Financial Times: Centrica warns of higher UK gas bills

Centrica, the owner of British Gas, has warned that UK households face further increases in their gas bills, on the back of higher wholesale prices and mounting costs.

The energy company on Friday said that UK consumers faced an average increase of £50 in their annual heating bill, which Centrica blamed on a 15 per cent year-on-year jump in wholesale gas prices for next winter.

Centrica cited higher non-commodity charges for the expected price increase and warned that “the trend for retail energy costs therefore remains upwards”.  MORE (Registration required)