ENERGY customers in Suffolk will be hit by huge increases in gas and electricity prices from tomorrow.

ENERGY customers in Suffolk will be hit by huge increases in gas and electricity prices from tomorrow.

E.ON today announced it would be hiking electricity by 16 per cent and gas by 26pc for most of its clients.

The company is the latest to respond to rising wholesale costs which have increased by 51pc since February.

Graham Bartlett, managing director of E.ON's retail business, said: “I am very aware of the effect that today's announcement will have on our customers and I recognise that this is a very tough time for everyone.

“This was not an easy decision to make and we've tried to keep these increases as low as possible while protecting as many of our customers as we can.

“We are launching a range of products to protect prices and offer our customers peace of mind in an uncertain market, and are also announcing that we will more than double the number of vulnerable customers we help.”

More than a quarter of E.ON's customers who are on price protection and fixed price products will be unaffected.

The company is also launching a new scheme later this year to offer vulnerable customers a fixed price for 12 months which is guaranteed to be cheaper than E.ON's standard electricity and gas prices.

Customers on the Age Concern Energy Services tariff will also have their prices capped for the next 12 months.

Prices for E.ON's prepay meter customers will now match those of E.ON standard customers for both electricity and gas.

The rises announced today will equate to 62 pence per day for the average dual fuel customer.