British Gas said on Thursday it will raise its standard variable tariff to reflect the recently announced increase in the price cap.
Two weeks ago, the energy regulator announced that the record increase in global gas prices will see the energy price cap rise by £693 from April 1st.
EDF and ScottishPower were the first suppliers to announce changes to their tariffs in line with Ofgem’s price cap.
British Gas said it will be contacting its customers to inform them about the changes in their bill prices.
Centrica, the British Gas parent company also announced it will protect customers’ credit balances.
It said: “Centrica protects customer deposits and currently holds £294 million in a separate bank account.
“The current UK energy market crisis has seen a large number of suppliers use customers’ credit to fund unsustainable commercial models and subsequently collapse, resulting in the disappearance of more than £500 million of UK consumers money.”
Centrica added that the cost of energy companies’ failures is added to the energy bills and is responsible for 10% of Ofgem’s recent price increase.
It has also called Ofgem to put a stronger regulatory framework in place to prevent a repeat of the current energy crisis.
Chris O’Shea, Chief Executive of Centrica, said: “The current energy crisis has shown just how important it is that energy companies are financially resilient.
“Had a robust regulatory framework been in place before the current crisis, many of the energy company failures we have seen in recent months could have been avoided.
“Protecting credit balances is a vital part of a resilient energy market and we believe urgent action is needed to protect customers’ credit balances from further supplier failures.
“We are taking steps today to ensure this is the case and we encourage Ofgem to do the same and make sure all energy suppliers follow suit and all customers to ask their energy suppliers how their money is being protected.”
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