E.ON blames costs beyond its control for UK fuel price hike
LONDON (Reuters) -- E.ON UK will raise its standard variable dual-fuel prices by 8.8% from April 26, affecting around 2.5 million customers, the British arm of German utility E.ON said.
Tuesday's move will ratchet up pressure on the government to act on soaring energy costs as it follows recent price rise announcements by Innogy-owned Npower and Iberdrola-owned Scottish Power.
E.ON said the gas and electricity price rise was due to the escalating costs of government schemes to support renewable electricity generation and to help customers use less energy.
"(It) is due in large part to the fact that many of the costs we don't directly control," E.ON UK chief executive Tony Cocker said in a statement.
Prime Minister Theresa May has previously warned the government could intervene when markets are dysfunctional, and said it was unfair that the majority of British energy consumers were stuck on the most expensive tariffs.
Britain's energy market regulator Ofgem said last month it has the power to cap energy price tariffs. but the decision is a matter for the government.
E.ON UK's standard variable electricity prices will rise by 13.8% and gas prices by an average of 3.8%.
Reporting by Susanna Twidale; Editing by Jason Neely and Alexander Smith
Comments