Friday June 8, 11:30 AM
British Gas cuts the cost of its energy - again
By Mike Collins
British Gas is cutting the price of its energy for the second time in six weeks, the Centrica (LSE: CNA.L - news) -owned company has
announced.
Electricity prices will come down by 6% and gas by 3% immediately. The saving for the average customer who buys both their electricity and gas from the company will be £40 a year, an amount seen by consumer groups as “substantial” and “warranted”.
British Gas is in effect passing on savings in the wholesale cost of energy to its customers. The first cut was in February, and since then six other energy companies have dropped their prices to reflect the changed circumstances.
Over four million people switched their electricity or gas supplier last year to save money on their bills, according to the regulator Ofgem, with British Gas itself losing about a million customers in the past 12 months.
Two companies that have not passed on wholesale energy savings - EDF Energy and Scottish Power (LSE: SPW.L - news) - have been slammed by the regulator and customers told that they could save £140 a year by switching supplier.
Between 2002 and this year British Gas raised its electricity prices six times and its gas prices seven times, passing on wholesale increases directly to its customers.
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