Broadband and mobile phone companies are preparing price rises of as much as 11.7 per cent, but will not help customers by publicising the increases in pounds and pence.
O2, BT, EE, Plusnet, TalkTalk and Vodafone all have price increases written into their contracts that put up prices by inflation — and more.
BT, EE, Plusnet and Vodafone use the consumer price index (CPI) measure of inflation for the year to December, which was 5.4 per cent, plus an additional 3.9 percentage points, a total rise of 9.3 per cent. TalkTalk adds 3.7 percentage points to inflation, will increase bills 9.1 per cent.
• Times Money Mentor: CPI vs RPI inflation — what’s the difference?
For contracts taken out after March 25 last year, O2 uses the retail prices index (RPI) measure of inflation for the year to January, which was 7.8 per cent, plus 3.9 percentage points. That means the calls, data and minutes element of a customer’s contract will rise 11.7 per cent from April 1.
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In an email on February 23, O2 told customers the percentage rise they will get and gave some examples but said the actual cost of the change would only be available on their April bill.
One O2 customer said they had to phone customer services to find out how much more their £32.32 a month phone bill would cost from April, because they could not find it in the email, online, or on the app. Their bill will rise to £34.84.
O2 said: “We send a detailed representative table with a variety of tariff prices and ensure it’s clear that on O2 Refresh the price change is only applied to calls, texts and data.”
In an email sent by EE on March 4, a broadband customer was told that their £31 a month broadband bill would increase “in line with the CPI rate of inflation plus 3.9 per cent” from March 31.
It did not say which month’s CPI figure this rise was based on or exactly how much bills would increase by.
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BT, which owns EE and Plusnet, said: “When we remind customers of their annual price change we provide personalised pricing information so they are clear about what this will mean for their bill.”
Vodafone said it provided examples to demonstrate pounds and pence rises to customers when it emailed them about price rises, and they would be able to see what their new bill was ten days before it was issued.
TalkTalk did not comment.
The regulator, Ofcom, has called for telecoms firms to consider the impact of above-inflation rises at a time of rising energy bills and taxes.
It said: “Companies do need to invest in their networks, but this is a difficult time for many people to deal with price rises. Under our rules, providers must set out price rises clearly before customers sign up, and cannot just include them in the small print.”
