Energy secretary Edward Davey has said that the big six energy firms are making bigger profit margins on gas than earlier believed.

Energy secretary has asked the regulators to investigate profit margins in its investigations in the industry. He said that the analysis of profit margins of energy companies have showed that the average profit margin for gas is around three times that of electricity. Davey said that British Gas had the highest profit margins in the industry and has a market share of 41 per cent.

British Gas said the data in the secretary of state's letter "has already been disclosed and in the public domain for a number of weeks". The company also said that it will participate in the discussion on the matter in the coming future.

British regulators have said that they have not found any evidence of market manipulation in the energy sector in the UK following concerns that the prices are rising due to alleged relationships between firms. Ofgem and financial watchdog the FCA have given a clean chit to the energy firms in the country. British Gas, SSE, Scottish Power, npower, EDF and E. ON as well as smaller suppliers appeared before the Energy and Climate Change Committee to explain recent price increases.