British Gas is to cut household gas bills by 5% - an annual average saving of £37.
The energy firm, owned by Centrica, said the move will benefit 6.8 million customers.
The reduction in tariffs, being introduced from 27 February, comes after 'Big Six' rival E.On cut the price of gas by 3.5% last week.
British Gas said the cut reflected the recent fall in wholesale gas prices.
Energy suppliers have come under pressure from politicians and regulators to pass on lower costs to customers.
Wholesale gas costs fell 26% between the third quarter of 2013 and the same period in 2014, and have fallen further since.
British Gas said most of the gas currently being used in customers' homes was bought at higher prices over 2013/14, but wholesale costs for 2015 were now coming down to a level where the reduction could be passed on.
It said it would be keeping prices under review "for further movements up or down".
Prime Minister David Cameron said in a message on Twitter: "It's welcome to see British Gas cutting prices.
"We'll continue to encourage energy firms to pass on falls in wholesale prices to customers."
Christine McGurty, director of corporate affairs at British Gas, told Sky News: "We wanted to make a meaningful cut for our customers.
" We wanted to do this as much as we could quickly as we could.
"We have cut our prices more than any other company so far."
She added: "Companies always buy their gas in advance to smooth out the price volatility over time for our customers.
"So much of the gas being used right now will have been months ago or years ago, sometimes at higher prices.
"The suggestion our prices don't fall fast enough - the rocket and feather allegation - is simply not true.
"We are doing as much as we can as quickly as we can."
The announcement comes less than a month after Centrica's new chief executive, Iain Conn, took over.
Mr Conn said: "We've been watching the significant moves in the international energy market extremely closely for some time, with the aim of helping customers with a price cut at the earliest possible opportunity."
An Ofgem spokesperson said: "This is a further step in the right direction.
"We have consistently called for suppliers to explain the growing gap between falling wholesale prices and retail prices.
"Cutting prices is an explanation that consumers will understand and in a competitive market we would expect others to follow suit."
Energy Secretary Ed Davey said: "This will be welcome news for British Gas customers - and after E.on's price cut last week, customers of other energy companies will be asking when they're going to see savings passed through."
Labour's Shadow Energy Secretary Caroline Flint said: "This shows that Ed Miliband was right to challenge the energy companies to cut their prices and pass on the falls in wholesale costs to consumers.
"But given gas prices have fallen by at least 20%, a price cut of just 5% means consumers still aren't getting the full benefit of falling wholesale prices.
"The next Labour government is committed to making big changes in our energy market: freezing energy prices until 2017 so that bills can fall but not rise, and giving the regulator the power to force energy companies to cut their prices when wholesale costs fall to all of their customers."
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