The announcement followed greedy and inflation busting increases from rivals Npower and EDF Energy, with the firms blaming high wholesale costs.

British Gas, owned by Windsor-based Centrica, said that it would make a loss this year without the price rise.

Consumer groups and the Unite trade union have criticised the move, saying it would make life harder for firms, the elderly and those on low incomes.

Again we see the fatcats and big greedy shareholders sticking their fingers in the gravy under the pretence that energy is linked to oil.

The Popular Alliance has another explanation, and that is of greed, bad government, and EU legislation that is unworkable, expensive and a total sham.

British Gas owner Centrica had warned consumers to expect higher gas and electricity bills as environmental costs mount in the battle against climate change.

But as we all know, last year it was a different excuse, they told us it was the cost of buying in bulk of 9 months supply, and before that the excuse was it was directly linked to oil prices.

Chief executive of British Gas, Sam Laidlaw said: "If we're going to get energy from renewables or other low carbon sources, then unfortunately it's more expensive." Ofgem said earlier this week that environmental costs had added £60 to the average electricity bill and £20 to the average gas bill.

We should point out that Ofgem is a useless toothless tiger that is swallowing these lies, and has done absolutely nothing about this ripoff for fear of getting into Browns bad book as the government stand to make a very healthy pot of money from the already overtaxed people of Britain.

Mr Laidlaw warned if the price of emitting carbon increased as he hopes, customers would bear some of that cost. British Gas is expected to follow nPower and EDF by increasing customer bills shortly to reflect higher wholesale prices.

The consumer price watchdog Energywatch said: "There are some significant increases in environmental costs coming, but recent rises (in consumer bills) go well beyond anything that can be explained by these costs."

Mr Laidlaw's warning came as he called for an end to a carbon trading scheme that hands billions of pounds in credits to the biggest polluters.

Under the current European Emissions Trading Scheme (ETS), big carbon emitters such as coal-fired power stations are given carbon credits for free.

The scheme is designed to make companies pay for the carbon they produce, penalising polluters and making greener plants economic to build and run. It has been widely criticised because the "free" credits feed through into power prices, allowing generators to charge more and increase their profits.

Energy watchdog Ofgem estimates the average customer pays £31 a year to finance the scheme. Centrica, whose gas-fired power stations are cleaner than coal, is pushing for an end to free handouts as of 2013, when Phase Three of ETS begins. Mr Laidlaw wants credits to be auctioned.

He also wants the number of credits to be reduced over time as companies cut emissions, raising the price of emitting carbon still further and making projects such as offshore wind and nuclear power commercially viable.

Carbon permits trade at around €22 (£16.35) per tonne, but he said the price would have to rise to above €30 per tonne to achieve Europe's goal of a 20pc cut in emissions by 2020. He said: "For investment in clean coal, the price needs to be in the €40 a tonne range."

His comments come just days before the European Commission outlines changes that will be made in Phase Three. Centrica said it was "optimistic" the Commission would opt for an auction-based system.

The latest draft of proposals suggests 100pc of credits for companies in the power sector could be auctioned as of 2013. However, there may still be no auctions for other high-emitting industries such as steel production. The Association of Electricity Producers said it welcomed the auction process but had concerns about how it would be introduced.

UK power generations will reap a £9bn windfall from the credits, according to Ofgem. The watchdog had suggested the UK Government tap into this pool of money to help relieve poorer households.

But sources close to the Treasury said it was unlikely to tax the money. Instead, the Government too wants more credits to be auctioned and will press for reform when EU energy ministers meet next week.

And there we have it, The EU yet again is costing us money, the EU and its unelected, corrupt and fraudulent penpushers are piling on the financial misery to both business and domestic users, and if you think it is going to stop at some stage, think again, they have even more plans in the pipeline to cripple the UK as far as energy is concerned.

Remember France and Germany as well as Russia all have state and nationalised energy companies, the UK does not, and thanks to the greedy Conservatives in the 1980's, we were conned into thinking privatised utility industries would lead to more competition and cheaper prices, and Labour have continued to spout the same lie, where in fact, the big state owned energy companies of the EU are a cartel and there was never any chance of competition, nor will there be in the future when so much tax money can be fleeced from the UK into the French and German state owned businesses and ultimately into EU coffers.

As for Gordon Brown, he will tell you what his masters in the EU wish you to hear, and that is, its all part of climate change, when in fact, its going to be one of the biggest ripoff's in the history of this nation.