GDF Suez SA Chief Executive Officer Gerard Mestrallet said the government will decide whether to raise natural gas rates for French households as energy prices look set to remain high.

``It is up to the government to decide,'' Mestrallet said today on RTL radio. ``We will wait for a decision.''

GDF Suez, the world's second-biggest utility, began trading today following the merger between state-controlled Gaz de France SA and Suez SA. The government will retain a 35 percent stake in the company. The combination had been mired in political uncertainty and was opposed by labor unions that wanted Gaz de France to remain under state control, fearing higher natural gas rates.

The French government is under pressure not to raise gas and power rates amid the global rise in commodity prices and fears this will erode household purchasing power.

Mestrallet said he is in favor of the utility contributing to a ``social rate'' for natural gas for low-income customers that would be subsidized by private companies. ``We do the same already in Belgium,'' he said.

``One should not exaggerate the relation between gas prices and the share price,'' he said, adding that the rise in the state-set rates of natural gas won't be at the same rate as oil prices.

``Energy is a rare and expensive commodity,'' he said. ``There is an imbalance between demand and supply so over the medium term prices will likely remain high.''

The French Finance Ministry allowed Gaz de France two rises in natural gas prices for households so far this year, a 5.5 percent increase announced April 8 and an increase of as much as 4 percent unveiled Dec. 27. This followed an 18-month freeze in the government-set prices.

Gaz de France has 11 million customers in France and GDF Suez 22 million across Europe, Mestrallet noted.