Household bills are set to jump from Monday

HUNDREDS of thousands of households are facing yet more price hikes from this Monday.

Starting from next week, most customers of Eir and Vodafone will see their bills go up by 7.6% as the companies’ ‘annual price adjustments’ take effect.

Under this policy, bills go up each April by the annual rate of inflation as of January each year, plus an extra 3%.

Customers of Three see their prices go up by a flat 4.5% every April, regardless of the rate of inflation.

Other providers such as Sky and Virgin Media are also upping their prices in April. However they haven’t committed to annual automatic price hikes for now.

Sky is hiking its prices by an average of 4.1% on some of its products, for example.

Households looking to offset the price increases are being advised to compare prices and switch to a new provider.

Consumer advice website Bonkers.ie is also calling on the Competition and Consumer Protection Commission (CCPC) and the communications regulator ComReg to clarify their positions regarding the use of automatic price adjustments.

Daragh Cassidy, head of communications at Bonkers.ie, said: ‘We’re in the bizarre situation where telecommunications providers are engaging in both price-signalling and potentially price-walking. This is despite the fact that price-signalling is against the law and price-walking has been banned by the Central Bank of Ireland.’

Price-signalling is when businesses make their competitors aware that they intend to increase prices. In 2021, the CCPC investigated price-signalling in the private motor insurance industry, securing legal commitments from six motor insurers on a range of compliance reforms.

Mr Cassidy urged: ‘The CCPC and ComReg should clearly state and explain their position on this as soon as possible.

‘I understand that telecommunications providers need to invest heavily in their networks and will, like all businesses, increase their prices from time to time.

‘But price-signalling should not be tolerated in any form. It’s no coincidence that all the main providers now hike their prices by a similar amount and at a similar time each year.’

However, he added that better value can still be found by shopping around.

‘Despite the rising prices there is still strong competition among all providers for new customers. The prices that the main broadband and TV providers offer new customers have remained relatively steady over the past few years whereas prices for existing customers have increased by more. So there really is a lot of value to be had by switching. A household could easily save €40 or €50 a month on their broadband and TV bills,’ he said.

ComReg has expressed concern about such increases from a consumer protection perspective. However, it currently has no role in regulating prices.

The Department of Communications said that consumers should use price comparison websites ‘to find the best-value contract for their needs’.

Motorists are also to be hit by further rise prices on Monday.

Yesterday, Minister for Public Expenditure Paschal Donohoe defended the Government’s decision to restore excise duty from midnight on April 1, when the cost of petrol and diesel will rise.

‘The reason why we are doing this is that when we brought in the excise reductions over a year ago, the price of fuel was at that point, well in excess of €2 per litre,’ he added.

‘Even though the price of fuel is higher than we would want it to be, it is far, far lower than when we brought in these initial changes,’ he said.

‘Price-signalling is against the law’