EDF has surprised many in the sector who had expected the country’s biggest utility British Gas to be the first with a new price rise. Its rivals are trying to hold off. “There are absolutely no immediate plans to increase our prices and we will continue protecting our customers for as long as possible. That said, we are all under the same pressure,” said a spokesman for RWE npower, which was the first to move in the sector-wide price hikes early this year. A spokeswoman for E.ON UK, part of German utility E.ON, said the company had “no current plans to change our prices” but would continuing to monitor the market. Wholesale power and gas prices have fallen over the last week, led by a sharp drop in the price of oil which has been the main factor driving up energy costs globally over the last year. Despite the recent, and many believe short-lived, decline in oil, wholesale gas contracts for next winter are still more than 50 percent higher than they were in late January-early February. “Costs remain high, including coal and gas, and we continue to monitor our pricing structure against these factors and also against the market,” a spokesman for Scottish Power, the UK subsidiary of Spain’s Iberdrola said on Friday. Industry sources say it can take several weeks to prepare for changes to utilities retail pricing but say EDF’s competitors will likely hike prices before the winter sets in, driving up demand for gas and power. Because household demand for gas in particular is low during the summer, as it is mainly used for heating, the losses for suppliers more easily absorbed. But industry sources say suppliers will want to raise their prices before winter arrives to avoid much bigger hits on their balance sheets.

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