Gas bills predicted to rise by 25% - 08/12/2010
Britons may see their bills rise by as much as a quarter in the coming years, energy suppliers have warned.
The heads of the country's biggest gas and electricity providers told MPs that households would see a spike in their average annual costs in the next decade.
An increase of 25 per cent would equate to £275 on top of the current average annual bill of £1,100.
Such rises would have to take place as wholesale prices go up, the bosses of companies such as British Gas, E.ON UK and EDF Energy told ministers.
However, investments in green energy and volatile world markets would also contribute to higher costs of gas and electricity.
British Gas managing director Phil Bentley told the Energy and Climate Change Select Committee: "If you look forward to 2020, we are all expecting to see higher wholesale prices and higher transmission and distribution charges across the industry, as we are having to make larger investments in the industry.
"We would expect bills, and I think (regulators) Ofgem have said they expect to see average energy bills, up by 15 per cent to 25 per cent by that time."
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