Energy suppliers do battle in the war of modest price cuts The average annual savings of £24 per year for the 5.3m British Gas electricity customers compare with an increase of £71, or 16pc, last summer. The company said it was unable to reduce prices for its 10m gas customers, despite having raised them by 18pc, or £121, last year. EDF Energy said that, even before the price cut for its 1.4m gas customer comes into effect in February, its dual-fuel tariffs were cheaper than British Gas's new rate. This was also supported by Consumer Focus analysis, which found EDF Energy the cheapest major supplier for typical gas and duel fuel customers. EDF Energy has not cut electricity prices for its 3.5m electricity customers but said that it had raised them far less than its rivals last year, as its nuclear power generation capacity had helped insulate it from wholesale price rises. SSE, which has 3.5m gas customers and 5.1m electricity customers, did not claim to be the cheapest major supplier on either standard tariff comparison but said the gas price cut would mean average savings of £28 on gas bills. Experts predict that the remaining three largest suppliers, E.ON, npower and Scottish Power, will announce cuts soon and so could potentially still undercut their rivals. Chris Huhne, the Energy Secretary, said customers should "vote with their feet" and switch supplier should their current provider not cut bills. Ann Robinson, consumer policy director at uSwitch.com, said: "Suppliers are falling like dominoes but, disappointingly for consumers, none have implemented cuts for both gas and electricity. The bottom line is that these cuts will go nowhere near cancelling out the £224 or 21pc hike in prices they've seen in the last 18 months. British Gas said it could not cut gas prices because its large customer base meant that, to avoid the "irresponsible" risk of running out of gas, it had to buy its supplies in advance - before wholesale prices fell. Ian Peters, British Gas managing director of Energy, said: "Our gas costs are effectively locked in through the winter, so while we have seen a very warm spell which has reduced the spot market, we don't have the flexibility to pass that on to customers." He added the trend for wholesale prices for 2012 was upwards. However, industry experts noted that other large suppliers also bought in advance, and that some analysts forecast a fall in wholesale prices. Adam Scorer, policy director at Consumer Focus, said: "Consumers have heard different interpretations on wholesale gas prices from different energy suppliers. We need a set of figures that consumers can believe.