Energy prices in Britain have risen twice as fast as the European Union average, according to new figures.

Gas and electricity rose by 29.7 per cent in the past year, compared with a 15 per cent increase for the EU.

The figures, released by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), show bills are up just 14 per cent in France and 12.2 per cent in Germany.

Ed Mayo, chief executive of Government watchdog Consumer Focus, said: "The UK energy consumer is being clobbered faster and harder than those in Europe.

"Other countries may be doing more to keep their prices down and we should learn from them.

"The UK has a relatively free market, but the freedom to cut prices in the early years now seems to be the freedom to raise prices with impunity."

The latest figures from regulator Ofgem suggest British householders benefit from the cheapest gas prices in Europe and electricity bills in line with the rest of the continent.

But those statistics do not take into account how prices have risen so far this year.

According to JD Power, the average annual domestic gas bill rose 19 per cent from £466.44 in 2007 to £554.04 this year, while electricity bills for the same period increased by 7 per cent from £540.84 to £579.84.

A spokesman for the Energy Retailers Association, which represents domestic energy and gas suppliers in the UK, said: "What the OECD's figures fail to demonstrate is that British customers have enjoyed historically very low prices compared to Europe and indeed the rest of the world.

"Primarily, this is due to us having our own vast reserves of natural gas in the North Sea and not being exposed to global prices in the same way as we are now.

"We are no longer an energy island. With increased demand from growing economies such as India and China, the prices we now pay for our energy are more vulnerable to fluctuations across the world."

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