Dundee pensioners were incensed following the news, with many feeling the companies are taking advantage of the elderly and less well off in the hope of amassing more profits.

Douglas and Jean Smith, from Tealing, said, “It is absolutely scandalous. It only affects us with the electricity as we have oil, but that keeps rising in costs as well.

“This is not only going to be difficult for pensioners like us who live only off their pension but it is going to affect everybody.

“It gets harder and harder when these big companies are always making more and more profits from soaring bills.

“I don’t see any of our members of parliament doing anything about it, they all just seem to be on a good number if you ask me.”

Ian and Alison Nicoll, Southampton Place, said, “We are both pensioners so this is going to affect us a lot.

“It’s absolutely ridiculous that these prices bare going up again given the huge profits these companies are making.

“They keep putting them up claiming they need the money for development but we are not convinced by that at all.”

James Gibson (66), Montgomery Avenue, said, “It’s ridiculous. What can you say? We’ve already been fishing around for the cheapest suppliers and these days you’ve really got to shop around.

“There’s not much people can do but keep shopping around for the best prices, and get in contact with their local representative.”

Robert Fisken (69), East Haddon Road, said, “It makes you wonder how this is going to affect people doesn’t it?

“I mean, it’s going to affect older people and those on low incomes. This is going to affect everybody.

“The price rises are going to hit the worst off, there’s no doubt about it.”

Doug Batchelor (71),

“Happyhillock Road, said, “It is absolutely terrible. They are raising the prices in order to make more profits. Last time they claimed they were making losses and again they’ve claimed they have made even more. It makes you wonder how they have managed to reach such losses.”

Scottish Gas was accused of effectively signing the death warrants for some elderly Scottish people with its price rises.

Age Concern Scotland’s Dundee-based advocacy officer Ian Borthwick said, “It’s a simple correlation: higher prices will inevitably lead to more deaths from fuel poverty.

“These horrendous price increases will aggravate the already disastrous situation facing many older people this winter.”

The concern now is that financially-stricken elderly people already struggling to pay their winter bills will be forced to leave their heating off for even longer periods, with potentially fatal consequences for some.

Mr Borthwick said those on limited incomes were already in a precarious situation.

He added, “This increase will, without doubt, throw many thousands of families and individuals into fuel poverty. The Government must now look at the situation and increase the winter allowances to help them cope with this increase.

“British Gas are announcing the increase in the middle of a heat wave, but the increase will apply in September, just at the onset of more inclement weather. We are an extremely wealthy country and we should be able to ensure people in vulnerable situations can maintain warm homes.

“It’s Scotland’s pensioners who will suffer most. Cold weather and the inability to adequately heat a house aggravate pre-existing health conditions, sometimes with fatal consequences.

“It’s an affront to a civilised country and an absolute disgrace that we are continuing to experience excess winter deaths and these increases can only exacerbate an already dangerous situation.”

Dundee East MSP Shona Robison said Mr Borthwick was not being overly-dramatic in directly linking higher fuel prices with more winter deaths.

She said people on the breadline had to make a choice between feeding themselves and putting their heating on.

The SNP politician described the increase as “irresponsible” and added, “To expect people who are on fixed or low incomes to cough up for price hikes of almost 50% in the last year is not only unacceptable but also morally questionable.

“My worry is the signal this sends to elderly and vulnerable people. Some may be too frightened by the increases to put their heating on and that can lead directly to deaths from cold-related conditions.

“My advice would be to put your heating on and worry about the bill later-that’s the important message that has to go out to people.

“There are plenty of organisations who will help you sort out your bills and negotiate with energy companies over how much has to be paid.

“I will be speaking to British Gas to challenge these price hikes and see what they are doing to alleviate the burden on those who are most vulnerable.”

Jim Milne, from Dundee Anti-Poverty Forum, said the price hikes will undo much of the good work being done by agencies in the city to combat fuel poverty — defined as households forced to pay more 10% of their disposable income on fuel.

“Obviously, our concern is for people who are at the sharp end of these increases, the people who really can’t afford to pay them.

“While these rises will affect every household, they will have a disproportionate effect on people living on fixed incomes.

“People on benefit, for example, don’t receive any extra compensation from the Government to meet these additional costs and it is obviously going to cause hardship, with people being pushed into fuel poverty. These types of increases undermine the work of the Fuel Poverty Action Group, because the one thing it doesn’t have any control over is energy prices.

“Regardless of all the good work that is done by energy advice agencies and the council’s housing department and the measures put in place to ensure people can use power efficiently and effectively, bills keep going up.”

Mr Milne said that, whereas in the past, consumers switched suppliers to obtain a better deal, “the options are running out”.

He said, “British Gas is saying that prices will come down in real terms next year, but that remains to be seen and is scant comfort for people who will bear the brunt of the rises and will have to pay prices that they really can’t afford.

Dundee City Council operates Dundee Energy Efficiency Advice Project, which aims to help people to save money on their fuel bills by reducing their energy costs.

“The project has been very successful in the extensive work it carries out in the city, and much of this has been down to partnership working with community groups and other agencies,” said a spokeswoman.

The service is available to everyone in Dundee and can be contacted on (01382) 434840.

Dundee & Tayside Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Mervyn Rolfe, said the price increase posed problems for local industry.

“A lot of manufacturing companies, in competition with Eastern Europe and the Far East, need to watch all their costs very specifically.

“To have hikes of this magnitude in costs, that cannot really be avoided, is going to undermine the viability of companies.

“This is the second significant increase this year and not all the costs can be passed on to the customer.

“I think companies will have to look for commensurate cost savings elsewhere or become less viable in competition.”