E.ON raises gas prices and power

LONDON (Reuters) - E.ON UK is to increase its gas prices for residential customers by 26 percent and power prices by 16 percent from Friday, the German-owned company said on Thursday.

The rises are in response to soaring wholesale energy prices over the last year, the company said.

"I'm 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," Graham Bartlett, managing director of E.ON's retail business, said.

"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."

(Reporting by Daniel Fineren)