'We’re getting to the point where we’re not going to be able to cover ourselves'
Co-owners of The Green Room Salon, Shaun Hickey Moriarty and Orla Greene.
A typical morning for Shaun Hickey Moriarty involves opening one of his two co-owned salons, switching on the lights and turning on the water heaters at 6am for the day ahead.
Now, as he heads into a third Christmas in a row battling a crisis, he starts each day thinking about how to avoid high energy costs.
“You need to have the lights and the heat on. You can’t have people coming in to a freezing cold salon. You need your hot water,” said Mr Hickey Moriarty.
“There’s very little we can pull back on,” he said.
Mr Hickey Moriarty co-owns The Greene Room salons with his business partner Orla Greene, in Killaloe in Co Clare and Nenagh in Co Tipperary.
The duo survived two years of the pandemic lockdowns but now the energy crisis has brought new challenges.
Mr Hickey Moriarty invested heavily in his salons during the lockdown. However, he said he is now “on the backfoot” as he now must cover rising supplier costs and energy bills.
Salons are typically heavy energy users, due to the constant use of appliances and hot water. Hickey Moriarty’s businesses have started to become more energy conscious in terms of putting timers on the water heaters and turning off lights when a room is empty.
Mr Hickey Moriarty is already seeing the impact of the energy crisis as his latest bill went up 100% on the previous one, reaching €1,300. This bill didn’t take into account the cost of heating either as it was for the summer months.
He is not alone in his concern around soaring energy bills. A recent survey by Cork Chamber found that, in Q3, 92% of businesses said they were worried about the impact of rising energy costs.
Around a quarter of respondents said energy efficiency is a priority when combatting rising prices, while 20% will prioritise reducing overheads.
Despite the impact of rising energy prices on their operations, only 9% of businesses plan to cut staff in response to the energy crisis.
Commenting on the findings, Ronan Murray, president of Cork Chamber, said: "There is still a high level of business confidence among the Cork business community (at 85%) despite the fall in confidence in the wider economy.
"Changing consumer spending, the rising cost of energy and raw materials and competitiveness have now become the top threats to business growth.”
Mr Hickey Moriarty is practicing energy efficiency in his salons by cutting usage where he can and by using LED lights, however these measures will not absorb the impact of high energy bills.
Consequently, the salons will have to pass on costs to customers.
“There’s only a finite amount of money people will spend on their hair,” said Mr Hickey Moriarty.
Mr Hickey Moriarty and Ms Greene waited until after the budget to increase prices. They initially thought they would need to hike prices by 5% to 7% to cover costs, but they are now considering raising prices by over 10%.
“We were waiting to see if we did get anything and unfortunately what we did get was more increases. The Vat is going to go up, we have minimum wage increases in January, and we have the three-day sick leave being brought in,” said Mr Hickey Moriarty.
He said that although the number of salon clients remains strong and hasn’t dipped yet, the level of customers he has is not enough to cover costs.
“We’re getting to the point where we’re not going to be able to cover ourselves. And we’re not the only ones,” said Mr Hickey Moriarty.
In this year’s budget, the Government introduced a €1.2bn Temporary Business Energy Support Scheme (TBESS) for small to medium sized businesses struggling with costs.
It will operate for six months and cover 40% of the increase in electricity or gas bills or up to a maximum of €10,000 per month per business.
Mr Hickey Moriarty said he is still getting his head around the scheme and finds it “confusing”.
Salons are not alone in battling surging energy costs, however they may be worse affected than others.
Bossard, a distribution and manufacturing company with base in Cork, has seen energy costs rise between 20% and 25% this year.
The company, which makes screws and fasteners among other things, said it will be able to absorb the high costs of energy this year.
“Of course it’s a concern but it’s not going to close us down or anything like that,” said Billy Newton, CEO of Bossard Ireland.
For some though, high energy costs contributed to some businesses closing their shutters for good, including Sam Pearon’s Vegan Sandwich Co.
Mr Pearson, who was born in Tipperary and operated three successful outlets selling his vegan sandwich creations, said his energy bills doubled before he decided to close down.
High rents and the lack of supports for medium-sized businesses also led to Mr Pearson being forced to close his business he said.
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