European Commission deems electricity prices too high

Web MasterBusiness Electricity

The European Commission is to carry out an investigation into electricity prices.

This comes following suspicions of excessive pricing due to wholesale price cuts not being passed on to consumers.

With 60 percent of consumers across the EU last year reporting a rise in their electricity bills, the fact that the wholesale price of electricity has come down by 35 percent since then, should mean that prices will drop accordingly. However, this doesn’t seem to be the case.

Only last month, British Gas announced that it would not be cutting its standard electricity bills, despite the 35 percent decrease in wholesale prices.

They did cut their standard gas bills by 10 percent; however critics have been quick to point out that it is a lower cut than expected, with wholesale gas prices falling by 50 percent since the peak last summer.

British Gas claim that they did not pass on the full effects of last year’s price rises, so now their customers can not experience the full effects of the current price drops.

The UK government has urged suppliers to pass on their savings to customers, and warned that action may be taken to lower bills.

The investigation will be carried out over the next 12 months.