EDF is to put gas tariffs up by 15.4% and electricity tariffs up by 4.5% on November 10, adding, on average, 33p a day to a dual-fuel bill.

According to website uSwitch.com, this will push more than 10 million people - 6.9 million households - into fuel poverty, where more than 10% of their income has to be spent on energy.

EDF has held out longer than the the others, partly due to its investment in nuclear energy. 

EDF's chief executive, Vincent de Rivaz, said: "Unlike some other suppliers we have been able to give protection to our customers, particularly for their electricity consumption, because of our choice to invest in low carbon nuclear generation, which enjoys stable costs compared to gas and coal and has had a strong performance this year."

The price increases have come later in the day and EDF is just managing to be the cheapest of the major companies for dual fuel, but don’t let that stop you from shopping around; outside of the Big Six there are smaller companies keen to help you save energy and money, many of them pursuing a green agenda.

Why not check out Good Energy, Ebico (the UK’s only not-for-profit energy supplier), Ovo Energy (the top ranked energy supplier in the 2010 Which? customer satisfaction survey), and Ecotricity, which reinvests profits into clean energy such as wind power.

Also keep your eyes peeled for various deals on solar PV panels; make yourself the "Big One", creating your own energy and selling any you don’t use back to the National Grid.

[Image: Tour EDF by Asp Explorer]