Charity condemns SSE price hike

Scottish and Southern Energy (SSE) has announced it will increase gas prices by an average of 18% and electricity prices by 11% from September 14th in a move that will mean a typical annual dual-fuel bill will rise from £1094 at present to £1265, an increase of £171 for around one million customers in Scotland.

Age Scotland spokesman Lindsay Scott said: "It is now not a matter of if, rather one of when. Like dominos falling we have the third of the six big energy companies announcing further  mammoth price hikes claiming that it needs to push prices up to be able to invest in the sector.

"What they seem to be ignoring is that this means households already struggling against other inflationary pressures will be hard-hit once again - there is a limit to which people can keep absorbing skyrocketing increases like this.

"It's time for the UK Government to intervene in a meaningful way because these rising fuel bills mean increased VAT payments for the Treasury and this windfall cash can and must be used to tackle growing fuel poverty."

Scottish Power and Scottish Gas have already announced similar price hikes, stating higher wholesale gas prices forced their hand. SSE, which has 5.2 million household electricity customers and 3.6 million household gas users across the UK, has stated that it will not raise prices again for households until August 1st next year.