Drink Talking: Michael Willis

With energy prices constantly rising, is there no one out there to give advice asks Michael Willis of The Tite Inn, Chadlington, Oxfordshire.

We have just received a delivery of oil and the invoice came to £661.50 (35p per litre) - this equates to almost twice what it was about a year ago.

What can we do about it? Not a lot, is the answer. You can't pass it on to your customers as the breweries and the government are already doing that with their price increases!

Gas, electricity and telephone charges - all of them have become a bit of a problem as far as cashflow is concerned. Where do you go for the best deal?

The days have gone when there was a department at the electricity board and someone would advise you on what were the best ideas for your business. Now if you call your electricity supplier you will end up speaking to an automated machine.

We used to be with Electricity Direct but they have been taken over by British Gas. The first we heard of it was when they announced that they had taken over our direct debit but we weren't to worry as the payments would stay the same. We emailed British Gas on April 1 to ask for the date that our contract ends. Ten days later no reply, so we will keep waiting.

We pay our water rates by a direct debit budget method. This year they told us that our monthly payment was going up by over 100 per cent. Several phone calls later they agreed that the estimate was an error and we would receive a new payment plan, which ended up being a £2 a month increase.

The telephone choices are a minefield. This is an example of there being too many choices and it being hard to find the best deal.

We have just gone for an offer which we got from www.switchpartnership.co.uk and we will be able to let you know how good the deal turns out to be in three months time. They were recommended to us by another reader of thePublican.com.

We must all have the same questions - but where do we get the answers? Simple questions like "is it better to leave the fluorescent lighting on in a room or switch it off when the room is empty, even though you will be going in again shortly?" Do you switch off coolers if you are going to be closed for 36 hours or leave them running?

Enough said - I need to spend a bit more time on the internet on the never-ending quest to keep the overheads down.