The day all your bills will go up

Cost of dentist, TV, flights and council tax rise – on April 1!

EVERYTHING from a dental check-up to the TV licence and flight taxes will go up tomorrow in what has been described as a ‘cruel April Fool’s joke’.

April 1 is the day the Government and many businesses across the UK will trigger a series of punishing price rises.

Many households will be paying over £100 a year more – a collective bill of £2billion.

The increases in ‘ must pay’ bills are much higher than rises in pay and pensions, which will be a blow to living standards.

Council tax is seeing the biggest increase with an average rise of 5.1 per cent. Band D bills are going up an average of £81 to £1,672, but some face much bigger increases. Some four million people who have a prepayment energy meter for gas and electricity will see an increase in tariffs equivalent to £57 a year.

At the same time, many other fixed-term energy tariffs are coming to an end with people automatically transferred to new deals that could be £200 a year more expensive unless they shop around.

Air passenger duty for economy passengers on long-haul flights is rising by £3 to £78 tomorrow, while for those in business class it is increasing by £6 to £156.

The price of a TV licence is rising by £3.50 to £150.50.

The cost of a prescription is going up by 20p a time to £8.80 and some other NHS charges, for example the cost of wigs for those who lose their hair as a result of illness or treatment, will be higher. The NHS den- tal charge payable for a check-up will increase by £1 – 4.85 per cent – to £21.60. The cost of Band 2 treatment, such as a filling, rises by £2.80 to £59.10. And the figure for Band 3, which could be fitting a crown, goes up by £12.20 to £256.50.

The price of a first class stamp went up by 2p last Monday, taking it to 67p. Second class post increased by 2p to 58p and posting a small parcel went up by 5p to £3.45.

The figures were compiled by personal finance experts at money.co. uk. Its editor-in-chief, Hannah Maundrell, said: ‘Your wallet could be hit left, right and centre on April 1. These price hikes may appear small and “nothing to worry about” but add them all together and they could cost you around £100 extra a year.’

She said consumers can limit the impact of the increases, by shopping around and switching providers.

Experts at the price comparison website TheEnergyShop.com warned that more than 40 discounted household energy tariffs come to an end today.

It said: ‘Customers on these tariffs will get migrated onto something more expensive – possibly much more expensive.’

As a result, it said, annual gas and electricity bills could rise by as much as £200. The website’s founder, Joe Malinowski, described the increases as a ‘cruel April Fool’s joke’.

A number of mobile phone and broadband suppliers are increasing prices tomorrow.

For example, O2 and Three are putting up prices by 4 per cent and EE by 4.1 per cent.

Sky’s broadband customers will see line rental costs rise from £17.40 per month to £18.99 – an increase of 9.1 per cent.

‘It’s a cruel April Fool’s joke’