Soaring energy bills in Britain are set to climb further as utilities pass on high wholesale gas costs, analysts said yesterday.

More pain is on the way for millions of households and businesses, already stung by a string of big increases as dropping North Sea gas production inflates wholesale market prices - the benchmark for end-user tariffs.

About 40 per cent of Britain's power stations are gas-fired, so higher gas prices are also forcing up electricity bills.

"There could be at least one or two more suppliers putting up prices in 2005 and then more will happen in 2006," said Andrew Hill of independent analysts Datamonitor.

"The size and the magnitude of the increases will depend on the weather. The gas market is short, so the weather is even more likely to steer (wholesale) prices.

The UK's biggest supplier, British Gas, put up bills 14.20 per cent earlier this month. The move followed similar increases pushed through by Powergen and EDF Energy, part of Electricite de France.

Britain's other suppliers are expected to follow sooner or later, analysts said.

Prices paid by industrial energy users have shot up 40-50 per cent this year, said Jeremy Nicholson, director of lobby group Energy Intensive Users Group.

"Prices certainly aren't going to come down next year. Year ahead prices (in the wholesale market) are slightly higher than this year," he told Reuters.

John Hall Associates, which helps companies get the best energy supply deals, said high prices have put British Industry at a disadvantage to firms in mainland Europe.

"Price are increasing across Europe but UK prices are increasing at a faster rate," the company said in a recent report.

Further price increases would pile the pressure on energy regulator Ofgem to safeguard free competition in Britain's fully liberalised energy market. Concerns about consolidation in the utilities sector are growing.

Germany's, which owns the UK's second biggest supplier Powergen, has said it may bid for the fifth biggest supplier Scottish Power, a move that would leave consumers with a choice of just five utilities.

This week the UK's Met office forecast this winter could be colder than average. The forecast sparked fresh concerns about the security of UK gas supplies this winter and prompted an inquiry by the cross-party Trade and Industry Committee.

Wholesale gas prices have edged back from record levels touched in July. But analysts say tight supplies this winter and next mean further price rallies are likely, especially if unusually cold weather sets in or technical problems disrupt flows.