British Gas customers brace yourselves. From December 10 you will have to pay an average of £53 extra a year for gas and £29 extra for electricity.

But given this global gas glut that we keep hearing about, the question is why are prices about to rise?

The answer BG gives is that whatever is happening on the global scale, they are paying more now than they were last year for wholesale gas – 25 per cent more in fact. They are also paying more for extra costs like transportation and other overheads.