First Utility is to increase prices by 18.6 per cent for customers, adding almost £200 a year to the average dual fuel bill. Customers will automatically be switched from its cheapest iSave v12 tariff onto the more expensive iSave Everyday from 1 June. It said the increase, which affects 18 per cent of its customers, was due to 'pressure from increasing costs' including delivery, governmental schemes and rising wholesale costs. First Utility has acquired tens of thousands of customers over the last couple of years by undercutting the tariffs offered by the 'big six' energy suppliers - and many of those are bound to feel aggrieved at the sudden massive price hike. But it insisted that customers will still pay less than if they were on a similar standard tariff with one of the big firms. Darren Braham, founder of First Utility, said: 'Network costs, the increasing price of wholesale energy and the social and environmental obligations mandated by the government have meant that we regretfully need to increase our prices.....Read more here