By Fatima Halloum
A Wyndham business owner is concerned about the implications the national energy crisis, rising costs of living and a new wave of COVID-19, will have on local businesses.
A survey by the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry revealed 96 per cent of businesses across the nation were concerned about the rising cost of electricity.
Westend Photography’s Imran Abdul Kashem said it was a “very challenging” time for his business.
“The price is going higher and higher, that’s going to impact my business, the cost of energy plus everyday pricing,” he said.
“For our studio, we use lots of lights. We changed the downlights to LEDs last year so that’s saved some money, but bills are increasing and it’s getting hard.
Mr Abdul Kashem is worried that rising costs of living will also mean residents will need to prioritise where they spend their money.
“We aren’t an essential service, people will want to cut non-essential things. They have to buy food, but they don’t need pictures, so it will be a challenging situation,” he said.
While Mr Abdul Kashem hasn’t yet increased his prices, he has been forced to consider the option.
“Without increasing them, we can’t survive. We have to feed our family as well,” he said.
However, Mr Abdul Kashem is worried a price hike will make it even more difficult for clients to afford his services.
Additionally, the new COVID-19 wave has also meant many appointments were lost to cancellations.
“I had four sessions booked yesterday, all of them cancelled, two because they have covid and two because family members have covid,” he said.
Werribee Business and Tourism Association’s Deborah Dickinson said a number of factors were “definitely prolonging” the stress business owners were already under.
“I am hearing the conversation, it runs in relation to energy costs going, it just feels like for them everything is impacted,” she said.
“It has that roll on effect onto everything else, if their costs rise then as much as they’re trying to limit what they pass onto customers…it just means that passing on the costs become inevitable.”
