Consumers will "inevitably" face increased prices for energy in 2006, the managing director of British Gas said yesterday.

Mark Clare said high wholesale prices for gas were certain to have a knock-on effect on the bills received by households in the UK.

But he said that the company was confident it would be able to maintain supplies to consumers this winter, which is forecast to be one of the harshest in recent years.

"With wholesale prices where they are, all suppliers are going to have to put prices up in 2006, and I think that is inevitable," Mr Clare said.

"We are already having to pay very, very high prices for gas for January and February for our customers, and consumers will therefore look forward to higher prices in 2006.

"I don't think we have any choice when you look at the level of wholesale prices."

Mr Clare said British Gas was "focusing on reducing costs as fast as we can" in order to hold price rises down in the coming months.

He played down the prospect of supply interruptions due to colder-than-usual weather.

During a cold spell earlier this month, "the reality is that supply margins were adequate and we supplied our customers without interruption", he said.

The Met Office predicted that the winter was likely to be of a harshness that can be expected once every ten years.

"A one-in-ten winter is something that the UK can cope with quite well, as long as we don't have some associated infrastructure failure," said Mr Clare. ..SUPL: