Neon Reef and Social Energy Supply, which serve a combined 35,000 customers collapsed after this week’s price hike. Wholesale gas in Britain was worth around 60p a therm at the start of this year, but that figure reached ￡2.40 on Tuesday. It remains below the record of ￡3.50 set in early October.

       Price comparison service Energyhelpline says UK regulator Ofgem could raise the cap on standard tariffs by ￡475 if the rates seen on Tuesday were to continue until February.

       Soaring gas prices have led to the collapse of more than 20 small energy suppliers since September.

       The latest spike came after Germany’s regulator suspended certifying the Nord Stream 2 pipeline.

       Nord Stream 2 by-passes Ukraine and connects Russia directly to Germany.

       The regulator said in a statement that it could not certify Nord Stream 2 as an independent operator because the company was based in Switzerland, not Germany.

       Tuesday’s price hike is also understood to have been driven by a reduction in flows of Norwegian gas into the UK, following an outage at the North Sea’s Troll gas field.

       Prime Minister Boris Johnson said the European Union would soon face “a choice” between standing with Ukraine or approving Nord Stream 2.