British Gas has said this morning that it is not requesting a government bailout as energy prices continue to soar.

The energy price cap will be reviewed on 1 February and the hiked prices- that could be as much as 50% higher- are set to be rolled out from 1 April.

In 2021 half of Britain’s energy suppliers went bust as wholesale gas prices soared by 250%, while just this week gas prices jumped by 30% across Europe as supply from Russia slumped.

Chris O’Shea, the chief executive of Centrica – the firm that owns British Gas – has said today that slashing the 5 per cent that cuts to VAT on energy bills and green levies would be a better move.

“There are reports that some energy companies want a £20 billion handout to keep household bills down – not British Gas,” he wrote in a column for the Sun newspaper.

“We haven’t asked for a bailout, we don’t want a bailout, and we oppose any bailouts.”