Further energy bill hikes expected

Households are braced for a fresh round of energy bill hikes after Scottish & Southern Energy raised its gas prices by 9.4%.

SSE, which owns Southern Electric, Scottish Hydro and Swalec, blamed the price hike, which will come into effect on December 1, on a 25% increase in the wholesale price of gas this year.

It means the average annual household gas bill for an SSE customer will increase by £5.60 a month to £782. A dual fuel customer's annual bill will rise to £1,226 from £1,159 a year ago.

The timing of the hike could hardly be worse for consumers as it will come at the start of winter when gas consumption soars, and just weeks before Christmas and a planned hike in VAT to 20%.

Mark Todd, director of Energy Helpline, said SSE is the first major supplier to hike gas prices for two years but others are likely to follow suit.

"This is a grim Christmas present for millions of customers before what's predicted to be a very harsh winter," he said.

"We expect there to be a response from the other suppliers, and it's likely there will be at least a few that move before Christmas. UK consumers are in the last chance saloon for cheap energy deals and must act now if they want to keep their costs down."

He also warned the price hikes may not be restricted to gas after EDF became the first major player to put electricity prices up, when it implemented a 2.6% rise on October 1.

Watchdog Consumer Focus said wholesale gas prices are still 40% below their peak in 2008, whereas SSE's prices are just 2% below their 2008 peak.

Audrey Gallacher, head of energy at Consumer Focus, said: "We are worried this could be the start of some serious bad news for all consumers."

URBAN ENERGY

Our mission: “To provide and install, sustainable, world class, clean energy products with the highest level of service and care.

"Urban Energy is an innovative organisation specialising in the financing, design and installation of economic and environmentally sound solar powered energy systems for commercial property (private and public) and domestic dwellings. Our expertise in the field of Government incentive schemes and solar power products will provide individuals and organisations with an excellent opportunity to overcome capital cost barriers, save money on energy bills, increase profit margins, increase the value of their property and reduce their carbon footprint.

Urban Energy employ the very best engineers in this field, all of which are fully qualified, MCS certified and Government approved to carry out this task, complying with strict guidelines and are members of the Solar Trade Association.

For further information about Urban Energy products and services:
Call: 0800 232 1624
Email: info@urbanenergy.org.uk
Website: http://www.urbanenergy.org.uk/