The high cost of privatised energy supplies has been blamed on the 49 percent increase in the number of elderly British people who died from the cold last winter.

According to new figures released by the Office for National Statistics, there were 36,700 more “excess winter deaths” last year.

The sharp rise paralleled precisely the massive increases in gas and electricity bills.  All six power supply utilities, most owned by foreign companies, have earned untold billions in profits and have refused to pass on a sharp fall in the wholesale cost of gas and electricity to customers.

The companies — British Gas, Scottish and Southern Energy, RWE nPower, Eon, EDF and Scottish Power — have increased their bills to the public by an average of 42 percent last year. This translated to an average increase of £381 per household, which is just too much for many pensioners to carry.

Wholesale prices for energy have however fallen by more than 50 percent over the same period. The biggest concession made to consumers was a four percent reduction in some areas.

Consumer watchdog Consumer Focus has reacted to the outrage by calling for an official Competitions Commission inquiry into the debacle which is literally killing elderly British people.

According to Consumer Focus, energy bills could be cut immediately by £62 a year “with further reductions possible.”

The rise in heating bills has been steady ever since privatisation turned Britain’s infrastructure into a money making racket instead of the community service it was originally supposed to be.

Across the board, charities have said that the high bills have contributed to the increased elderly death rate.

Jenny Saunders, of National Energy Action, was quoted in the media as saying that pensioners “are often anxious to avoid debt and turn their heating down or even off, often unaware that they are putting their health in danger.

“We have one of the highest excess winter death rates in Europe, higher than many of our colder Scandinavian neighbours.”

Robert Hammond of Consumer Focus was quoted as saying that “millions of people are paying over the odds to heat their homes this winter, despite huge falls in the wholesale price of gas.

“A truly competitive market would ensure that when energy companies pay less to supply energy, customers pay less.”

* British Gas’s profits are set to rise by 50 percent to an all time high of more than £500 million. Scottish and Southern Energy’s profits increased 36 percent over the last half year.

* The British National Party is firmly committed to ensuring that this nation’s utilities, which were built with taxpayer money, are returned to the commonwealth of this nation. A BNP Government would ensure that they are run as a public service, and not for the benefit of foreign shareholders.