Last week’s round of electricity and gas suppliers price rises means the cost of not switching your supplier could now be as high as £374 a year, according to a market comparison website.

The third supplier in a few days to announce increases was British Gas. It was the highest price hike since privatisation and the effect will be to add £1.08 billion to British Gas consumer gas bills. The energy giant has now raised gas prices by over 66% since start of 2004

Norman Lamb MP, Liberal Democrat Shadow DTI Secretary, said: "This is an horrific increase which will cause real pain to thousands of people."

"According to the DTI's own figures, an increase of this size means that by the end of this year more than 3 million households will be living in fuel poverty."

On average British Gas customers will see gas bills increase by £113 and electricity bills by £71, leading to an increase in energy bills of £184 and taking the average household energy bill past the £1000 mark for the first time ever.

The announcement comes as no surprise as Centrica, British Gas’ parent company, had already stated that its pricing policy for 2006 would be to pass on the full cost of wholesale increases to its customers. However, like all major energy suppliers, British Gas’ trading policy on the wholesale gas market should have insulated them from the worst of the effects of the drastic price increases seen this winter.

In spite of the fact that prior to this announcement the company had already raised its gas prices by 36% since 2004, half of all UK households still haven’t switched to another supplier, according to independent comparison and switching service uSwitch.com. The continuing cost of loyalty for the average British Gas customer is now a staggering £374.

Alan Tattersall, director of home services at uSwitch.com, commented: "This is one of the biggest social scandals in recent memory. It is misleading for British Gas to hide behind wholesale gas prices as the reason for these latest increases."

"Even before this latest round of energy price rise announcements British Gas charged their customers on average 12.5% more for gas than their main competitors."

"The volatility of the wholesale gas market affects all other gas and electricity suppliers, and yet British Gas is now 25% more expensive than other suppliers’ standard tariffs, and 37% more expensive than the average cheapest tariff."

"We would urge consumers to shop around for the best deals. By switching to cheaper suppliers for their gas and electricity, they could save up to £170 a year."

For more information visit uSwitch.com