Poor families hit hardest by British Gas price hikes
Poor families hit hardest by British Gas price hikes
Friday 1st August 2008
In a statement issued last night, British Gas announced that it is raising its gas and electricity tariffs by 35 per and nine per cent respectively.
Kate Green, chief executive of the Child Poverty Action Group, described the size of the rises as "staggering" and said that it is the poorest families who will be hit hardest.
She commented: "At a time when the cost of living is rising this is bad news for families and will cause further fuel poverty.
"We urge British Gas to rethink how these price rises will affect low income families, to improve the protections it is proposing for a small number of vulnerable families and widen these for those suffering hardship."
The announcement from British Gas is the latest blow for consumers already wrestling with soaring food and mortgage costs as well as higher repayments on credit card debt.
Debt management companies have predicted that worsening conditions for consumers will result in millions of people developing a debt problem this year.
In turn, this is set to result in a huge spike in the number of Britons opting for debt management solutions such as debt consolidation.
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