Letters: Fuelling poverty

Perhaps I am being cynical, but "a good time to bury bad news comes to mind" as yet another utility supplier announces massive increases, (your report, 9 July).

This time British Gas, announcing an 18 per cent hike in gas prices and a 16 per cent hike in electric, spoke out at the very time when the Prime Minister was holding a press conference in Downing Street on the phone hacking saga. These rises are a massive hike in any terms, sending many households into fuel poverty.

British Gas made a 24 per cent profit last year and claims that none of its customers have been cut off in the past year - very commendable, but, unfortunately for many, far from reality and a distortion of the real picture.

Has a survey been carried out on customers that have been issued with "white meters" at higher tariffs? How many are sitting cold, struggling to feed the meter? This would give a true picture of fuel poverty and address the claims of British Gas.

CATRIONA C CLARK

Hawthorn Drive

Banknock, Falkirk

What is to be done to convince energy companies of the "need to get real"? (Perspective, 9 July.)

Arguably, privatisation of gas and electricity is a triumph of ideological hope over realistic experience. Economists have known for a long time the difficulties of making utilities efficient through competition. Don't they tend towards monopoly because, for example, the need for a network of pipes and cables?

Moreover, it seems a waste of resources for the "big six" to have separate departments for billing customers. Haven't we learned from economic history that utilities are essential to the economy and should be run in the public interest?

ELLIS THORPE

Old Chapel Walk

Inverurie, Aberdeenshire