Friday July 18, 12:07 PM
Gas Bills Could Hit £1,000 A Year
By Sky News
Gas prices could rise by almost 70%, with the average bill hitting £1,000 a year, it is being warned. A report for Centrica, the parent company of British Gas, says the price rises will be here by the early part of the next decade.
It also predicts electricity bills will increase sharply because of the use of gas for power generation.
Jake Ulrich, managing director of Centrica Energy, said: "I think it is going to hit people hard."
He admitted gas price rises were likely to lead to a "potentially significant" rise in the number of people in fuel poverty.
And he predicted people would have to change their habits to deal with higher prices.
"I do think we will see people change their behaviour, I think people will use less energy and I hate to go back to the Jimmy Carter days in the US but maybe it's two jumpers instead of one," he said.
"I think people will change the temperature they keep the house, they'll be more cognisant of energy waste, they'll buy better appliances."
The news comes as leading energy suppliers prepare to increase household bills to reflect rocketing prices in the wholesale market, with analysts predicting rises of 30 to 40%.
Eclipse, which produced the Centrica-backed report, suggests even such steep rises will not fully reflect the increases in wholesale markets.
Click here for more breaking stories from Sky News
|
Send Article by Email
