Gravesend reacts to 'Awful April' price rises

KentOnline / KMTV

From water and energy bills to mortgages and car tax, April is bringing a range of price increases to Kent.  Finn Macdiarmid reports.

Transcript

00:00They're calling it Awful April, and with it comes price rises across the board, from

00:04energy and water, to car tax and even the TV licence.

00:08So in Gravesend, are people feeling the sting of the simultaneous price hike, or has it

00:12just become something we're getting used to?

00:14Well certainly at the moment, having received the annual water bill for this coming year,

00:20where it's gone up virtually 50%, I understand the reasons why, but it doesn't make it very

00:25palatable.

00:26I think food, it's gone up such a lot already, before obviously April started, so that is

00:33my biggest outlay.

00:34My wife died like 10 years ago, you know, 12 years ago, so yeah, everything's on me

00:39own now, you know, so all the bills that come in, you know, is quite a lot really.

00:46I think it's practically everything really, these days, you know, I can only, my heart

00:49goes out to sort of people with young families, and elderly mainly, but I mean, you know,

00:54it's terrible for everyone.

00:55Now energy bills are some of the biggest expenses for households in the country, and

00:59it's set to have its cap on costs go up by 6.4%, to £111, bringing the average annual

01:06bill to £1,849 for the average household.

01:11But this isn't just for heating up homes.

01:14Business owners also have to worry about keeping the lights on in their shops, and that bigger

01:18bills mean less chance of people spending their money in the high street.

01:22So like this kind of shops, home decoration, they have less money to spend in that, because

01:27they don't have enough money.

01:28When you have enough money, you can spend the extra thing to make your home beautiful.

01:33Now many businesses in Kent and here in Gravesend are worried about how these price rises, whether

01:38it's bills or food, will affect how many customers come through their doors, while

01:42others are saying that at this point, they're just used to prices going up and up.

01:46I haven't seen a decrease in sales recently, I'm not expecting there to be a decrease

01:51in sales in April.

01:53People didn't have any money in the first quarter of the year, they're not going to

01:56have any money in the second quarter of the year, I don't think things are going to get

01:59noticeably worse.

02:00I'm just expecting business as usual in a cost of living crisis, which is people got

02:05no money, so they're not going to spend a lot, they're just going to spend what they

02:07can afford.

02:09Financial experts say that for businesses, the natural solution to higher costs could

02:12be to increase prices, but not every business has that option.

02:16It is a challenge because everybody's experiencing rises in costs and therefore they still want

02:22to remain competitive.

02:24We might see some organisations having to make redundancies for instance, or even worst

02:29case scenario, considering the future of the business.

02:34Whether it's to keep your shop front well lit or making sure you're caught up on your

02:37car tax, many people in Gravesend, Kent and the country will hope awful April can pass

02:42quickly into a more manageable May.

02:44I'm Finn McDermott for KMTV in Gravesend.

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