EDF becomes last of the Big Six to hike gas and electricity prices - 15/09/2011

Cheap energy customers are set to be hit by another price increase after the remaining one of the Big Six energy suppliers announced a hike today.

EDF Energy will be raising its residential gas prices by an average of 15.4 per cent and upping electricity costs by an average of 4.5 per cent, which is still lower than the rest of the major energy companies.

The supplier will implement these increases on November 10th, having decided to freeze prices last winter and being the last utility provider this summer to hike tariff costs.

EDF chief executive Vincent de Rivaz commented: "We have absorbed rising wholesale energy, network and other costs as long as possible but must reluctantly now pass some of these through to consumers. However, unlike some other suppliers we have been able to give protection to our customers, particularly for their electricity consumption, because of our choice to invest in low carbon nuclear generation, which enjoys stable costs compared to gas and coal and has had a strong performance this year."

He also recognised "suspicions of the industry as a whole" among customers, politicians, regulators and others, and noted that it is important this negative perception of the energy market is addressed.

"The energy challenges Britain faces are far too important and can only be addressed in a world with trust, open dialogue and mutual understanding," Mr de Rivaz said.

He explained that he would welcome a Competition Commission inquiry if it is felt necessary to rebuild trust in energy suppliers, a move that has been requested by Consumer Focus and other action groups.

"In the meantime we will continue to set ourselves apart and innovate to help customers feel better about energy. We are committed to providing as much simplicity and transparency as possible to our customers. This is why we simplified our tariff structure and why we have announced that we are suspending un-solicited door to door selling of residential energy, pending a review," the EDF head added.

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