The big six gas suppliers in the UK have all now raised their prices, with Eon the latest to break the bad news:
Four million households who get their gas or electricity from E.ON will face higher bills in the new year after the energy giant became the last of the big six to put its prices up.
The firm has announced it will put gas prices up by an average of 9.4% on 18 January, while electricity prices will rise by an average of 7.7%...
Chief executive, Tony Cocker, blamed the increase on rising wholesale energy and network costs, the cost of increasing the use of renewable energy, and the cost of implementing the government's social schemes which provide free or subsidised insulation.
Here's a graph (source) of wholesale costs against retail costs (click for larger). Retail is in red, wholesale in blue.:
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It is hard to avoid the fact that wholesale prices are well below their 2008 peak, while retail prices continue to rise. I don't think wholesale prices are the problem.