Scottish power's 15% price hike to hits thousands in Merseyside

Feb 2 2008 by Staff Reporter, Liverpool Daily Post

THOUSANDS of Merseyside households are today bracing themselves for higher fuel bills after Scottish Power became the latest energy provider to announce inflation-busting price rises.

Gas bills are to rise by an average of 15% and electricity bill by 14%, the company said.

The move by Merseyside’s biggest energy supplier follows double-digit price hikes last month from rivals British Gas, Npower and EDF.

The new prices will see customers on dual fuel tariffs facing a 14.8% rise, meaning a £123 increase on an average annual household bill to £959.

But the 1.2m customers on fixed price deals are not affected by the current move. Although actual increases will vary by region, it is predicted by Scottish Power that annual household gas bills will rise by £79 to £604, and electricity bills will go up to £367, an increase of £45.

Scottish Power has blamed soaring coal and wholesale gas costs for the increase.

The Glasgow-based firm, which is owned by Spanish energy firm Iberdrola, said the increases were necessary after the cost of coal rose by 97% and wholesale gas prices lifted by 83% on February last year.

Willie MacDiarmid, ScottishPower’s director of energy retail, said: “We have worked hard to protect our customers from these increases for as long as possible and offer consistently competitive energy prices.

“Our input costs are now at record levels, having increased by up to 97% since February 2007.”

Scottish Power’s rivals, British Gas, the UK’s biggest power provider, increased gas and electricity prices by 15% in January.

The same month, Npower raised its electricity prices by 12.7% and gas by 17.2% and EDF Energy also put up its electricity tariffs by 7.9% and gas bills by 12.9%.

Scottish & Southern Energy has pledged to leave prices unchanged until the end of next month, while German-owned E.On is expected to make an announcement soon.

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