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thomas davison

Energy giant that provides gas and electricity to eight million customers lifts prices by nine per cent - now will rivals follow?
�Energy company SSE will increase its rates by 9 per cent
�It will increase the monthly bill by �8.53
�SSE boss says it is 'regrettably unavoidable'

�Experts predict that other energy companies will follow

By Lucy Osborne
PUBLISHED: 20:18, 22 August 2012 | UPDATED: 07:52, 23 August 2012

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Rising living costs: Energy company SSE will increase tariffs, adding �8.53 to the monthly gas and electricity bills
Energy giant SSE will increase its tariffs by 9 per cent in a move that could trigger the other �big six� firms to follow suit.
More than eight million gas and electricity customers will be affected in a blow for cash-strapped families struggling with rising living costs and below-inflation pay rises.
The move will add �8.53 a month to the typical monthly direct debit, dual-fuel bill � taking the average annual bill to �1,274.
SSE, the UK�s second largest energy firm, will introduce the increase on October 15.
The firm says the move is in response to energy price increases in wholesale markets, as well as rising costs of using the National Grid network.
British Gas parent company Centrica recently warned that wholesale price rises may lead to higher bills this autumn.
And utility groups are facing increasing costs of regulation and government-sponsored schemes, which are being passed on to customers.
Martin Lewis of MoneySavingExpert.com warned of further energy-price misery to come. He said: �When one moves, others follow, and over the next three months I�d expect to see similar announcements.�
More...�Britain's second biggest mortgage lender Santander hits homeowners with higher bills as it hikes key rate by 0.5%
�UK's second-largest energy supplier Scottish and Southern hikes gas and electricity prices by 9% - adding �102 PER YEAR to bills
�Energy companies 'rigging the market' and overcharging by �600million, costing every British household an extra �25

He urged customers to consider switching to better deals and said there were some good fixed-rate deals on the market. SSE said it will cap prices following the price rise until at least the second half of 2013.
Chief executive Ian Marchant said: �Unfortunately, the increases in costs that we have seen since making this pledge can no longer be absorbed and mean that we are unable to keep prices at their current levels beyond this autumn.

More misery to come: Money expert Martin Lewis warned that other energy companies are likely to follow SSE's lead, making similar announcements in the next three months
�An increase in our prices has therefore, regrettably, become unavoidable.�
SSE, which trades as Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro, said it had seen a 14 per cent increase in the average price in the wholesale market to secure gas for the coming winter. The group also announced changes to simplify bills by introducing a new fixed standard charge of �100 per year for fuel and a single unit rate for energy used.
Richard Lloyd, executive director of Which?, called on the Government to reform the market ahead of the expected raft of price rises.
He said: �We can�t go through another winter with people worrying about their energy bills.

Unavoidable: From left, SSE chief executive Ian Marchant said the rate rises were 'regrettably unavoidable', while Richard Lloyd from Which? wants the energy market to be reformed
�The Government and the regulator must reform our broken energy market. It�s time for energy prices to be properly transparent and tariffs to be made simpler, so that consumers get a fair deal.�
Consumer Focus said that, following the October price rise, SSE will be by far the most expensive of the big six providers for the typical dual fuel tariff.
SSE�s price rise comes after it reduced gas prices by 4.5 per cent in March.

Last September, it increased gas prices by 18 per cent and electricity tariffs by 11 per cent.
SSE�s recent results showed its domestic supply operation made �271.7million last year, although this was 21 per cent lower than a year earlier.

When is any of our governments going to break these cartels, and don't try and say that they are not. Every year one of them takes it's turn to raise costs then the others follow. Nationalise every single one of them including water, rail and communications, with NO compensation to any of the shareholders.
Born free taxed to death.

2Anne · Joined: 04 May 2008 Posts: 399 Location: Norfolk

Whoever thought that power prices would come down when privatisation took place? Well Mrs Thatcher could not care less either way and nor can our current politicians.
The price of power will rise and rise. Its not just in this country either. Other European countries are paying premium prices and Russia has a stranglehold on gas. We pay the Russian mafia for it.
Things can only get worse until we start to generate our own electricity through wave power.