The announcement by EDF Energy that gas prices are to rise again by 22% and electricity by 17% is the news that has been dreaded by thousands of people who worry about having enough to pay their bills, says fuel poverty charity, Energy Action Scotland.

Already around one in three Scottish households are in fuel poverty, which means they would need to pay more than 10% of income on energy bills. According to Scottish Government figures stating that for every 1% increase in fuel price approximately 8,000 more households enter fuel poverty, the price rise announced by EDF today could mean hundreds of thousands more households will become fuel poor.

Norman Kerr, Director, EAS, said: "It isn't enough simply to blame global factors for high energy prices; this is no help to the thousands of households who will now find it extremely difficult to make ends meet. There must be increased action to mitigate the effects of high prices through effective promotion of initiatives such as social tariffs, greater energy efficiency and better take-up of benefits."

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A lifeline to those struggling with energy bills has been thrown today by Ofgem, the gas and electricity regulator, in its announcement that it has published guidelines to suppliers on the types of initiatives that they can include towards the social spending commitments agreed with Government following the Budget.

Mr Kerr added: "The guidelines from Ofgem today are timely and welcome as they will encourage energy suppliers to step up their support for vulnerable and fuel poor customers. In particular, they have taken the important step of requiring all social tariffs to be equal to the supplier's cheapest deal. Suppliers must now work to promote these tariffs and their other initiatives to customers who most need help."

EAS is pressing for urgent action on three fronts - energy companies must help offset the effects of price rises with the effective promotion of support such as social tariffs which offer the cheapest tariff for those in fuel poverty or on low incomes or who are vulnerable; programmes to improve the energy efficiency of housing need to be stepped up with those in fuel poverty or on low incomes or who are vulnerable made a priority and it is essential to ensure that the widespread under- or non-claiming of benefits such as Pension Credit is over-turned.

(GK/JM)