ENERGY BILL HIKE WILL PUT LIVES AT RISK

Campaigner slams latest 3.8% rise as part of ‘toxic mix’ causing 20,000 deaths each winter

ROCKETING energy prices will trigger a rise in winter deaths, campaigners warned last night.

Yesterday British Gas said it is raising bills by almost four per cent for 3.5 million customers.

Neil Duncan-Jordan, of the National Pensioners Convention, said 20,000 elderly people die every year from the cold.

He said: “A lot of these deaths are due to poor housing and because bills are beyond people’s ability to pay. It all adds up to a toxic mix.”

British Gas, the biggest

energy supplier, was accused of ripping off hard-pressed customers in a shameless attempt to boost profits.

Campaigners warned pensioners are likely to bear the brunt of the increases which are set add to the “national scandal” of annual winter deaths.

And there were fears the move could plunge tens of thousands of desperate householders into fuel poverty.

The 3.8 per cent price hike is set to kick in on October 1 – just as temperatures begin to drop.

It means dual fuel households will now pay an extra £104 – sending the average annual bill soaring to £1,205.

Mr Duncan-Jordan said: “These increases are particularly felt by those who don’t change their supplier.

“We know that older people often stick with the supplier they have had for many years

“This is not a reward for being loyal – it’s a slap in the face. Companies like British Gas know it will have an impact on their loyal customers when they put their bills up.”

Mr Duncan-Jordan called on the Government to take urgent action by raising the winter fuel allowance to £500.

Age UK charity director Caroline Abrahams said: “Energy bills are a major expense for many older people, who live in fear of prices hikes.

“Despite progress in recent years, one in six pensioners live in poverty, and a further one in 10 have incomes just above the poverty line, and it is these older people who are least well placed to withstand any rise in fuel costs.”

Citizens Advice chief executive Gillian Guy said: “A second significant price hike in the space of a year will be a bitter pill to swallow for hardpressed British Gas customers.

“Those people most likely to be on a standard variable tariff – including the elderly, people on low incomes and those with disabilities – will particularly struggle to cope with yet another bill increase.

“While the Government’s proposed price cap should protect customers from the worst of these tariffs, anyone who isn’t happy with their energy company should think about switching tariff or supplier.”

Anger erupted after the company announced it is raising the cost of its standard variable tariff by 3.8 per cent.

It is the second increase for British Gas customers this year. In April it announced increases of an average 5.5 per cent from May 29 – raising the average annual bill by £60.

The company blamed the latest increase on a 20 per cent rise in the costs of buying wholesale energy since April.

It comes a day after the energy regulator increased its price cap on variable tariffs due to rising wholesale prices.

The latest move comes despite the Government, which has ordered watchdog Ofgem to introduce a similar cap for a further 11 million households on standard tariffs, pledging it will prevent “sudden and significant hikes in prices”.

Last night the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said: “It is disappointing that British Gas has announced another price rise in its default tariff at a time customers

are already paying more than they need to.

“This is why the Government is introducing a new price cap by this winter to guarantee that consumers are protected from poor value tariffs and further bring down the £1.4billion a year that customers have been overpaying.”

Shadow business secretary Rebecca Long-Bailey said: “The energy companies have gone way too far in ripping off their customers. If it wasn’t for the Government’s delay implementing their promised energy price cap, customers would have been protected from this rise.

“Now, the cap will not be coming into force until later this year and energy companies are hiking their tariffs before it does.”

British Gas said it would be contacting customers to alert them to consider alternatives to the standard rate and expected that figure to drop to three million by the end of the year. Mark Hodges, chief executive of the consumer division of British Gas’s parent company Centrica, said yesterday: “We have today reluctantly announced plans for an increase in our standard variable tariff.

“We understand that any price increase adds extra pressure on customers’ household bills.

“However, this reflects the sharp rise in wholesale energy costs.

“In response to rapidly rising wholesale market costs, since April a number of other energy supply companies have increased their SVT prices and Ofgem have also announced a second increase to the prepayment meter cap.

“With more than 70 energy supply businesses now operating in the UK, the energy market is increasingly competitive and we are focused on offering all our customers attractive fixed and bundled deals.”