MILLIONS of Sky customers will see their bills rise by an average of £67 a year this year.
The increase will affect all Sky broadband and some Sky TV customers.
Sky is hiking its prices by an average of £5.60 a year per customer
The increase will come in from April, so if you pay your bill on the 10th of every month, you’ll be charged the extra amount from April 10.
Customers will see an average increase of £5.60 a month, which works out as £67.20 a year.
Though, of course, this will vary depending on your package.
All broadband customers will see a hike, but it’s slightly different for TV customers.
It depends on where you are in your contract and what package you’re on.
The telecoms giant said the average increase is across Sky TV packages including Q, Glass and Stream.
However, Sky Glass and Stream TV package customers will only see an increase if they purchased before October 18, 2022.
Sky broadband customers unhappy with the hike will be able to leave up to 30 days before the change penalty-free.
Sky TV customers cannot leave penalty-free if they are still in their minimum contract term.
Affected customers will be contacted from February 16 so keep an eye out for an email or letter from the provider.
Customers will then be able to see the change on their Sky account two weeks before their increased bill will come out.
Many broadband and mobile phone providers base their annual price increases on the rate of inflation plus an extra 3.9%.
However, Sky said it is not basing its hike on inflation, instead, customers will see an average increase of 8.1% a year.
Sky recently upped its prices for 1.3million mobile customers too.
From February 14, bills for Sky’s out of contract customers will increase by £1 a month, or an average of 9%.
This means that if you pay your phone bill on the 20th of every month, you’ll pay the extra amount from February 20.
Those still in contract will not be affected.
A Sky spokesperson said: “This is not a decision we have taken lightly.
“We have tried to minimise the impact to customers with an average price increase across all our broadband and TV customers of 8.1%, which is below levels of inflation again this year – competitors’ average increase over the last two years has been nearly double Sky’s average increase over the same period.”
Sky isn’t the only provider to hike its prices recently.
Virgin Media was writing to customers from January to tell them their bills would go up by an average of £50 a year.
Impacted customers will see their bills increase from either April 1 or May 1 but Virgin will confirm which date yours will change in an email.
But if you’re not happy with the increase, you will have 30 days from receiving the notification from Virgin to cancel penalty-free.
On average, Virgin Media cable customers will be hit with an average price increase of 13.8% – though this will be higher or lower depending on packages.
BT, EE and Three are among the firms which also confirmed to HOAR they will put up bills by up to 14.4%.
BT said that “the majority” of its BT, EE and Plusnet customers will see a rise in their monthly bills from March 31.
Just today, regulator Ofcom has launched a review to examine whether inflation-linked mid-contract price rises give customers “sufficient certainty and clarity” about what they can expect to pay.
Ofcom said it is concerned about the degree of uncertainty consumers face about future price rises that are linked to inflation.
This review will look at the practice of in-contract price rises linked to inflation and percentage changes, which several telecoms firms introduced in 2021.
How much will my bill increase by?
Your internet provider or mobile network should contact you to let you know how much your bills will increase in April.
There’s also an easy way to work out how much more you’re set to pay.
Just find out what percentage increase of your current monthly bill is – you can use an online percentage calculator to work that out.
Then add those two figures together – this will give you your new monthly payment.
To find out your annual cost, times that total figure by 12.
If you’re not happy with the rise, then you could try and haggle a cheaper deal
If you think your bills are too high and want to pay less, the first thing to do is find out what the cheapest deal on the market is.
You can use this rate as a bargaining tool to get a better offer from your provider.
Get in contact with your provider to see if they can match this rate – if not, you might want to switch instead.
If you’re mid-contract though and wish to leave, bear in mind that you could face an exit fee so check with your provider for any charges.
Plus, it could be harder haggling with these prices as they come most years from all providers.
For more ways to cut your phone bill, we’ve got eight tips for slashing costs.
Do you have a money problem that needs sorting? Get in touch by emailing [email protected]
