Rubbish Check
Daily Mail Money · 8 October 2026
source“Just three energy firms will supply 74% of British homes after Eon-Ovo merger: Will it drive up bills?”
R3/ 10
Lightly altered
Rubbish Rating — 1 = base fact, 10 = pure rubbish
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In short
Rubbish Talk rates Daily Mail Money's claim that three suppliers will serve 74% of British homes after the Eon-Ovo merger an R3/10 because the figure matches Cornwall Insight's own data exactly, with the only spin being the unanswered "will it drive up bills?" tease that the article itself never resolves either way.
The Verdict
Lightly altered. The core statistic is clean and sourced correctly, but the headline's question mark does a job the article can't back up: Cornwall Insight's analyst gives a genuinely two-sided view (less competition risk, but more stability and investment capacity), and the piece admits no tariff changes have even been announced yet. Framing a balanced, hedged expert quote as a bills-alarm headline is a mild but real iteration away from the base fact.
What actually happened
Key facts
- Cornwall Insight's post-merger shares: the enlarged E.ON as the second biggest domestic supplier in GB, with 25% of household electricity and gas accounts, behind Octopus Energy at 26%, and ahead of British Gas at 23%.
- Top five suppliers (Octopus, British Gas, E.ON, EDF, Scottish Power) will control 90% of the market post-merger.
- CMA cleared the deal at phase one on 1 October 2026 without a phase-two referral, per the GOV.UK case record.
- Market has shrunk from roughly 50 suppliers pre-2021 energy crisis to 17 today, per Cornwall Insight's Goswell.
- No tariff changes have been published by Eon or Ovo for existing customers; fixed deals remain honoured.
What to watch for
Watch whether Ofgem's January price cap rise (forecast up ~16% to £1,999 a year) gets blamed on consolidation rather than wholesale gas prices, the actual driver cited by Cornwall Insight. Also watch for the first post-merger Eon/Ovo tariff launches, the real test of whether fewer suppliers means fewer good deals as the headline implies.
About this scoreThe R-Score is Rubbish Talk's editorial opinion on how far a headline's framing sits from what the underlying facts support. It is a judgement about presentation and emphasis, not an allegation that any outlet has acted dishonestly. Every figure we rely on is linked under Receipts so you can check it yourself.
