Energy bills rise a flaming scandal
British Gas increase a ‘bitter blow’ for users
BRITISH Gas yesterday announced a 5.5 per cent hike in energy bills for 4.1million customers – sparking a furious response from consumer groups.
The firm blamed rising wholesale energy and Government policy costs for the rise, which will see dual fuel clients on a standard variable tariff (SVT) hit with an average increase of £60 a year.
But Craig Salter, of Citizens Advice Scotland, said people would find it hard to understand how the price hike “on top of a 7.3 per cent increase for dual fuel customers nine months ago, can be justified”.
He added: “This will see fuel bills rise at several times the rate of inflation, with an increase of 13.2 per cent over just 10 months for those on dual fuel tariffs.
“We also know households that rely on electric heating, of which there are 282,000 in Scotland, are highly vulnerable to fuel poverty and have been particularly hard hit by recent price rises.”
Alex Neill, of Which? said: “This price rise will be a bitter blow for customers.
“They won’t care about who is to blame, but they will question why they’re being squeezed financially without seeing any difference in the value or service they’re receiving.
British Gas blamed the rise on initiatives such as the smart meter roll-out and schemes to reduce carbon emissions, and argued the funding of “all Government policy costs should be paid for in a fairer way such as taxation”.
The firm said their SVT “default tariff” was withdrawn for new customers last month and all customers were being “contacted to encourage them to choose one of our fixed-term deals”.
Chief executive Mark Hodges said: “This increase we are announcing today is reflective of costs which are beyond our control.
“We have seen Ofgem increase the level of the prepayment tariff cap largely due to increasing wholesale energy and Government policy costs.”