British Gas owner Centrica warned today of potential further bill hikes for customers after revealing that continued high wholesale gas prices would hit results this year.

The firm said that overall operating profits for the first half of this year would be "materially lower" compared with a year ago, mainly due to poorer performance in its British Gas Residential arm.

It added that wholesale gas prices for the second half of this year were double those compared with a year ago.

company's residential arm could be loss-making in the first half of this year, if it fails to hike its domestic prices again.

Average month-ahead wholesale prices for gas and electricity were 92 per cent and 100 per cent respectively higher than a year ago,

driven by record oil prices, rising demand in Asia for the available liquefied natural gas (LNG) and insufficient supply from continental Europe