Energy bills in the UK could be set to rise this winter after the cost of power jumped well above last year's prices.

The wholesale cost of winter electricity in the UK market is on average 16pc, or around £7 per megawatt-hour, higher than it was this time last year.

The price rises could spell trouble for British bill payers who faced a flurry of tariff hikes over the spring following last winter’s volatile energy trading.

Last year market prices surged higher due to safety concerns across almost a fifth of EDF’s 58-strong French nuclear reactor fleet.

This year, energy prices are climbing due to ongoing concerns around France’s nuclear plants as well as Germany’s reliance on power from coal, which is trading 50pc higher than last year.

Although the UK burns very little coal to produce power, the country imports electricity from the continent. Germany, Europe’s largest electricity market, relies on coal to generate almost a quarter of its power.

Jamie Stewart, a power market expert at pricing agency Icis, said German wholesale power prices were 40pc higher than last autumn and French power was 34pc higher year on year.