60+ million people living on a tiny island in the North Sea ... how do you expect to support yourselves? You have to bring in practically everything from outside sources, like so many other countries, so you have to pay world prices.

What should the government do, subsidise all your costs???

Malcolm Cottrell, Edmonton, Canada

and CPI is only 3.4%...... NOT!

Ian, Tokyo, Japan

I recently left the UK. the question people always ask me, who are familiar with bad service and ridiculous prices in the UK, is "why do the British never do anything about it?". It should make no sense I have a much higher standard of living here based on a salary a quarter the size.

Moray, Macau,

Strange that they waited until Parliament went into recess to annouce these horrific rises !!!

Adrian, BEXLEY, UK

A 35% increase for the consumer is also a 35% increase in VAT revenue for the government, which is why the "regulator" will do nothing. Any "windfall tax" will result in a fraction of the increase being paid back to a fraction of the populous and an extra burden on the consumer in general.

Eric Pritchard, Clevedon, UK

After squandering our North Sea assets, creating a phoney market in energy and then getting our sourcing wrong it's time to pick up the tab. Will the sharholders of Centrica be taking their chairman's advice and wearing an extra jumper?

Ray Cobbett, Emsworth, Hampshire,

I appreciate this will effect a number of people. However some of my friends see nothing wrong with leaving the heating on all year round. It may make some people less wasteful with their heating and rather than reach for the heating switch at the slightest puff of wind, put a jumper on instead.

Scott, Exeter, Devon

Keep the 'Home Fires Burning' but on 'What' !!!

We will see what we will see .

Malcolm, Neston, United Kingdom

Enron performed this same trick in California mid 1990's.
Enron Energy Brokers moved large amounts of energy out of the state and created phony shortages, and then sold that same energy back at increased prices.

Centrica is doing the same trick here in the UK!

Mark, Maidstone, England

We are now paying the real price of privatisation.After the coal miners strike, thier was the dash for gas. we have been using up the gas in the north sea, while sitting on hundreds of years of coal reserves.Our short sighted politicians have sold us short again.

Bill Rogers, Portsmouth,

British Gas rang me today and said they could give me cheaper electricity with no price rises until 2011.

I let him go on digging his hole and eventually said by the massive hike that you have raised gas prices you will be able to hold the electricity charges until 2011.

Noel Dobson, York, UK

Start collecting the firewood and open up the chimney. Let´s get back to old-school and on a wide scale (UK-wide).

Deny these people the market that they have and within a year or two they´ll be on their knees.

Carl Mantell, Neverland, Out of the Isles

High energy prices are the result of the residents of India and China using a car and heating their houses while in the past they used bicycles and suffered in the cold. No one can begrudge them of what most people in the west consider a basic necessity.

Adrian Gibson, Abu Dhabi, UAE

What I would like to see is the Government prevent the Energy Companies like EDF and British Gas continuing to be able to USE the Magistrates Courts to collect debts. Why on earth Utility companies should be granted the almost exclusive use of Magistrates Courts for what is a Civil Debt is puzzlin

alex, london, uk

£1000 fuel bill? I pay that much now. My fuel cost me 20% of income and is set to rise to 27%
.
Food up by 10%, where? 2ltr of milk was 99p before Xmas, now it's £1.39.

My home is insulated, I don't watch much tv, never listen to the radio, but I am disabled and that means I have to pay top wack.

steve, Burton, England

If the British Government levies a windfall tax on British energy companies then these same companies will not have the cash to bid for the few exploration licenses that become available. It will result in British customers being held to ransom by Putin's Russia for their oil and gas. Is that good?

Adrian Gibson, Abu Dhabi, UAE

All a windfall tax would do is pass more cost to the customer.
With a clever internet campaign Petrol and diesel companies could be targeted on a monthly... basis. Could it be done with energy companies? Considering all the faff involved with changing supplier. If the pain of cost is great enough...

Bob, Leeds,

Supply and Demand Graham.

Steve, Cheltenham,

Stop VAT on all fuel.

steve tea, manchester, cheshire

Remind me again how the market works for a limited resource? Everybody pays a fortune to to get the same share of the resource as they would have done if the price had stayed low. That makes sense.

Graham Rounce, London, UK

I have switched off my gas for the summer, and am getting an electric heater and extra jumper for the winter.

clare, cambridge, uk

a cozy club for energy companies and a daylight robbery. 35% increase is against the logic and it will hit almost everyone. Our government seems to behave just like a spectator , not showing any interest or leadership in this matter. We must break this cozy club and open the market.

Marph, London,

It only means a bottle of wine less per week. The impact will be on those with mal lined priorities!

Brian Putman, Oxford,

571 million divided by 20,000,000 households is £28.55 a year, compare to the £400 or so increase is quite small, so a windfall tax of 100% of profit wont make more than 5% difference, but it will discourage the gas company from investing.

The damage has already been done.

Mark Taylor, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire

I am amazed UK is still one of the cheapest gas markets in the developed world even after domestic supply rapidly decreasing. hopefully the government will allow the storage facilities that it has blocked consistently to be built so spikes wont be so painful.

Jim, London,