A pub has been forced to light candles and turn off its lights in a bid to save money after its energy bill tripled.
Owners of The Railway Hotel in Cardiff are using Christmas decorations in an attempt to get costs down after being "railroaded" by a hike in energy bill costs earlier this year.
While trying to reduce expenditure during the cost of living crisis, the boozer turned off its outside lights despite fears it could affect trade, WalesOnline reports.
The pub, in Station Road, Llandaff North, is run by Samantha Birks and Ian Liddle, and still has a Christmas tree and lights to entice people in.
Samantha, 39, said the site has been hit with a rise costs from suppliers as well as energy costs.
She said: "Now, from our point of view, we literally can’t do anything about it other than switch off the lights. So as of that point we just kept all the lights off apart from what was absolutely necessary
"So, the emergency lights in the corridor, the toilets, front of the bar.
“We even brought in candles. We never used to have candles on the tables. So, on every table now we’ve got candles so that’s light and warmth.
"And if anything, it’s quite cosy. People do like it so it’s quite a positive change for a negative reason.”
Instead of paying a day rate of 16.5p KWh and night rate of 11.6p/kWh, Samantha says the best price her energy company could offer her was 51p per kilowatt day and night, with no other companies taking on new customers.
Even taking into account the government's Energy Bill Relief Scheme for business support, it leaves her with a cost of 21p/kWh until it runs out in March 31, 2023.
The landlord made the decision to switch from normal lights to Christmas lights after the festive period came long and she realised the lights were 12W compared to the normal 60w blubs.
She added: “It made more sense to have Christmas trees on in either room and then the lights in the windows to let people know that we’re open.
"We even kept off the outside lights because there’s loads of lights round the building because we were worried about the impact of cost. Obviously, that’s detrimental to the business because people can’t see that we’re open and it looks so dark.”
The rising costs are causing a constant state of worry for Samantha, who fears football will drop rapidly after the Christmas rush.
She explained how as well as energy costs going up, so are staff wages and supplier costs.
"There is literally nothing that has stayed the same price. Everything’s gone up," Samantha said.
“Beer prices go up twice a year anyway but we’ve had to push them up to the maximum that we can push them up to, and the same with the food as well. The food’s gone up slightly.
"No-one’s actually commented so customers are still happy to pay that kind of price but obviously if people aren’t coming out as much because they haven’t got as much money then that’s impacting it as well.
“We’ve noticed that people are still coming in but they are coming in less. People you would see maybe three, four times a week just for a drink or for food, you’re maybe seeing them once a week, maybe twice a week. So that’s quite different.”
