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FAMILIES are facing a raft of hikes on household bills – on top of the devastating effects of coronavirus.
The start of April usually sees an increase in the cost of services to keep pace with inflation.
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And firms say they will press ahead with these changes in spite of thousands of families — particularly those with their own businesses — fearing a drastic fall in income due to the crisis.
Here’s what will increase…
Bad news
Broadband and TV
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- Millions of Sky broadband and TV customers will see big rises from Wednesday — with an average increase of £36 a year, says Sky.The provider’s basic broadband essential service will go up by £2 a month to £22 a month, and Sky Entertainment by £2 to £24 a month.
- BT broadband customers’ bills will rise in line with inflation by 1.3 per cent, taking the cost of the unlimited broadband package to £46.08 a month — one of the highest tariffs in the country.
- TalkTalk and Virgin Media are not putting up prices, while BT subsidiary Plusnet will do it later in the year.
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Mobile
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- O2 and Three will see 2.7 per cent price hikes, while for EE it’s 2.2 per cent. That means around 60p a month extra for typical O2 and EE customers, while Three customers on a £20 monthly plan will see 54p added to bills. O2 said the increases only apply to airtime plans not ones that pay off a handset.
- BT Mobile bills will increase by 1.3 per cent, adding an average 11p extra a month. Around 140,000 pay-monthly Virgin Mobile customers will be shifted from discontinued pay-monthly tariffs on to an “equivalent” one. Virgin said most hikes will be less than £7 per month. Affected customers can leave their contact penalty-free or switch to a different Virgin deal before Tuesday.
- Vodafone is to increase pay-monthly prices by 2.5 per cent), meaning rises of 50p per month for customers on its most popular plan.
- Tesco Mobile bills are unaffected.
Council tax
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The average Band D council tax set by local authorities in England for 2020-21 will be £1,817, which is an increase of £67 or 3.9 per cent on last year’s figure of £1,750.
Prescriptions
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The cost of a single prescription in England is set to increase by 15p to £9.15 per item from Wednesday. Prescription prepayment certificates — basically season tickets which cover the cost of all prescriptions over a certain period — will rise by 55p to £29.65 for three months and by £1.90 to £105.90 for 12 months.
TV licence
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TV licence fees will increase from £154.50 to £157.50. In better news, over-75s will now not have to pay for their licence as had been planned after the BBC announced it would delay this new policy due to coronavirus.
Stamps
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The cost of a first class stamp for a standard size letter up to 100g will go up by 6p to 76p, while for larger letters it will cost an extra 9p to £1.15. Second class stamps for standard size letters will increase by 4p to 65p.
But there is good news
Water
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The average household water and sewerage bill in England and Wales is set to fall by around £17 this year, from £413.33 to £396.60.
Energy bills
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The energy price cap — the maximum rate that families who do not switch to cheaper deals will pay for electricity and gas — will fall by £17 from April, from £1,179 a year to £1,162 per year.
National living wage
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The hourly rate for the national living wage for over-25s will increase by 50p to £8.72 from April.
The minimum wage for young people will rise, from £7.70 to £8.20 for 21 to 24-year-olds, from £6.15 to £6.45 for 18 to 20-year olds and £4.35 to £4.55 for under-18s.
