Electric shock

Steve Smith of the Travellers Rest, Sheffield,

has seen his electricity bill shoot up by

300%. He wants help to find a way out

I came into the pub in April 2006 and was asked to take it over by the brewery. This is the fourth pub my wife and I have had and we saw it as our retirement, really.

The previous tenants had done a runner and so the brewery wanted to get us in as soon as possible. At the time, we were living in Cambridge and with moving to a new pub and getting it open, we had a million and one things on our minds.

The brewery, which has now sold the estate on, sent an agent down to source the best electricity deal for us.

They recommended a company. The estimated cost was £260 a month. To be honest, we did think that was a little expensive as the bills at our last pub, which was of a similar size, were £600 a quarter.

However, the agent told us it was a fixed price for three years and so that seemed OK. With everything else going on, we signed up and crossed it off the list of things we had to do.

We only open the pub on weekdays from 5pm to 11pm, Saturdays from 2pm to 11pm and midday to 11pm on Sundays. We only do food on a Sunday and our ovens are gas. We also use energy-saving lightbulbs and are generally very frugal. So it is not as if we use a lot of electricity.

The first bill we received was for £260, but then the prices started escalating to £500, then £700, until this August when we were asked to pay £1,028.92.

It is killing our business. We take an average of £3,500 a week.

I have been on the case to the supplier for 12 months and have made little progress. I have managed to get a rebate for around £1,000 and I have now cancelled my direct debit until things can be sorted out.

I want to be released from my contract and I want to get my money back. I think I should be refunded everything over the quoted £260 a month I have paid.

I feel I have been duped and it is hard for me and my wife to break even with this crippling monthly bill for electricity. It has drained us.

What advice could you offer me?