British Gas has announced that it will increase the average electricity bills by 10.4 per cent and gas tariffs by 8.4 per cent adding pressure eon the households in the UK.

Experts said that the people living in the north of Scotland will see their bills rise by an average rise of 11.2 per cent while residents in the south-west of England will record a rise of 6.8 per cent mainly due to the costs of using the different electricity grids in the UK. Centrica, which owns the -British Gas and Scottish Gas brands, has said that the regional price differences are due to network costs it has to pay transmission companies in the UK.

British Gas tried to explain its position on micro blogging site, Twitter and invited questions from the members of the public. The company instead saw the effort turned into a major public relations disaster as thousands of angry users took to the site to express their frustration over the rising prices. British Gas has increased the price of fuel by 8 per cent within weeks adding about £100 to its average dual fuel bill. Other rivals are expected to follow soon and increase prices in the UK, adding pressure on the households.

According to estimates, the value of energy bills has risen to twice their levels since 2000. Data showed that households last year spent an average of £1,339 on gas and electricity compared to £710 during the year
2010. The data showed that the gas bills went up by 119 per cent and electricity bills by 47 per cent between 2000 and the previous year.

Power companies have been criticised for charging massive amounts to increase profits while households struggled to pay bills.