Millions hit by record gas price rise

The rises are the company's fifth since the start of 2004 and the third in a year. They follow similar rises announced by EDF Energy and Scottish Power this month. More energy companies are exp- ected to follow. Economists issued a warning that spiralling utility bills, soaring petrol prices an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inDaily telegraph (London, England : 1969)
Main Author David Derbyshire Rosie Murray-West and Ed Conway
Format Newspaper Article
LanguageEnglish
Published London (UK) Daily Telegraph 28.07.2006
Subjects
Gasoline prices
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Summary:The rises are the company's fifth since the start of 2004 and the third in a year. They follow similar rises announced by EDF Energy and Scottish Power this month. More energy companies are exp- ected to follow. Economists issued a warning that spiralling utility bills, soaring petrol prices and record levels of debt for millions of households could damage the economy. John Butler, the chief UK economist at HSBC, said: "This is a fairly significant squeeze on people's disposable income. People are already heavily indebted and unemployment is rising. Rises in the number of bankruptcies show that consumers are very sensitive to small shocks.'' Motorists are also feeling the pinch. Petrol prices have shot up by more than 28 per cent and are now at record levels. The AA Motoring Trust says a litre of petrol costs 98.4p on average and diesel 99.7p. A two-car family is paying about pounds 22.98 more on petrol every month than it did at the start of the year.
ISSN:0307-1235