Investors are betting the Bank of England will have to raise interest rates at least once before the end of the year to curb inflation, after wholesale gas prices hit a new high and official data showed producer prices increasing at a record pace.

The soaring cost of oil yesterday drove the price of gas for next winter above £1 a therm for the first time in the futures market, more than double last winter's average, making steep increases in gas and electricity bills a near certainty.