According to a recent report gas prices in Britain are rising faster than almost any other Western European destination, with officials stating that foreign suppliers are rationing our gas supplies and effectively driving price up. Both gas and electricity prices went up earlier this year by a significant amount, sending domestic household bills soaring in some cases. A recent report has also indicated that prices are set to soar once more in the autumn, with annual household gas bills likely to smash through the £1000 a year barrier. In the past year energy prices in the UK have gone up by around 13.6%. This had resulted in the average household bill rising by hundreds of pounds a year. However, in Germany energy prices have only gone up by 9.5% in the same period, in France by around 12%, and in the Netherlands by only 2.8%. It is thought that household energy bills in the UK could rise by around 25% when the price hikes come into effect in the autumn. Officials state that the reason behind this issue is that lack of gas from the North Sea has resulted in Britain becoming more reliant on imported gas during the winter months when a larger supply is needed. Cheap North Sea gas is being purchased from Britain by foreign companies in the summer, and is then being put into huge storage facilities on the continent. Lack of facilities means that Britain is not able to store gas in this way. Larger scale gas users, such as certain businesses, have warned industry officials that Britain is now at the mercy of foreign suppliers because its storage facilities only hold enough gas for thirteen days, whereas in France there are storage facilities that hold enough gas for 122 days and in Germany for 99 days.

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