Cost of Fuel Moves to Top of Worry List

As if small-business owners don’t have enough to juggle, an expensive new worry hit them this fall: the rising cost of energy.

Soaring energy prices after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck small businesses across the board: from gasoline to power their vehicles to natural gas for heat.
Two-thirds of small and medium-size businesses surveyed this fall by OPEN, the small-business unit of American Express, said higher energy costs had had a significant or moderate impact on their business.

A second survey by PNC Financial Services, released in October, showed that energy costs had surpassed spending on employee health care – which, for several years has been at the top levels of concern – as the single biggest worry of small-business owners. Forty percent of those surveyed expressed worry about it, followed by 21 percent who singled out interest rate increases and 18 percent who were concerned about health insurance costs.

NY Times