British Gas announces 15% price hikes

Posted by Oil Tycoon

January 21, 2008

Centrica, the owner of the UK’s biggest energy provider, British Gas, has announced double-digit price rises for its 13 million customers.

The company said both gas and electricity bills will go up by 15 per cent, increasing average annual bills for dual fuel customers up by £143 to £1,055.

For those customers paying by direct debit, the annual rise will be £131, taking annual bills to £968.

British Gas’ 2.4 million fixed-rate customers will see no increase and the firm said it is also delaying the rise for 340,000 vulnerable customers until the end of the winter.

The company is the third major energy supplier to announce an increase in prices this year.

Earlier this week, EDF upped rates for its 5.5 million customers by at least 8 per cent and two weeks ago, npower increased prices for 4 million households by up to 17 per cent.

Centrica blamed the rise on wholesale energy costs which have risen 51 per cent for gas and by 61 per cent for electricity and managing director Phil Bentley said the firm could not absorb the “burden” of the increases.

He said: “As the UK’s biggest buyer of gas, we want lower gas prices. However, lower availability of supplies from both the UK and the Continent, coupled with higher global oil prices, have forced up wholesale prices.

“We can’t absorb the burden of these higher energy prices and the costs of delivering a cleaner environment.”

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