Gas companies must play fair over charges says AM

12.00.00am GMT Sat 8th Dec 2007

Welsh Liberal Democrat Social Justice Spokesperson, Peter Black, has called on gas suppliers such as British Gas and Npower to resist the temptation to pass on the projected rise in wholesale gas prices to their customers this winter.

Industry analysts have warned that the gas companies could hike their prices by some 15% next February in response to a projected rise in the price of wholesale gas. Russian gas supply giant Gazprom has predicted that prices to European customers could rise by the best part of 20%.

"This kind of price hike is quite unacceptable," said Mr. Black. "When wholesale gas and electricity prices plummeted earlier this year by 50% and 30% respectively, we did not see the energy companies falling over themselves to pass the savings on to their customers. On average, British Gas customers are paying 20% less and Npower customers 15% less than a year ago.

"The gas industry were very happy to pocket the increased profits that came from those lower costs that were not passed on in full to the customer last year, but now that their costs look set to rise, we see them gearing up to pass the increase on. It is time that shareholders shouldered their share of the burden of any increase. It is quite clear that the energy companies could easily afford to absorb a good proportion of any rise and still make large profits. They should show some sense of responsibility to the wider community."