British Gas hikes energy prices

Millions of households in the UK were reeling from another rise in energy bills today after British Gas said it would hike prices by as much as 12.4%.

British Gas owner Centrica said its 10.7 million gas customers will be hit by a 12.4% increase on September 4 while its 5.8 million electricity customers face a rise of 9.4%.

The company blamed the soaring cost of the wholesale gas it buys to supply its customers, which saw British Gas make record losses of £143m (€208.6m) in the first half of “its most difficult year”.

The losses at British Gas cut Centrica’s overall pre-tax profits from £894m (€1.3bn) to £569m (€830.1m) in the six months to June 30.