The owner of Westmeath café, who received an electricity bill of €9,836, has said she can't operate like this going forward.
Geraldine Dolan owns Poppyfields Café in Athlone.
She told The Pat Kenny Show they had just switched providers.
"Our previous bill - which was the 19/4 to the 15/6 - was €2,370, and it went to €9,836.
"This was a temporary rate because we moved from Iberdrola to Electric Ireland, because Iberdrola left the market.
"So we had no choice, we had to move straight to the company that was allocated by the Government at the time.
I got this electricity bill today, how in the name of God is this possible, we're a small coffee shop in westmeath pic.twitter.com/uz5J8BePhB
— poppyfields cafe.🇺🇦 (@DolanGeraldine) August 29, 2022
"So that contract is up as of today, 1st of September, and I have an energy broker looking at prices for me.
"My rate at the moment is €45.89 per unit - the rates coming in out there are not anywhere any better.
"You could pay a one-off bill, but how do you do this every two months?"
Geraldine said she can't figure out where the cost is coming from.
"We've an all-new refurbished kitchen, so all of our equipment would be very up to date.
"Some of our cooking appliances are actually gas - so I don't know.
"I don't know where we're going to go with this".
'Decoupling of gas and electricity'
She said everyone will have to look at how they can keep prices down.
"I think as a restaurant association, and as a country in general, we're going to have to look at how are we going to decrease these prices.
"And I think the decoupling of gas and electricity is one of the ways... because it's the price of gas that's driving everything up, even though we have green energy".
"I just don't know how you can operate on bills like that - you can't pass it all to the customer".
But she said cutting staff is not an option.
"I will increase customers before I lose any staff member.
"I have a very, very loyal staff who have worked extremely hard, who have pushed through COVID, who have pushed through - thank God - a really busy summer.
"[They] have worked exceptionally hard, they'll be the last ones to go".
She added: "My biggest problem at the moment is I can't even get through to Electric Ireland for them to talk to me and negotiate a payment".
