Another power firm cuts prices

Published on 28/02/2009 00:11

THE energy supplier ScottishPower yesterday became the latest company to cut gas and electricity prices.

The group, which has 5.2 million customers, is cutting average gas bills by 7.5 per cent and electricity prices by 3 per cent from 31 March.

The move leaves only Npower among the UK's big six energy suppliers yet to cut prices.

The average "dual fuel" customer taking gas and electricity from ScottishPower and paying by direct debit will see their annual bill fall by 54 to 1,156, the company said.

The round of price cuts was triggered in January, when the UK's biggest supplier, British Gasn announced that it would cut household bills in response to easing wholesale energy costs.

But the small reductions announced so far contrast with the price rises last year amid soaring oil prices and wholesale costs.

Willie MacDiarmid, ScottishPower's director of energy retail, said: "The past year has seen unprecedented volatility in the wholesale energy market."

Forward wholesale costs for gas are 46 per cent higher than in February 2007, while electricity costs are up 40 per cent over the same period."