Price hike brings £100 a month fuel bills to millions

British Gas price increase of up to 44% adds a more million households

to the 4.5 million already facing fuel poverty

families after record energy price rises were announced yesterday.

The increases of up to 44 per cent for ten million British Gas customers 
were branded "indecent" last night as MPs stepped up the pressure for a 
windfall tax on energy companies.

The biggest rises will hit families in London, the Midlands and southern 
England as the company, which is expected to announce multimillion-pound 
profits today, introduces a new regional pricing structure.

Gas bills rise by an average of 35 per cent and electricity by 9 per cent, 
pushing the annual energy bill for a British Gas dual-fuel customer up £263 
to £1,314, a rise of 25 per cent.



MPs and campaigners said that British Gas was being greedy. "These rises are 
indecent," said Lindsay Hoyle, a member of the Commons Business and 
Enterprise Committee. "If anything underlines the urgent need for a windfall 
tax on greedy energy companies, it's rises like these."

The company made a profit of £571 million last year. Its embarrassment is 
likely to worsen after it emerged that the wholesale gas price collapsed a 
day before its announcement.

The bill increases are expected to add a million households to the 4.5 
million already facing fuel poverty - defined as having to spend more than 
10 per cent of income on energy.

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