Holy smoke: the church facing a £9,000 energy bill

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ince it was consecrated in 1875, St Peter’s Church in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, has faced its fair share of challenges.

It survived the Blitz, when the town of 25,000 people was bombed six times. More recently it coped with Covid-19 closures, and it still has a regular congregation every Sunday. But the church may not survive its latest challenge: a huge energy bill.

Anne Short, church treasurer for the past ten years, had a letter from TotalEnergies in September saying that the church’s annual gas bill would more than quadruple to £9,000 a year. Last year it was £2,070. “When I first read it, I thought it was a misprint,” said Short, 74. “We had expected bills to go up, but not this much.”

Parishioners at St Peter’s were shocked to find their energy bill had quadrupled — mostly because of an increase in the gas standing charge