EDF announces an increase in electricity prices

In a worrying development for UK consumers, and UK businesses, EDF has today announced an increase in electricity bills which will hit more than 1 million customers. The price increase will come into play in October and see bills increase by 2.6% to an average of £409 a year again £399 a year at the moment. This is the first major increase in utility bills for two years and many experts believe it could be the beginning of a new phase in the UK utility market.

For some time now there has been extreme criticism of utility companies in the UK who seemed to be increasing UK charges out of sync with wholesale electricity and gas markets. There was also a feeling that price reductions were never instigated as quickly upon wholesale price falls as they were when the cost of wholesale electricity and gas began to rise. Even though we have been down this avenue on numerous occasions and indeed the UK government has pressurised many utility companies to think again regarding proposed rises, the vast majority of utility companies are effectively owned by overseas companies.

There is a feeling that many of these overseas parent companies are able to increase charges because they are not as "close to the situation" as domestically owned utility companies may be.