Britons will spend almost £58 billion on petrol and power this year, a rise of 20 per cent on 2007.

With oil at an average of $100 per barrel, households will spend an estimated £30 billion on transport fuel and a further £27.5 billion on their domestic energy bills, according to figures supplied by Oxford Economics.

The research indicates that consumers will spend over 6 per cent of total UK household income of £919 billion on energy this year. The figures have compounded fears that runaway energy prices threaten to tip the British economy into recession.

Simon Denham, managing director of Capital Spreads, said that higher oil prices would hit many areas of the economy, with retailing suffering as consumers find their spending power squeezed.

Oil was trading at $133 a barrel yesterday, just below the $135.09 record struck on Thursday, which triggered warnings that the global economy, already under pressure from the credit crunch, could be tipped into recession by soaring energy price inflation.

Analysts said that the price of a barrel of crude was being supported by concern that production from Russia and other nonOpec producers would be unable to rise to meet booming demand in the coming years.

Oil production from countries outside Opec, such as Britain, the United States and Russia, is stagnating and is likely to remain at 49.56 million barrels a day this year, lower than was previously forecast.

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