British Gas hikes gas prices 35%
Wednesday 30th July 2008, 1:30PM BST.
British Gas owner Centrica is hiking gas prices by 35 per cent and electricity prices by nine per cent.
Dual fuel prices will rise 25 per cent – or £5.04 a week – and prepayment customers will see prices rise 21 per cent.
Centrica has blamed the hikes on the rise in wholesale gas and electricity prices of 89 per cent and 72 per cent respectively since last winter.
British Gas managing director Phil Bentley said: “We very much regret that we have had to make this decision at a time when many household budgets are already under pressure.
“The simple fact though, is that we have entered an era of unprecedented high world energy prices. The only answer to cope with higher energy prices, I’m afraid, is for all of us to be more energy efficient.”
Last week EDF increased its energy prices by 17 per cent for electricity and 22 per cent for gas.
Further price rises from the remaining largest four energy providers are now expected.
A report last week from Centrica suggested average gas bills alone could rise to over £1,000 in the coming years.
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The only option is for us all to be more energy efficient?
How I laugh!!! Doubtless people will be going cold this year with the huge hike in energy bills.
I suggest everyone changes energy supplier from centrica owned companies to make a point.
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At this exact point in time British Gas is my electricity supplier – By this time tomorrow British Gas will NOT be my electricity supplier. Only a small statement, but the more that move to other suppliers the bigger the statement becomes……..
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although my prices are capped till late 09 with british gas,im totally disgusted with this hike.
no doubt they will still be making huge profits from all of this which really does take the biscuit.all the fat cat suits will benefit the most. hospitals watch out ,your intake of pensioners with hypothermia will be rise like no other year and probaly a lot of people of a younger age that cant afford it.an absolute outrage
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Find us a supplier who isnt increasing their prices and we’ll all change Darogan. I’ll also eat my hat !
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this is just outrageous profiteering, they should be re nationalised
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Looks like its going to be another extra jumper for winter!!
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Push on with the global warming!
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why cannot the government put a cap on energy prices like the french do or is there one eu rule for france and another one for the uk. there must be some serious windfall taxes for these energy companies, 35% is obscene
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You could try changing to n power they are cheaper than british Gas and I shall be changing to n power today.
If everyone in the country changed from british Gas to another supplier that would send a clear message to those in charge of British Gas.
Surely Energy should be nationized instead of companies profitting from something we all need it should be under the control of the Government
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I swapped from British Gas last year, and what a nightmare it was trying to sort out my final bill. Has anyone tried ringing them? They obviously don’t spend their profits on staff for their call centres. No, I think the chief execs will be getting big fat cat pay rises & bonuses instead.
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people can get free insulation funded by the government if they call 0800 512012, that will help to reduce their bills
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There is no real point in switching suppliers, as the next supplier will eventually put up prices, and so you move again, … and so on.
Yes – you may save money for a while, but really… honestly ……what a big CON this all is !
The fundamental problem with the way most energy bills are produced is that:
A majority of people are now on a “monthly” drip payment, made by direct debit, which is tailored to your “average” usage of energy caculated from your “usage in previous periods”.
A direct result of this is that your “monthly” bill has NO bearing on your ACTUAL usage from time to time, that is: your Meter is NOT being read regularly, and ALSO, becuase you are paying by direct debit, your supplier can easily “jack the monthly payment up” whenever they feel like it.
And:
If that means you pay too much per month… then YOU have to argue your corner to get the payment modified downwards
(I have done this successfully many times becuase I read my meters VERY frequently, and I KNOW EXACTLY what my “average” usage is)
For that reason, I have now come off monthly billing, and I pay for EXACTLY what energy I have used each quarter.
That is:
I read my gas and electricity meters REGULARLY, and that means I know EXACTLY how much I’m using, and also can spot any irregularities.
There is however no real easy solution to this.
The DISGRACEFUL situation we have been “allowed to” get into is one of large foreign owned companies dictating what our energy costs are.
This should NEVER have been allowed to happen.
I have said elswhere in these columns that water should NEVER have been put into private hands, as it is a fundamantal resource, and I believe the same is true for energy.
We cannot realistically, as a country, continue like this.
I am also seriously considering a wood burner for internal heating, and my own diesel generator for electrical requirements (can be run on vegtable oil)…
THAT’S NOT particularly because it will be any cheaper, but because I REFUSE to continue to be held to ransom like this any more by large suppliers you don’t give a **** about you, the customer.
I can buy logs where and when I want to, and supply my own electricity for the essentials, which are, when you get down to it… lighting and refrigeration ! (do you REALLY need a TV and all the other things if it really comes to it?)
So,
Bring on the revolution I say!
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this is disgusting – i blame the tories for selling it on the cheap, this company is worth billions and they gave it away so it can charge what it likes we are all hooked on their products, we can hardly live without it can we?
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They can only get help if they’re on benefits John. We looked into it and ended up paying for it all ourselves because we both work hard in low paid jobs, but do not rely on hand outs.
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How many days did it take you to swap over Izzywizzy?
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I too had the same problem getting rid off BG after their last price rises, they have a call centre in India, who are awful, you wait about 10 mins to speak to some one which probably cost me about 20£ in calls in the end, they kept threatening to take me to court and haslling me for hundreds of pounds for 6 months after I had quit them, it turned out they had based their bills on estimates not actual metre readings, in the end I reckon they owed me about £50 not the other way round, but I let sleeping dogs lie because i’m sick of phoning and wirting to india, its a shame on them that they put the UK business sector to shame, there are better ways to make profits than just putting prices up, they should get leaner and smarter, not just grow bloated and rich off our backs, I hate their guts, and I’d never go back to british gas in a million years, shame on them, they should be hauled through the courts, windfall taxed, and broken up to promote more competition, they are a dinosaur
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It literally took minutes to swap (online) then weeks to get my final bills sorted out. Nightmare!! But I’m not afraid of doing it again to save myself money.
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Use uswitch.com to change supplier. It is really quick and easy. They do it all for you.
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Its the New Labours commitment to Tory policies that are to blame, a FREE market for energy, we want a FAIR market for energy, not privatisation, profits, fuel poverty, freezing to death pensioners, environmental damage and all.
We must accept Thatchers legacy has failed us all and renationalise OUR energy now for a greener, cheaper, fairer future
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A disgrace that they are allowed to get away with this really, I would like to see them renationalised for this, they did it to rail and that’s really improved already, so come on LAbour do something radical if you want to win this election and get our bills lower
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astericks – i dont think anyone would turn down a by pass if the governments paying (and it wont put our council tax up further!) but do you really think its a priority!? Come on £100 million, even if you added up all the hours we spend stuck on Dobies Island it wouldnt come to thank, besides dont you think its improved since the HIghways Agency build traffic lights, i do. I think in these times of econommic down turn, the government needs to spend less to give us tax cuts so we can perk up the consuming spending (and afford to heat our homes even!) the last thing they should be doing is spending 0.1 billion on this, its just not a priority, i agree with you it would be a nice “luxury extra” but the town has more pressing needs, affordable housing, affordable heating, regenrating the flax mill, rebuilding the hosiptal, things like that should be a priorty not a new road. If you think about it £100 million, between the 60,000 of us in the town – that equals £1, 700 EACH!! Are you telling me you wouldnt rather we all get a cheque from government for 1.7k or a years council tax holiday, imagine if everyone in shrewbury spent a grand locally now, that would perk up the economy far more than a bypass ever could
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Hi John Wood ..
I think you’ve got the wrong article !!
This one’s about Gas Prices !!
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i think people should invest in solar hot water systems NOW, they cost about 3 or 4 k installed but save about 200 per annum on heating water (MORE if you take as many baths as my wife!!) Its been great for us, i highly recommend them, green clean quiet peaceful FREE heat, you cant beat it
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This is just half the story, because of course, our offices, and the government and businesses, schools, courts, prisons, swimming pools, they all use heat and power, as their bills go up we will find our taxes go up, our costs go up and more and more money pours out of this country and into the hands of foreign owned power compnanies and Arab Sheiks.
This ripple effect will destroy our economy if they government dont act soon with massive tax cuts and a more rapid and greater expansion of wind and nuclear power – to be fiar this was predictable years ago I think the government should have had a plan for the North Sea gas fields drying up 20 years ago, but they didnt now we import gas and pay twice the price for it, its time to wean ourselves off our addiction to fossil fuels
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the best thing to do is to go on holiday for a few weeks in the winter, also to wear more clothes, shower instead of bath, wash less often (yes sorry its smelly being green) and insulate your loft which you can do DIY for less than 60 quid. Also switching suppliers very often will keep them on their toes, certainly british gas are always the most expensive, at the moment i’m with e-on who are probably the cheapest and their local (ironbridge) so i’d go for them, but when they go up in price too ill change again just to prove a point, uswitch dot come is the best website to get hte cheap deals all listed up there for you, go try it now, i priomise you will save hundreds
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Mary M – e-on operate a traditional powerstation in Ironbridge. I’m unsure how you have worked out that your gas is local and comes from ironbridge
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this is the Conservatives fault for selling off the company for next to nothing, they never had a clue them lot about how to value things, at least when gordon brown sells things he does so by blind auction and gets good value, look at the 3G phone licence sales, he made a killing there, now there is a shrewd man with some good business acumen, best chancellor ever, shame he’s such a poor communicator to be the PM, we need someone younger and better looking who can sell the policies, then he can sit in the back ground and just do all the clever stuff and relax, I reckon he’ll get us out of this one and the prices will come down, but I wish he’d be more radical and back these energy companies state owned again, that would sort the prices out, especially for essential users, the ill and the like they could have it for free and that would really set them apart as the caring party from the nasty tory party
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when maggie sold the gas off wasn’t there an advert about sid, now we know what sid stood for, still in debt, come on gordon and alistair tax these wndfall merchants till the pips squeek
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Mary M..
If you can afford to go on holiday for a few weeks, as you suggest, then you can afford the energy costs if you stay at home !
and it’s no REAL long term solution to keep switching suppliers, as in the end, they will all end up the same… eventually !
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David, eat your hat if you like but if anyone remains with British Gas after this because they think everyone else is the same have only got themselves to blame when their bill drops through the door next winter. Uswitch takes minutes and, at the moment, they’ll give you 12 bottles of wine for nothing. E-on’s website was overloaded on wednesday night, because their capped oct 2009 tariffs were still available and lower than the best BG had to offer. Everyone should do a little bit of research then switch, it’s free!!! Don’t be scared.
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