COVENTRY MESSAGE BOARD

British Gas is to increase prices for domestic customers, with a dual-fuel bill going up by 9.2% from 23 November.



The increase, which will affect nearly eight million households in the UK, includes an 8.4% rise in gas prices and a 10.4% increase in electricity prices.

The company said it "understands the frustration" of prices rising faster than incomes. The average annual household bill will go up by £123.

PM David Cameron has urged consumers to switch suppliers for the best deal.

Energy Minister Ed Davey has described the latest price rise as "extremely disappointing news" for customers.

Rival SSE has already announced an 8.2% increase in bills from 15 November.

Energy debate

On average, customers will see a dual-fuel bill increase to £1,444 a year.

However, there are significant regional variations. On average, the biggest increase in a dual-fuel bill is an 11.2% rise in the north of Scotland, in the Scottish Hydro Electric region. The smallest is a 6.8% increase in the south west of England.

The company said that the cost of buying energy on the global markets, delivering gas and electricity to customers' homes, and the government's "green" levies, were all factors in the decision to put up prices.

British Gas, the UK's biggest energy supplier, said in May that a profit boost would be used to delay future price rises. This came because customers used 18% more gas in the first four months of the year owing to the cold weather.

At the time, a spokesman said: "We will use that [cold weather benefit] to effectively hold prices for as long as possible."

Between August and December last year, the "big six" energy companies outlined price rises of between 6% and 10.8%.

Ex-British Gas boss Bentley lands top job at C&W Comms



Phil Bentley, the former British Gas boss who quit - with shares, bonuses and a pension pot worth £15 million - because he wanted to be a chief executive today won just that role.

Bentley was named as chief executive of Cable and Wireless Communications, the telecoms group demerged from its UK network three years ago.

After 140 years as a British company, CWC in May set out plans to relocate its headquarters from Holborn to Miami in Florida, transferring about 100 jobs to the US, including that of the boss.

But current chief executive Tony Rice has decided he doesn’t want to move to Florida, CWC said, and Bentley does.

Bentley, former managing director of British Gas, was previously head of Europe and finance director at Centrica, the domestic energy supplier’s parent. But he quit in February after it became clear he wasn’t going to get the chief executive role, due to Centrica’s boss Sam Laidlaw staying put.

Bentley had a comfortable departure, however: although his job ended in July, Centrica agreed to pay his basic salary of £635,000 until the end of this year.

It said that if Bentley secured a new job all remuneration will cease at that time. But since Bentley officially starts at CWC on 1 January, he looks set to secure his full payment from Centrica.

Sir Richard Lapthorne, chairman of CWC, said: “I am delighted to have attracted someone of Phil Bentley’s calibre to lead the company.

“Phil demonstrated his leadership skills at British Gas, combining strong operational capability with a real focus on customer value.”

That “customer value” might be doubted by British Gas households, who saw Bentley preside over a string of above-inflation hikes that made average bills nearly double to more than £1,300 a year.

Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby attacks energy firms over 'inexplicable' price rises



The recent energy price hikes make people understandably angry, says the Archbishop of Canterbury, who called on big power companies to be "conscious of their social obligations".

Justin Welby insisted the Big Six power companies had an obligation to behave morally rather than just maximising profit.

Last week Scottish and Southern Electricity announced an 8.2 per cent price rise, and British Gas followed that with the announcement that its electricity prices were to surge by 10.4 per cent and its gas prices by 8.4 per cent from 23 November. The rises would mean £125 a year added to the bills of almost eight million customers. Whilst blaming a range of external factors, the company said it “understood the frustration” of consumers.

And speaking to the Mail on Sunday, Mr Welby said: "The impact on people, particularly on low incomes, is going to be really severe in this (the price rises), and the companies have to justify fully what they are doing.

"I do understand when people feel that this is inexplicable, and I can understand people being angry about it, because having spent years on a low income as a clergyman I know what it is like when your household budget is blown apart by a significant extra fuel bill and your anxiety levels become very high. That is the reality of it."

Welby, himself a former oil executive, invoked a social responsibility on the power companies, stemming from how vital their product is to people's everyday lives.

He said: "They have control because they sell something everyone has to buy. We have no choice about buying it. With that amount of power comes huge responsibility to serve society.

"It is not like some other sectors of business where people can walk away from you if they don't want to buy your product and you are entitled to seek to maximise your profit."