Higher gas bills see customers switch

Customers are turning their backs on British Gas after recent price increases.

14:34 21 September 2004

A new survey suggests that up to half a million British Gas customers have switched supplier because of recent price increases.

Internet price comparison service uSwitch.com claims that around 500,000 customers left the energy provider in just three weeks.

It appears that nearly five per cent of the company's customers left following the announcement that prices would go up by 12.4 per cent for gas and 9.4 per cent for electricity.

uSwitch also predicted that 4.7 million people will desert British Gas in the near future.

However the UK's largest energy supplier defended its decision to increase prices, saying the survey's predictions were "complete rubbish".

The survey implies thousands of customers have heeded the advice of industry regulator Ofgem, which considers the rises to be unacceptable and has suggested consumers should switch to a different supplier.

However consumers options are likely to be limited, as both Scottish Power and npower have said they will also be increasing prices to a similar level due to higher wholesale costs.