Federation regional chairman and South Yorkshire businessman, Tony Cherry, said the House of Commons Business and Enterprise Select Committee had recognised the extremely adverse effects price rises were having on small businesses as well as domestic consumers.

"Small business owners are very similar to small domestic consumers in terms of energy consumption patterns and expertise but often fall foul of complex bill formats, infrequent meter readings, incorrect billing, poor customer service and lack of information on switching suppliers," said Mr Cherry.

"This report underlines our warnings that the demise of regulator Energywatch will have a detrimental effect on small businesses. Their work is unlikely to be covered by Consumer Direct, which will nominally take over Energywatch's responsibilities but has shown little willingness or ability to tackle small business energy issues.

"It is alarming that with increased prices there will be nowhere for small businesses to turn."

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