Music Venue Trust declares ‘energy emergency’

UK charity the Music Venue Trust (MVT) has published an open letter calling on the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy of United Kingdom Kwasi Kwarteng, Chancellor of the Exchequer Nadhim Zahawi and the wider UK government to recognise the threat the current rise in energy prices poses to the UK music industry.

Energy industry analysts Cornwall Insight have predicted that an average annual household energy bill will reach £3,582 in October 2023, compared to an average bill of £1,400 a year in October 2021. This, coupled with ‘chronic challenges in the supply chain, labour shortages, interest rates and inflation’ presents ‘a matter of existential emergency for businesses in our sector’, the MVT claims.

Mark Davyd, CEO of the MVT said: ‘After two incredibly difficult years where venues have had to fight for simple survival, it would be an extraordinary outcome to see them closed and permanently lost because of an energy market that is completely out of control and not fit for purpose.’

The letter, signed by Davyd alongside CEOs of hospitality industry groups on behalf of 10,000s of UK hospitality businesses, calls on the UK government to ‘outline a support package for the sector’. The letter points out that many venues are reducing their opening hours to stay afloat, or closing altogether and makes the claim that ‘it is also increasingly clear that a significant number of energy providers have withdrawn service provision from the Hospitality market altogether.’

With the selection process for a new conservative party leader underway and prime minister Boris Johnson on holiday, MVT have urged the government ‘not to allow the stasis of party politics to stifle the urgent delivery of action on energy.’

You can find the full Music Venues Trust letter here.