Quarter of homes seen in fuel poverty by 2015

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain's rising dependence on energy imports will make household bills less affordable than at any time since the oil shocks of the 1970s, a leading investment bank said on Monday.

Deutsche Bank said with price rises of 25 percent by 2015, a quarter of the country could fall into fuel poverty.

A sea-change in the UK's energy market from virtual self-sufficiency to net imports over the last decade has exposed consumers to rising international oil and gas prices while sluggish income growth at home makes energy less affordable.

Last year the UK imported more gas than it produced, while in the second-quarter of this year shipments of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exceeded pipeline imports for the first time.

Falling production from ageing North Sea gas fields means that British utilities are importing more energy than they are producing domestically.

"While it is tempting for politicians to blame excessive retail profits, the reality is that the UK is once again a net importer of energy, and international fuel prices have doubled," Deutsche Bank's Martin Brough said in a report.

The bank predicts government scrutiny of energy retailers will intensify as bills rise, but it lay the blame for soaring household bills squarely on international energy markets, not excessive retail profits.

"The UK is now an energy importer again, as it was in the early 1970s and forward gas and coal prices are double levels seen in 2009," according to the report.

Scrapping European Union-backed green targets or refinancing the UK's energy industry would slow the pace of energy price rises, it said.

Following the latest round of price hikes by Britain's six dominant energy suppliers, gas prices rose an average 15 percent starting from this winter as austerity measures aimed at cutting government debt curb economic growth and reduce household incomes.

(Reporting by Oleg Vukmanovic; editing by James Jukwey)