British Gas confirms hike in energy prices British Gas delivered a blow to millions of households today by confirming it will hike gas and electricity tariffs by 6 per cent from next month. Centrica-owned British Gas said the annual dual fuel bill for British Gas customers with average consumption will increase by around £80 to £1,238. A total of 8.5 million households will be hit by the move, although another one million British Gas customers on fixed price contracts will be unaffected. British Gas managing director Phil Bentley said rising costs that are largely outside its control but which make up most tariffs were to blame. However, the pre-winter increase comes just months after it announced a 23 per cent leap in half-year profits at its residential arm to £345 million. Rival SSE, which trades as Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro, is due to increase tariffs by 9 per cent on average on Monday, hitting about five million electricity customers and 3.4 million gas customers. British Gas put gas and electricity tariffs up by 18 per cent and 16 per cent respectively in August 2011, blaming higher wholesale costs, but this was followed by a drop of 5 per cent in electricity tariffs in January when prices eased. Mr Bentley said: "Britain's North Sea gas supplies are running out, and British Gas has to pay the going rate for gas in a competitive global marketplace. Furthermore, the investment needed to maintain and upgrade the national grid to deliver energy to our customers' homes, and the costs of the Government's policies for a clean, energy-efficient Britain, are all going up. Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at uSwitch, said the increase would leave many households facing a winter where they are "scared to turn on heating for fear of the cost." Centrica said prices in the wholesale market for gas this winter are around 13 per cent higher than those paid for the same period last year. Assuming normal weather conditions and despite today's price rise, Centrica said British Gas Residential profits for the second half of 2012 are expected to be around 15 per cent lower than for the same period of 2011. Centrica estimates its residential margins after tax in 2012 will be 5p in the pound - a similar level to last year and lower than the prior year. Mr Bentley said: "Unfortunately, we cannot run our business sustainably on lower margins and still make the investments in jobs and future energy sources that Britain needs, especially if the country is to grow its way out of recession." Attention will now switch to the other big suppliers - EDF, Scottish Power and npower - while E.ON has guaranteed a price freeze for 2012. Further utility bill increases will play havoc with the Bank of England's inflation forecasts, which predicted a gradual slide in the consumer price index rate towards the end of the year and into 2013. While inflation has fallen from 5.2 per cent in September last year to 2.5 per cent in August this year, many economists expect the rate to rise again as droughts in the US and poor summer weather in the UK are likely to mean higher food prices.