As British Gas Prepare to Raise Prices by 18%, Grab A Fixed Price Energy At Once

In a move calculated to hurt the UK householder, British Gas prepare to raise their energy prices by 18%.

British Gas has today declared that their rates will go up by 18% on gas and 16% on electricity from 18 August 2011, affecting around 11M domestic energy consumers. The provider has put this down to escalating wholesale and distribution charges as the prime reason for the rises. British Gas is Britain's main gas supplier with roughly 40 percent of Britain's household market.

Director of the independent price comparison website energyhelpline.com, Mark Todd, said: "This price rise is worse than predicted and an absolute nightmare for UK homeowners. Many thought that ScottishPower’s price rise was as bad as it could get, but unfortunately British Gas’s is even bigger. It will mean around £190 extra on an average annual bill*. Typical British Gas bills will rise from £1,065 to £1,255 a year"

Todd urges consumers to act quickly if they wanted to guard themselves from extra price pain on elecricity and gas payments and make sure that they have deal as quickly.

"Householders can still avoid the pain of price rises as they can switch to a fixed price deal that guarantees no price rises for up to 3 years. Switching to a fixed tariff now is expected to save the typical home £643 on their energy bill between now and 2014."

"The cheapest fixed price energy tariffs currently cost around £1,000 a year. These fix gas and electricity bills for around a year. The expected savings off these deals are around £250-£300. Longer fixed price energy deals are available that can fix bills into 2014 or even 2015. These fixed price tariffs typically cost more, around £1,050-£1,100, but as they offer a longer period of no price rises they will probably work out the cheapest in the long run."

"If customers want a low cost fixed price gas and electricity deal they will need to act fast. There is limited availability of the best tariffs and they are filling up fast."

"The easiest way for a customer to save money on their energy bills is to switch gas and electricity suppliers using a price comparison website. Energy price comparison websites compare all the UK’s energy deals for customers in just a few minutes. To get a quote a customer just needs their post code and some simple details like current energy supplier, tariff name and spend. These details are normally readily available on a customer’s energy bill."

Todd continued:

"Even though this inflation-busting rise was trailed for a number of weeks, it will still come as a hammer-blow to the 16 million British Gas customers. Many ordinary people will feel that they are being hit at precisely the moment they can least afford it as this year has seen the biggest squeeze on household disposable incomes for decades."

"This will be British Gas’s second price rise in eight months and takes the aggregate total bill increase to 25%. Many customers calling our switching helpline are very upset. They feel that energy prices just keep going up and are fearful about not being able to heat their homes this winter."

"Now that British Gas has followed ScottishPower’s lead, other energy suppliers are very likely to follow soon. We are expecting a flood of gas and electricity price rises over the summer."

Mark Todd is the co-founder of energyhelpline, an independent price comparison site for gas and electricity bills where you can do a price comparision for your fixed rate energy tariffs. Mark consistently appears in the press regarding the British household energy industry; giving consumer advice, price predictions and market insight. The ideal location to get Fixed energy rates for businesses and homes.