British Gas price hike backlash from MPS and campaigners

● 5.5 per cent energy increase sees customers being urged to ‘shop around’

as through general taxation”.

SVTS, where the price varies from to month, are the usually the most expensive plans offered by energy providers.

British Gas announced plans in November to scrap SVTS for new customers ahead of Government plans to impose a price cap on costly energy products, which Centrica warned could have “unintended consequences” for the market.

British Gas said its SVT “default tariff ” was withdrawn for new customers last month and all existing customers are being “contacted to encourage them to choose one of our fixed-term deals”.

Mark Hodges, chief executive of Centrica Consumer, said: “We fully understand that any price increase adds extra pressure on customers’ household bills. This increase we are announcing today is reflective of the costs we are seeing which are beyond our control.”

Norman Kerr, director of Energy Action Scotland, said SVTS had the most detrimental effect on those struggling to cope financially.

“We’ve seen a continuing upward trend in fuel prices that push on to consumers who are not active in the market place and puts them at a further disadvantage,” he said. “This means they are paying more than market savvy consumers.thisputsasignificant strain on budgets which are already stretched.”