Brown says utility price rises "regrettable"

LONDON (Reuters) - Inflation-busting rises in energy prices for consumers are "regrettable", Prime Minister Gordon Brown said on Wednesday.

Finance minister Alistair Darling asked for talks with the energy watchdog Ofgem after energy firm npower, a subsidiary of German-owned RWE RWE.DE, said last week it was putting up British electricity prices by 12.7 percent and gas prices by 17.2 percent in response to a surge in wholesale energy prices.

Other companies look likely to follow npower's lead.

Asked if Darling's response was adequate given the impact of fuel price rises on poorer families, Brown told parliament: "It is regrettable that utility prices are having to rise."

"That is as a result of a 60 to 80 percent rise in coal, in gas, in electricity. That's a result of factors that are hitting every economy in the world," Brown said.

The price increases come at a bad time for consumers who have had to tighten their belts to deal with rising inflation, which has crept back over the government-set 2 percent target, and higher borrowing costs.

An energy price spike that propels inflation would make it difficult for the Bank of England to cut interest rates just as the economy starts to slow.

Brown said the Labour government had devoted 12 billion pounds ($23.58 billion) in recent years to helping people pay their fuel bills.

"We will do everything in our power to avoid fuel poverty in this country," he said.