British Gas to reduce bills by 7%
Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has today released plans to reduce the average gas bill by 7% which will save UK households on average £55 a year. The company has confirmed the reduction will be implemented immediately and will benefit nearly 8,000,000 families in the UK who have seen their monthly budgets stretched of late. So why has British Gas chosen now to reduce its bills?
This announcement by British Gas comes just 24 hours after the regulator Ofgem attacked energy providers in the UK and suggested that within ten years the UK could, unless new investment is introduced, find itself short of energy supplies. Indeed an article in today's press claims that the average annual UK energy bill could rise from around £1,300 per home up to £5,000. While there is no doubt this figure is a "nightmare scenario" it has caught the attention of many people and pressure is now mounting on the government and the regulator to act immediately.
It is well known that wholesale gas prices have fallen markedly over the last few months although very little of this reduction has been passed on to consumers and business customers. Now that British Gas has broken the mould it seems inevitable that the likes of Scottish Power, Scottish & Southern Energy and other leading energy providers in the UK will follow suit.
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