Shropshire households could be hit hard by massive rises in gas and electricity bills amid fears prices could be so high that people could have to turn their heating off at some point next winter.

Energy watchdogs today predicted average households would have to pay an extra 50 per cent, or £500, over the next four years.

Cash-strapped families are facing hikes as Britain becomes increasingly reliant on imported gas, analysts have warned.

According to broker Deutsche Bank, typical household bills could rise by £500 a year by 2015 as suppliers pass on the costs of rising wholesale prices.

Other energy analysts say millions of homes face rises of about 50 per cent as the cost of heating soars.

The warning comes two days after the Bank of England signalled more misery with a likely rise in interest rates. And it follows an unprecedented squeeze on finances from tax rises, record fuel prices and meagre pay rises or pay freezes.

Part of the increase in bills will be used to pay for a new generation of nuclear power stations, the upgrading of the National Grid and the creation of thousands of wind turbines to meet tough climate change targets.

In a research note on the prospects for Scottish Gas owner Centrica, an analyst for Deutsche Bank suggested even higher bills were likely from 2013 as a result of suppliers trying to protect their profit margins.

The analyst forecast an average dual-fuel bill could rise by between 30 per cent and 50 per cent to a high of £1,600 by 2015.

Price comparison site Uswitch said that a survey of almost 1,600 of its customers in January had indicated that 20 per cent of them had turned their heating off regularly in order to save money last winter.

The firm’s spokesman Ann Robinson, the former chairman of Energywatch, said: “This time it’s going to be a minimum of 25 per cent. Many people are really going to struggle to pay their bills. We have to pray for a mild winter.”

Governor of the Bank of England Mervyn King has predicted gas prices will rise by 15 per cent this year

Energy prices are under investigation by Ofgem. In its initial report, published in March, the regulator said energy companies raised prices faster in response to rising costs than they cut them when costs fell.