Energy firm E.ON hikes fuel prices

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The company, which has 5.5 million UK customers, blamed soaring wholesale gas costs for its decision to raise gas bills by 26% and electricity prices by 16%.

The hikes will come into force from Friday and follow similar moves from rivals British Gas and EDF.

Dual fuel customers who take both gas and electricity from E.ON will see their annual bills rise by 22%, or £227, to £1,226. This is an average of those paying by monthly direct debit and those who pay bills quarterly.

Graham Bartlett, the managing director of E.ON's retail business, said: "I'm very aware of the effect that the announcement will have on our customers and I recognise that this is a very tough time for everyone.

"This was not an easy decision to make and we've tried to keep these increases as low as possible while protecting as many of our customers as we can."

The move comes a day after wholesale gas prices jumped more than 14% when a leak on a North Sea pipeline prompted fears about supplies this winter.

Wholesale gas prices for the winter continued their rise - up 5.25p to 105.75p a therm - putting pressure on energy companies to pass on rising costs to households.

E.ON said around 1.4 million of its customers on price protection and fixed tariff products would be unaffected by the higher bills.

The firm said it was expanding its investment to protect more vulnerable customers, with those on its Age Concern Energy Services tariff having their prices capped for the next 12 months.