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Energy fat cats take 8% swipe as Pensioners freeze

Gas firm rakes in £1.4 billion profit but claims government responsible for massive bill rises

Big Six energy retailer SSE dealt customers "a crippling blow" yesterday as it tacked over £100 onto the average annual fuel bill.

The firm behind Southern Electric, Swalec and Scottish Hydro told consumers it was "sorry" to be raising its tariffs by an average of 8.2 per cent from November, despite pre-tax profits of £1.4bn and a 9 per cent rise last year.

But rankled consumer groups trashed the decision, calling it the "final nail
in the coffin for affordable
energy."

Regional variations will see the increase range from 7 per cent in northern England and parts of Scotland to 9.7 per cent in the south east.

But the increase averages out at triple the rate of inflation - and brings SSE's standard dual-fuel tariff to around £1,224 a year.

SSE told shareholders in June it had signed a 10-year contract with gas supplier Statoil in order to keep prices down.

The company had also bought a 50 per cent stake in the North Sea's Apollo, Minerva, Mercury and Sean gas fields, providing "a secure and fixed-price supply of gas that can meet around 25 per cent of the forecast demand" over the next three years.

But SSE's retail managing director Will Morris insisted yesterday they had no choice.

"We've done as much as we could to keep prices down, but the reality is that buying wholesale energy in global markets, delivering it to customers' homes, and government-imposed levies collected through bills - endorsed by all the major parties - all cost more than they did last year," he said.

Consumer group uSwitch's Ann Robinson said she feared other firms would now assume similar rates in "a crippling blow for consumers, who are still reeling from last winter's price hike."

She added: "This will be seen by many as the final nail in the coffin for affordable energy."

Fuel Poverty Action's Sarah Malton said: "At a time when one in four households in the UK are said to be making the impossible choice between heating and eating, it is difficult to understand how any increase in energy company profits, made off the backs of struggling customers, can be justified."

She said that the general public would remain at the market's mercy until the government nationalised the industry and embraced community-owned renewable energy projects.

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