Utility bills 'set to rise in early 2008'
Published On 4 December 2007
Consumers have been warned that utility bills could increase significantly in the new year.Website simplyswitch.com has suggested that utility bills might rise by as much as one fifth in the early months of 2008, as supplier pass on increases to wholesale gas prices.
According to the site, Russian company Gazprom - which is responsible for delivering a quarter of Europe's gas - has already said that it expects suppliers to raise charges by February 2008.
This prompted simplyswitch.com's Karen Darby to comment: "Wholesale prices have been creeping up for some time now and several analysts are predicting gas bills to rise by at least 15 per cent.
"It's not just gas bills that are likely to soar. With 40 per cent of the UK's electricity generated by burning gas, a rise in wholesale gas prices means that electricity bills will rise too."
However, Ms Darby said that there were still some competitive capped utility deals which consumers could opt for.
A recent study by uSwitch named British Gas as the UK's worst utility supplier in terms of customer service. However, the report did suggest that the company was getting better and could soon catch up with its rivals.
