The prices of electricity, gas and heating bills spiked over 30 percent in January from a year ago, the largest gain since the financial crisis in 1998.

According to Statistics Korea on Sunday, the fuel price index came to 135-point-75 last month, up 31-point-seven percent from a year earlier.

This represents the largest growth since April 1998 when the index jumped 38-point-two percent.

The index shows the trend of prices of energy products commonly used for households, such as electricity, natural gas, liquefied petroleum gas for cooking, kerosene and heating costs.

Amid the severe cold weather this winter, energy costs in January soared from a year ago.

Electricity prices jumped 29-point-five percent on-year in January, the largest growth in 42 years. Residential gas prices also spiked 36-point-two percent last month.