E.On is the last of the major suppliers make an announcement on prices this winter Energy firm E.On to raise prices
E.On is the last of the major suppliers make an announcement on prices this winter Customers of energy firm E.On will see a 9% increase in electricity prices and a 3% rise in gas prices from 4 February.
The supplier said it had “no option” but to increase prices because of the rising wholesale cost of energy.
E.On is now the fifth of the “big six” energy companies to have increased prices this winter.
Energy regulator Ofgem is currently investigating the prices charged to domestic customers.
Energy companies that have raised bills this winter have pointed to the cost of buying gas on the wholesale markets as key to the decision.
E.On has repeated this, although its prices will rise about a month later than many of the other suppliers.
“It has been over two years since we last increased our prices, and, unlike other companies, we held off from increasing them during the incredibly cold temperatures we saw in late November and December,” said Graham Bartlett, managing director of E.On’s Energy Solutions business.
“But we now have no option but to make this change due to increases in the prices we pay for gas and electricity, although our customers will not actually see the increases until next month.”
Winter price changesScottish Power: gas up 2%; electricity up 8.9%Scottish and Southern Energy: gas up 9.4%British Gas: gas and electricity up 7%EDF Energy: no change before March 2011Npower: gas and electricity up 5.1%E.On: gas up 3% and electricity up 9% from 4 February
E.On’s announcement makes it the last of the major domestic suppliers in the UK to make an announcement on prices.
EDF Energy has said that it is keeping its prices on hold during the winter, with no change before March 2011.
But in the last week of November, Scottish Power increased electricity bills by an average of 8.9% and prices for gas customers increased by an average of 2%.
Scottish and Southern Energy followed by putting up its domestic gas tariffs by 9.4% at the start of December. The 7% rise in gas and electricity prices for British Gas customers started on 10 December.
Npower customers saw their gas and electricity prices rise by 5.1% on 4 January.
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