Increased electricity bills are eating away at the stocks entrepreneurs have managed to save up during the coronavirus crisis. Bakeries say that rising energy, raw material and labor prices will eventually lead to higher product prices.
Sports club and waterpark Reval Sport is on a stock exchange price contract for electricity and board member Aldur Parasjuk says that the bill for December 2021 has caused several sleepless nights.
“We received the bill and we were shocked. The bill made up more than 50% of our revenue and that was six figures. It was more than EUR 100,000. Utility bills totaled more than EUR 100,000,” Parasjuk noted.
He said maintaining a water park was especially expensive.
“Yes, water needs to be heated, the pumps are working. I cannot give you an exact number, but the bill would have been significantly lower without a water park,” the Reval Sport board member said.
The Pagaripoisid chain of bakeries has an electricity contract, which is partly on exchange prices and partly fixed. Their electricity bill went up two and a half times to EUR 2,500 and they paid close to EUR 6,000 for gas.
“No company can expect bills to go up this much as drastic changes happen. Unfortunately, it has also affected our product prices. Raw materials have also increased by some 30%, and we have increased labor costs by 10-15%,” Pagaripoisid board chair Meelis Parn said.
He said prices were looked at per products, but some had to be increased at the start of the year.
The Kalamaja Pagarikoda bakery in Tallinn did a little better, as they were on a fixed-price electricity contract. While they had to sign an increased contract in summer 2021, it seems more than reasonable now.
“As you can expect, soaring electricity prices will have an effect on other areas such as labor, transport, raw materials. It will eventually hit us too, no matter the contract you have been able to sign,” said Kalamaja Pagarikoda board member Karle Rahu.
Bakers do not expect the government to provide any more aid. Reval Sport manager Aldur Parasjuk wants restrictions to be eased.
“We do not want any kind of compensation. We want to go back to a time when people who came to sports clubs could take a rapid test. If we could get those people back, we might be able to manage until spring,” he said. (ERR/Business World Magazine)
