Up here at TVF HQ, we had an interesting dilemma this week. The end of August meant a payment from the solar panels and given the incredible sunshine over the summer we eagerly anticipated the amount, would it cover a month’s leccy bill? It came to £254, which we know we need to spend on energy, do we buy oil, or randomly do we buy a modern chest freezer from a friend? Would we save £200 over the next year replacing the large old chest freezer in the garage left over from our catering days? We calculated the new chest freezer would cost approximately £132 a year, based on 330 kWh at 40p a unit, although it would be somewhat less for us as we have what I call Economy 7, as well as solar panels; can’t say what the unit cost of electricity will be in a year. As Mrs. Patrick points out, we have a freezer, but no oil, although I suspect that 300lr of heating oil would not get us far. So, it’s a choice between paying to reduce our energy consumption or paying for energy.

I’ve had a few new customers saying that they will not be able to afford the central heating this year and that they are going to heat one room, just like we did in the old days and they were going to do that with firewood. Many of us will remember ice on the inside of the glass in the morning and the rush to get out of bed and put your school uniform on. I shall be getting up a bit earlier to get our fire going before the rest of the household awakes, a job that previously our oil boiler would have done.

Mrs Patrick increased her firewood budget by 50% and expects to use significantly less oil, she has been stockpiling since the spring; she has an established relationship with her supplier, been using him for years, so knows how dry it is and how much she is getting for her money. She budgets and buys it when it is cheaper; she has a big store and a big stove that provides the heating and the hot water. It’s harder if you are new to buying logs and not sure about weights and cubic meters, dumpy bags and barrow bags, not to mention moisture levels, softwood and hardwood, it’d be glad to share my experience with you.

With inflation at 20%, the value of the goods you can buy with your money is going down rapidly. That’s why we increasingly hear of industrial action as workers try to maintain their families purchasing power as food, energy and housing costs go up. I’d have liked to put my prices up 25% to cover my additional costs, but concerned that would ultimately increase customers costs even further. So, I settled on 7.5%.

I know that ultimately if I don’t cover my costs then I will go out of business, however I aim to further increase my efficiencies to reduce my unit cost and sell more units. I’m no economist, but do have some qualification in transport management and some experience in that field, so I may be able to squeeze out some more supply chain savings, ordinarily I would be glad to share them with my customer base, but this time I shall be sharing them with just the one customer: Mrs. Patrick.