Wholesale gas prices today rose through the £1 per therm threshold for the first time, compounding fears that UK consumers are set for a fresh round of fuel price hikes.

The price of gas for delivery during the first three months of 2009 touched 100.93p, up 5 per cent compared with Friday’s close. Wholesale gas prices for next winter are now more than double last winter's average of 48p.

Power prices, which are closely linked to gas, also rose further this morning to £88.25 per megawatt hour for the coming winter, compared with a previous £50.

Gas has breached the £1-a-therm mark despite the summer months, a time when supplies tend to be cheaper.

The spike has been driven by the soaring price of crude oil, which hit a record of more than $139 a barrel on Friday amid fears of rising tensions between Israel and Iran. Oil prices have since fallen back slightly.

The majority of global gas contracts between the producers and their customers are indexed to oil.

With supplies from the North Sea running out, the UK is a major importer of gas. Around 27 per cent of supplies were imported last year but this is expected to rise to around 40 per cent this year.

Last winter, a number of energy providers introduced double-digit increases on household bills, including British Gas which lifted gas and electricity prices by 15 per cent.

A spokesman for Centrica, owner of British Gas, said: “We're having to buy in a world market and pay world prices.”

He said that UK prices for next winter are similar to those being paid in Japan, the world’s biggest importer of gas.

Until recently, the previous record UK gas price on the forward market for a winter period was 88p in April 2006 in the run up to the winter of 2006-07.

Industry sources say that a fresh round of price increases are probably inevitable, with August tipped as the most likely time frame.

Money Central: Has your energy company let you down?

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