British Gas cuts electricity prices

Britain's biggest household energy supplier, British Gas, cut its electricity prices by 10 per cent today, its parent company Centrica said.

The price cut, which comes after British Gas reduced gas prices in February, takes effect immediately and applies to some 4.5 million residential customers, Centrica said.

Centrica said the price cuts are a result of falling wholesale electricity prices, which have declined since October last year.

"I'm pleased we are now able to cut an average 10 per cent from our standard electricity prices and continue to help our customers during this economic downturn," said Managing Director Phil Bentley.

Short term baseload power prices have fallen about 30 per cent since the start of the year to around £35 per megawatt hour.

Centrica is the last of Britain's big six utilities to cut electricity prices this year.

But it was the first to announce a price cut for gas after raising energy prices last year. Others followed within weeks by announcing cuts in their electricity prices and two of them cut gas prices too.

Wholesale gas prices have also dropped by about 50 per cent since mid February.

The six major energy suppliers are Centrica, RWE's npower, E.ON, EDF Energy, Scottish & Southern and Iberdrola's Scottish Power.