British Gas to hike gas and electricity prices by 5.5 per cent

The new price will affect 4.1m customers

The UK’s largest energy supplier British Gas is set to hike its prices by an average of 5.5 per cent next month, or £60 a year due to rising wholesale and policy costs.

The hike will apply to both gas and electricity.

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, added that the new price will affect 4.1m customers.

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.

“We continue to work hard to reduce our own costs and keep our prices as low as possible. We have seen other suppliers raise prices and Ofgem increase the level of the prepayment tariff cap largely due to increasing wholesale energy and government policy costs.”

“Government policies, intended to transform the energy system, are important but they are putting pressure on customers’ bills. We believe government should level the playing field so the customers of all suppliers pay a fair share of energy policy costs We continue to encourage government to consider moving these costs out of energy bills altogether and into general taxation,” he added.