UPDATE 1-UK energy firms to target aid at poorest customers

(Recasts, adds background)

LONDON, April 23 (Reuters) - Britain's retail energy suppliers have agreed to do more to help their poorest customers cope with rising power and gas prices, energy regulator Ofgem said on Wednesday.

After raising household bills earlier this year, the big six suppliers agreed earlier this month to triple the amount they spend helping people struggling to pay their bills by 2011.

They have now agreed with ministers and energy regulators a raft of measures to make sure that help is focused on "fuel poor" consumers spending over a tenth of their income on energy.

The utilities all blamed soaring wholesale energy costs last year for their double-digit increases in average household bills at the start of 2008. And the surge in wholesale prices has continued since then, meaning more increases are likely, analysts say.

"The pace of energy price increases has ended years of falling fuel poverty despite the rein put on it by competition," Ofgem Chairman John Mogg said in a statement.

"The actions from this Ofgem summit will help ensure that resources to fight fuel poverty have the highest impact by targeting them precisely on those who need them -- the fuel poor and those vulnerable to fuel poverty."

Centrica (CNA.L: Quote, Profile, Research), EDF Energy (EDF.PA: Quote, Profile, Research), EON EONG.DE, Npower (RWEG.DE: Quote, Profile, Research), Scottish & Southern (SSE.L: Quote, Profile, Research) and Scottish Power (IBE.MC: Quote, Profile, Research) currently spend about 50 million pounds ($99 million) a year on social programmes, but agreed in early April to increase funding gradually to 150 million pounds by the winter of 2010-11.

The extra money could be used to offset bills or spent on increasing energy efficiency to cut heating needs and will be targeted at the most vulnerable, including the elderly and disabled.

Ofgem has launched a probe into the retail energy market to see if it is working effectively for all consumers and vulnerable consumers in particular. (Reporting by Daniel Fineren; editing by Santosh Menon)