British Gas to hike prices within weeks

June 29, 2011 | Commodities & Oilprice, North Sea & Western Europe

Energy _prices

British Gas is to raise its prices within weeks, it has emerged.

Chief operating officer Ian Peters told the energy and climate change committee: “Unless there is a fundamental shift in the way the commodity markets are going to play out in the next few weeks then, on the balance of probability, we will reluctantly put the price up.”

Meanwhile, in a statement to the stock market, Centrica – the company that owns British Gas – revealed it expects profits for the first half of 2011 in the division that supplies customers to be “around half” those reported a year ago.

Fears of price rises have grown after Ofgem – the industry regulator – confirmed that wholesale energy costs have risen by 30 per cent since December.

British Gas would be the first energy company to announce price increases since Scottish Power said earlier this month its gas and electricity prices will rise by 19 per cent and ten per cent respectively from August 1st.

Tom Lyon, energy expert at uSwitch.com, said worried consumers are increasingly looking to move to fixed-rate tariffs as a result of prospective price hikes and urged those who have not yet done so to secure a deal sooner rather than later.

“Opting for a fixed-price deal is a sure-fire way of safeguarding against energy price increases,” he said. “However, like fixed-rate mortgages, these energy deals could swiftly disappear from the market. Consumers therefore need to act quickly to secure the best deals while they are still available. The message is clear: act fast if you want to fix for your future.”