Learn how much your bill will be rising by this spring
You are likely to be met with a price increase for your broadband this March or April, as most of the major suppliers hike their prices in line with inflation, plus a little extra.
So, which providers are hitting their customers with a steep price increase and which companies are being gentler on our wallets? We’ll tell you all you need to know about the proposed increases.
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Why is your broadband bill going up again this year?
Written into your broadband contract will be a clause that allows the provider to increase the price each year, based on either the December Consumer Prices Index (CPI), or the January Retail Prices Index (RPI) rates of inflation.
The December CPI figure was 4% and the January RPI figure was 4.9%, so we know exactly by how much the price will increase by.
Here’s a summary of the increases confirmed this year.
Broadband provider | Price increase | Date of increase |
BT | 7.9% | 31/03/24 |
EE | 7.9% | 31/03/24 |
Plusnet | 7.9% | 31/03/24 |
Shell | 6% | 01/04/24 |
Sky | 6.7% | 14/02/24 |
Talktalk | 7.7% | 01/04/24 |
Three | 4.5 – 7.9% depending start date | 01/04/24 |
Virgin Media | 8.8% | 01/04/24 |
Vodafone | 7.9% | 01/04/24 |
*If you’re on a broadband plan specifically for individuals receiving government financial support, you will be exempt from these price increases.
How much will the price increase cost me?
If you are paying £20 a month for your broadband for example, you can expect an additional cost of £18.96 a year (based on a 7.9% increase).
And if you’re on a £50 a month contract, then it’s a whopping £47.40 extra a year.
So who isn’t putting their broadband prices up?
The following is a list of the broadband providers we are aware of who are not increasing their prices this spring:
- Brsk
- Connect Fibre
- Cuckoo
- Direct Save Telecom
- Fiber Zone
- Hyperoptic
- Hull Fibre
- Infinics
- Link Broadband
- Octaplus
- Open Fibre
- Squirrell Internet
- Trooli
- Utility Warehouse
- Voneus
- Wessex Internet
- Yayzi
- Zen Internet.
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Can you leave if you incur a mid-contract price increase?
Unfortunately, as the yearly price increases are written into the terms and conditions, there’s not a lot you can do, as leaving your contract early may incur a hefty penalty.
The only way out will be if you can prove you’ve not received the speeds promised when you joined. Your provider will have 30 days to fix the issue, and if they can’t you can leave penalty free.
If that’s not the case for you, keep an eye on when your contract ends, so you can look at swapping to a lower priced provider. There are lots of great tools available to help you find the best deal for your broadband needs from comparison sites such as Uswitch.
It’s also worth noting that Sky don’t have a set annual price increase in their terms and conditions for 2024. So if you’re a broadband customer of Sky and they increase your bill mid-contract, you can leave and look elsewhere within the 30-day period following the price rise.
The telecoms regulator Ofcom, is calling for a ban on mid-contract price hikes, so hopefully in the future you will know exactly what the price increase will be, if any, in pounds and pence, before you commit to a contract.
Time to change if you’re out of contract
If you are out of contract, then you will still be hit with the price increase, so now is the time to shop around for a cheaper provider or try haggling using our tips with your current supplier.
If you do find a better deal with a different provider, be aware of the networks we highlighted above with price increases on the way. You will need to check if the price increase will apply to you or you may want to wait until after their price change, or you could experience a price increase sooner than expected.
Don’t forget to see if there are extra savings for going via a cashback site – and if you’ve not used one before there’s up to £20 available as a welcome offer.