The majority of manufacturers have admitted rising energy bills have significantly impacted their margins and ability to remain competitive in the last two years.

That’s one of the findings from Aggreko’s latest report, which shows nearly 75% of companies in the manufacturing sector claim that the rising cost of energy is having a direct impact on their ability to keep their competitiveness.

The poll of around 251 manufacturers, also suggests just 28% claim they are “very confident” that the recently announced government’s funding for high energy usage businesses will help them deal with the crisis.

The survey also found that more than 60% of manufacturers are now considering generating their own electricity using distributed solutions.

Chris Rason, Managing Director at Aggreko Northern Europe, said: “The rising cost of energy has long been a concern for the UK manufacturing sector, though recent events have escalated the scale of this challenge to entirely new levels.”