Centrica to raise electricity prices by 12.5%

Centrica has raised electricity prices by 12.5% from next month that could kick off a new cycle of price rises this winter. Centrica and the UK government blamed each other for the price rise.

Centrica, the parent company of British Gas maintained it had been making a loss on the supply of power to UK homes for more than a year and blamed the rising costs due to government subsidy policies, for the price increase. These costs, plus network charges, had increased 16% since 2014, the company said.

Ministers expressed concern about the rise, which they said should not be blamed on government policy, and said they were not ruling out future steps to “increase fairness for customers”. The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) disputed that po...