Millions of UK mobile and broadband users face 14% bill rises from April

As if household budgets were not already under enough pressure, millions of broadband and mobile phone customers look set to face rises of more than 14% in their monthly bills from April.

If the increases are passed on in full, as many experts expect, it would result in home broadband customers typically paying about £50 a year more, while mobile phone customers on expensive contracts could face rises of more than £100.

On Wednesday the Office for National Statistics said the CPI rate fell back slightly to 10.5%. It means there is nothing to stop the telecoms providers from increasing bills by 13%-14.4%.

Ernest Doku, a telecoms expert at Uswitch.com, said millions of mobile and broadband customers would now know the scale of the bill increases they were likely to face this spring. Only those on social tariffs look set to be spared the increases.

He said BT, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone broadband contracts allowed prices to go up by CPI plus 3.9%. At TalkTalk, it was CPI plus 3.7%, while Shell Energy can add CPI plus 3%. Sky and Virgin Media contracts allow mid-contract price increases but they do not stipulate a pricing formula in the same way as rivals.

Although suppliers could surprise customers and withhold part of the increase, consumers can start looking forward to a flurry of announcements before April.

Consumer groups are calling on households who are out of contract to use this as a catalyst to move to a new deal.

Uswitch said broadband customers could save £162 a year on average by switching to a new provider, while hagglers typically saved more than £85 a year, according to the consumer group Which?.