Energy prices will increase by up to 17% after Christmas - take advantage of discounted fixed price offers now

When it rains it pours,  just as the credit crunch is taking hold by making consumer credit dearer, energy prices are set to make thinks even worse in the new year.

In an easily overlooked announcement, British Gas this week announced it was raising the price of its Market Tracker gas and electricity tariff for the first time since the tariff was introduced last July. As the name suggests the Market Tracker tariff bases itself on the underlying price of gas and electricity - the wholesale price at which utility companies buy gas and electricity in bulk - which makes it a bellweather for consumer energy prices as a whole.

In the companies own words, taken from the press statement that accompanied the tariff's first launch:

"In the same way that tracker mortgages are linked to Bank of England rates, the British Gas Market Tracker will follow changes in the wholesale gas and electricity markets more closely than the traditional energy bill, where price adjustments are smoothed over a period of time to protect customers from volatile commodity movements."

In other words if wholesales energy prices change significantly, then the Market Tracker price is the first to reflect these changes. So consumers need to sit up and take notice: The Gas price has gone up by 13%, while the electricity price has increased by an even higher 17%. Given the logic of this tariff, this increase means that soon all suppliers will raise their own prices by a similar margin. Brace yourself for the end of more reasonably priced gas and electricity in the next two months is our prediction.

What can you do? If you act now using our impartial price comparison calculator (and we really mean now), you can still take advantage of a fantastic offer by Scottish and Southern Energy, the company behind the Southern Electric, ScottishHydro and Swalec brands. This supplier currently offers a tariff called Price Fix 2008?, which is among the cheapest offers available, but with one crucial difference: it includes a price guarantee that expires November 30, 2008 enough time to get through the coming storm unscathed. Just visit our comparison service, which compares over 7,000 tariffs, and see this offer for yourself.

And why do you have to act now? Because Scottish and Southern are unlikely to leave this tariff on the market for much longer. So get signed up now to protect yourself against price increase! It takes only ten minutes, and you only need your last gas and electricity bill in front of you to do it.