Poole's Lighthouse theatre faces energy bills of up to £1.5m

Poole Lighthouse’s chief executive has said that their current energy bill is almost £200,000 a year, but if rates are uncapped, energy companies are quoting them £1.5 million. 

This would mean the popular entertainment venue in Poole would have to fork out around an additional £3,500 a day towards its running costs. 

Elspeth McBain, chief executive of Lighthouse, said: “It's unfathomable and we're already a really well-insulated building and very energy efficient for the size that we are. 

Poole Lighthouse is doing all it can to cut energy costs (Image: Newsquest)

“There are very few things that we could do differently other than turning the lights off, and we might then just become House instead of Lighthouse. Or The Darkhouse.” 

Elspeth said she is not just waiting for the new PM Liz Truss to make an announcement on energy price caps, but also whether Lighthouse will receive funding from the Arts Council in October. 

“This could be the game-changer. We either receive the funding or we don’t,” Elspeth added. 

Read more: Dorset pub closes after £58,000 increase in utility costs

“Our costs are huge with not just heating for audiences across the winter, but the power for lighting; particularly on-stage lighting it’s quite significant even though we have LEDs everywhere that we possibly can. 

“We thought as we came out of covid that we could survive anything. But we did not expect this. It’s quite exhausting trying to find solutions to a problem we have no control over.  

“It’s a bit like being in another pandemic in a different format.  

“We have a great programme this autumn and our Christmas pantomime will be a real crowd-pleaser. We want people to come and see things.” 

Regent Centre in Christchurch (Image: Regent Centre)

At the Regent Centre in Christchurch, their bills are on a fixed rate until January but they are in the process of renegotiating a new price. 

Oscar Sellick-Pilley, general manager at The Regent Centre, said: “The quotes we are getting are 400 times higher than what we are paying now. It won’t be sustainable. It isn’t an immediate problem for us but we hope there will be some kind of government intervention because we can’t sustaine that. 

“Wev are runningon fine margins anyway because audiences haven’t returned in the same way as they did before covid. 

“We’ve adjusted to that new reality, but we can’t adjust to that new reality. 

Oscar added: “I appreciate people are struggling and have to make sacrifices, but I want to make sure our doors are open for people who can come along and support us.” 

We have contacted the Arts Council for a comment.