bill, we encourage them to please contact us as early as possible, so we can help.”
7NEWS.com.au understands the convenience store’s energy consumption was almost 50 per cent higher this year compared to last year, and that Sedda had been on a discount plan which also ended last year.
Sedda has disputed this and believes there may have been an error with his meter reading.
EnergyAustralia confirmed to 7NEWS.com.au that they will arrange a new reading.
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