EDF hits London with £206 rise in energy bills

Millions of Londoners were today hit by "eye-watering" increases in their energy bills.

French owned EDF Energy, the capital's biggest supplier, raised its gas tariff by 22 per cent and electricity by 17 per cent with immediate effect.

The increases, almost certain to be followed by other major suppliers, will add £206 to the average cost of heating and lighting a London home. The typical EDF bill for gas and electricity will be £1,210, making it the most expensive supplier in London.

Consumer groups said the move could be the first in a series of swingeing tariff increases over the autumn and winter that it is feared could add 40 per cent or more to bills in total.

Adam Scorer, campaigns director of Energywatch, said: "The scale is eye-wateringly high but the industry is expecting even more. This could be a 'pit-stop strategy' with a couple of rises over the year."

He also warned that tens of thousands of London's poorest will struggle-to keep their homes warm when the nights start drawing in. He said: "The Government's fuel poverty strategy was in tatters yesterday. From today it barely exists."

EDF Energy, where Gordon Brown's brother Andrew is a senior public relations executive, said it had no choice because of a 70 per cent surge in global energy prices since the start of the year.

EDF, owner of the former London Electricity, supplies about 1.5 million homes in London and a further 1.5 million elsewhere in the South-East. Since 2003, the price of its gas has gone up 130 per cent; its electricity prices have almost doubled. Industry commentators said the other five major energy suppliers were almost certain to follow suit in the next few weeks. One senior industry executive told the Evening Standard. "They will all went to get the price rises through before the autumn when gas and electricity consumption starts to rise again."

Ann Robinson, director of consumer policy at price comparison website uSwitch.com, said: "Today's move means we are another step closer to seeing the largest ever increase in household energy bills in one year.

"If industry insiders are correct and the average energy bill hits £1,467 by the end of 2008 then spending on energy will account for 5 per cent of the average household's net income. We are in danger of seeing household energy becoming unaffordable for growing swathes of society."

EDF said it was trying to help vulnerable customers by putting an extra 33,000 on its "social tariff ", which is at a 15 per cent discount, taking the total to 100,000.

It is launching a fixed rate tariff that allows customers to lock in the cost of bills until October 2009.