Households are braced for host of increases to essential bills

APRIL SEES RISES IN COUNCIL TAX, VEHICLE EXCISE TAX, BROADBAND, MOBILE AND WATER BILLSs

HOUSEHOLDS are about to see a host of essential bills rise steeply as firms, government and local authorities roll out their annual April price increases.

Council tax, road tax, broadband, mobile, water and even stamps have or are about to jump in price.

Leicestershire County Council approved maximum annual council tax increases – of 4.99 per cent – as they seek to maximise revenue to pay for struggling frontline services.

Rents are also poised to rise for council tenants, by 7.7 per cent.

Districts other than Harborough have also increased their share of the bill – North West Leicestershire for the first time in 15 years.

In addition, the police precept will increase by 4.76 per cent and the fire service component by 3 per cent.

The average Severn Trent household water and sewerage bill will rise by 6.5 per cent or about £27 to £438 a year.

Water UK said the funds raised by increased water bills were guaranteed only to fund improvements in water and sewerage systems, and bills would automatically be reduced by the regulator if they were not delivered.

Water UK chief executive David Henderson said: “Next year will see record levels of investment from water companies for the security of our water supply in the future and significantly reduce the amount of sewage in rivers and seas.”

He said anyone with worries should contact their water company and assured customers that firms would never cut anyone off or “make them use a prepayment meter”.

Most broadband deals and mobile phone contracts will see a rise by 7.9 per cent.

Many of the biggest broadband firms – such as BT, EE, Plusnet, Shell Energy, TalkTalk, Virgin Media and Vodafone – raise prices every April in line with the Consumer Price Index (CPI) or the Retail Price Index (RPI) – announced in February as 4 per cent and 4.9 per cent respectively – plus an additional 3 per cent, 3.7 per cent or 3.9 per cent.

Uswitch calculated that the increase would cost the individual consumer about £27.19 more a year for broadband and £24.23 for mobile bills on average.

Richard Neudegg, director of regulation at Uswitch.com, said: “There is hope on the horizon, with Ofcom currently weighing up a new ban on inflation-linked and percentagebased price hikes.

“All mobile and broadband customers

should check to see if they are in or out of contract, and consider switching to a cheaper deal as soon as they are able to prevent overpaying.

“This is especially true for anyone who hasn’t moved in the past 18 or 24 months as you’re very likely to be at or nearing the end of your contract and significantly cheaper options will be out there.”

Similar to its broadband and

mobile contracts, EE is increasing the cost of its subscription television service by 7.9 per cent.

EE TV, previously BT TV, allows customers to access free-to-air channels as well as premium channels such as TNT Sports, previously BT Sport.

Virgin Media’s 8.8 per cent increase is also extended to its subscription television service and Sky increased prices by an average of

6.7 per cent for TV customers from April 1. Separately, the annual cost of a TV licence will rise to £169.50, up from £159.

The government confirmed in the Autumn Statement that vehicle excise duty, or road tax, was to rise in line with the RPI from April 1.

For cars registered after April 1 2017, it means the tax is likely to rise from its current level of £180 per year to approximately £190 per year.