Npower announces further price increase:
Energy supplier npower today announced plans to increase domestic fuel prices by up to 17.2%, its third round of price increases this year. From October 1 electricity customers will see their bills rise by an average of 9.9%, while gas customers will be hit with an average price increase of 17.2%. Npower, owned by German utility company RWE, said this would add £92 a year to the average gas bill and £36 a year to electricity bills. Customers have already seen two price increases in 2006, with electricity going up 13.6% in January and 13.4% in March, and gas prices increasing by 15% at the start of the year and by 14.5% in March. The company, which is the largest supplier of electricity in the UK with more than 6 million customers, said it had been forced to act following massive increases in wholesale costs. Since 2003, it said the price it paid for energy had risen by 250%, while in the past 12 months alone it had gone up 60%. Kevin Miles, managing director of npower residential, said: "Again we are the last of the major energy suppliers to raise our prices - npower customers pay lower prices for longer. "As in the past, we're protecting our customers from the full impact of the increases in wholesale energy costs. "Despite today's announcement we remain very competitive. Our average dual fuel bills are still £91 cheaper per year than British Gas." Mr Miles said the company had this year spent £40m helping 1.7m households improve their energy efficiency, with the focus on vulnerable customers who would be hardest hit by the price rises. He added that npower had lined up additional gas storage capacity to help cope with increased demand during the winter months. The company has reintroduced its Gas Guardian tariff, which allows customers to fix the price they pay for energy. It has been set at the rate charged by British Gas prior to Monday, when it increased its gas and electricity prices by up to 12.4%. Customers of all the major energy suppliers have now seen prices rise at least twice this year. Mark Todd from price comparison website energyhelpline said npower's customer base was such that some of its customers could experience real problems following this latest increase. "Npower's customers are concentrated in the midlands and the northern regions, where the economy is not as robust as other parts of the country. "This latest price is going to push a greater percentage of people into the fuel impoverished bracket as the sheer weight of three price rises in nine months begins to take its toll," he said. Charity Help the Aged said it was worried that older people who were already struggling to pay bills may become wary of turning their heating on and could put their health at risk. Head of public affairs, Mervyn Kohler, said fuel providers should work harder to target financial assistance at vulnerable customers, while the government should invest more in schemes like its Warm Front initiative, which helps make homes more energy efficient. He said: "With every 10% extra on fuel bills, an extra 400,000 households are pushed into fuel poverty. Now is the time for ministers to act to tackle this increasing problem." 8.9.06