BRADFORD hoteliers have spoken out about the action they are taking to reduce energy costs and how rising bills are affecting them.

In April, Ofgem was forced to hike the energy price cap to a record £1,971 for a typical household as gas prices soared to unprecedented highs.

But businesses and homeowners have been left with bills that, in some cases, have doubled or even tripled their usual amount.

Frederic Limousin, general manager of Hollins Hall Hotel in Shipley, said that they have ‘slightly adjusted’ the swimming pool opening times to minimise costs.

He said: “Yes we have been affected as we have heating running in bedrooms and restaurants. What the complication is that we cannot put this price rise back to the customer so looking at profits and loss we will be affected quite badly.

“We are a leisure hotel, we’ve got a swimming pool so we have made slight adjustments to the opening times to cut costs. It’s only slight but over time it will make a difference.”

Frederic added that he is concerned for the wintertime when he thinks they will be “really affected.”

“It’s a difficult balance to make sure the guests have the right comforts but also the rising costs for us,” he said.

Margaret Stoyle, who has owned the Five Rise Locks Hotel in Bingley for the past 15 years, has said that her bills have doubled, and she is "devastated."

“Everything's gone up, there’s not much we can do we’ve just got to get on with it.

"We’re trying to save energy where we can but when you’re a hotel with paying guests it’s very difficult.

We’ve cut the heating time down slightly but you need to have certain stuff for customers.

“It’s tough, especially after Covid,"

Other hospitality sectors have also felt the pressure after the increase in prices, with fish and chip shops being one of them. 

Queensbury Fisheries in Bradford announced in April that they had to close their doors as it was no longer cost effective to stay in business.

And Websters Fish and Chips, which has several shops across the district, started shutting for a period of the day to allow the fryers to be turned off for a few hours.

However, today it was announced that the price cap on household energy bills could be reviewed every three months under new plans mooted by Ofgem on Monday.

The energy regulator said that it might insert two new reviews a year, one in January and another in July to help pass on savings from a potential fall in gas prices to customers more rapidly, and also protect under-pressure energy suppliers from being damaged by the cap.