British energy firm hike prices

Energy giant RWE npower heaped more pressure on British households today by hiking electricity and gas prices by 9.3% and 11.1% respectively from December 1.

The 10% average bill increase will affect about 3.1 million customers, the group said, and follows recent price hikes by British Gas and SSE.

The announcement came as Britain sealed a deal with French energy EDF to build the first nuclear power station in a generation at Hinkley Point in Somerset, after lengthy wrangling over taxpayer subsidies.

Npower blamed the higher cost of delivering power to homes, meeting Government schemes and rising fuel costs, insisting it makes a “fair return for delivering reliable energy to consumers”.