A nine per cent increase in energy prices announced yesterday has been branded ‘criminal’ by a campaigner for pensioners.

SSE, which trades as Southern Electric in the county, said the rise, which applies across gas and electricity, will add another £8.53 a month on to the typical monthly direct debit, dual fuel customer, taking the average annual bill to £1,274 when it takes effect in October.

Bill Jupp, 81, from Old Marston, said: “It is going to be devastating for pensioners on low incomes. We are already having to make lots of cuts and it is criminal in my opinion.”

Mr Jupp, a campaigner with the Oxfordshire branch of the Unite union’s Retired Members’ Association, added: “The Government should not allow this to go on and tell the firms not to do it.”

SSE chief executive Ian Marchant said: “The increases in costs mean that we are unable to keep prices at their current levels.”

The UK’s second largest energy firm, formerly known as Scottish & Southern Energy, said it would cap bills following the October price rise until at least the second half of 2013.

The move affects about five million electricity customers and 3.4 million gas customers, thousands of them in Oxfordshire.

SSE is the first of the ‘big six’ to raise prices this year, but it is thought others might follow suit.