Higher electricity prices will affect companies. They will have to raise prices

A possible increase in energy prices is a scare especially for businesses that have a high consumption of electricity. These will have to become more expensive, or they will find themselves on the threshold of their own existence.

The planned increase in electricity prices could significantly affect entrepreneurs. For example, carpenter Martin Řepa certainly cannot do without electricity. “All the machines I have are electric. The only thing that can be saved is the heating,” sums up the owner of the furniture factory. According to him, it is unrealistic to maintain the performance of the machine by manual work. Such production would be lengthy and therefore expensive.

“Any increase in inputs for small or small entrepreneurs is actually a problem, and it can be said that since the days of covid, prices and inputs have been going up all the time. Whether it’s material or just energy,” he adds. But he says he cannot increase the price of his products. His company focuses on families with children, who, according to him, already have such deep pockets. He can only hope that the prices will not rise so much that it will be a liquidation for him.

​Other traders and small entrepreneurs now have similar concerns. “We will wait until the end of November, when the Energy Regulatory Office is to issue a binding statement on how high the increase will be,” says director of Na Rychtě brewery Jiří Šťovíček. In his company, they put up with the increase in the price of beer already when the value added tax was increased. But now they will probably have to drive the price even higher themselves. “If our electricity were to increase, of course we would have to reflect the twenty percent in the prices,adds Šťovíček.

The bakers even originally planned to make it cheaper. But if electricity becomes more expensive, it will not be possible. “The price of flour is falling and we could project the discount into the products. But unfortunately we can’t, because energy costs are rising again,“says the owner of the bakery, Petr Kohn. That is why small businesses in particular are increasingly investing in photovoltaic power plants, which offer them much more security.

jko, TN.cz