The last of the ‘Big Six’ energy suppliers to increase tariffs, German group E.ON has said it will raise prices by 4.8% for UK customers taking both gas and electricity from August 16.
In a statement, E.ON said the increase was needed “due to the significant rise in the cost of wholesale energy, and in common with similar pressures faced by a number of other suppliers of all sizes across the industry over recent months.”
READ: SSE to raise gas and electricity prices by £76 a year
The German firm noted that wholesale energy costs have increased more than 20% since March, largely due to the impact of extremely cold temperatures earlier this year depleting European gas storage.
It said the latest rise equated to an average extra cost of £55 per year per customer and pointed out that it had not increased its standard gas and electricity unit prices since April 2017.
The move follows similar increases announced this year by the other five big suppliers in the country and comes as UK energy regulator Ofgem is working to set a cap on standard prices by the end of the year.
The big six energy suppliers, which control around 80% of the UK market are Centrica PLC’s (LON:CNA) British Gas, SSE PLC (LON:SSE), Germany’s E.ON, France’s EDF Energy, Innogy’s Npower and Scottish Power, owned by Iberdrola of Spain.