npower has announced from 1 October single fuel customers will see an average increase of 15.7% for gas and 7.2% for electricity.

The average standard monthly direct debit dual fuel customer, will see an increase of 37p per day.

Kevin Miles, Chief Commercial Officer, at RWE npower said: "I know it hurts everyone when we put up prices and I wish we didn’t have to. Although our half year profits were better than last year they do not begin to match the £billions we are investing in energy for the future.

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"With reduced quantities of North Sea gas, we are now forced to buy energy on the volatile global wholesale market. World events have pushed up prices and we believe this trend will continue. In the UK we have also seen rising distribution and network charges, and further environmental costs but we have still managed to keep our increases lower than those announced by any other major supplier."

npower is also introducing a new deal which fixes the new rates until March 2013, protecting customers who sign up for the next two winters. Both new and existing customers will also get a one off bonus of £20 per fuel (£40 for dual fuel) credited to the first bill.

(CD)